Moreover, Conductors Are Oftentimes Fishing
So Much After Popularity, That They Wink At Misconduct In High Life.
Somewhere about midnight, along the banks of the Potomac, and, if I
remember right, near the town of Hancock, the cars were detained for
three hours.
A collision had occurred twelve hours before, causing an
extensive destruction of cars and freight, and heavy fragments of both
lay scattered over the track. Had it not been for the skilful use of a
steam-engine in dragging off the ruins, we must have waited till the
sun was up. Two or three large fires were kindled with the ruins, so
that the scene of the disaster was entirely visible. And the light
shining in the midst of the thick darkness, near the river, with the
crowd of people standing around, was not very romantic, perhaps not
picturesque but it was quite novel; and the novelty of the scene
enabled us to bear with greater patience the gloomy delay.
The mountain scenery in plain sight of the traveller over the
Baltimore and Ohio road is more extensive and protracted, and I think
as beautiful, as on any road in the United States. There are as wild
places seen on the road across Tennessee from Nashville, and as
picturesque scenes on the Pennsylvania Central road perhaps the
White Mountains as seen from the Atlantic and St. Lawrence road
present a more sublime view but I think on the road I speak of,
there is more gorgeous mountain scenery than on any other. On such
routes one passes through a rude civilization. The settlements are
small and scattered, exhibiting here and there instances of thrift and
contentment, but generally the fields are small and the houses in
proportion. The habits of the people are perhaps more original than
primitive. It was along the route that I saw farmers gathering their
corn on sleds. The cheerful scene is often witnessed of the whole
family father, mother, and children at work gathering the crops.
These pictures of cottage life in the mountain glens, with the
beautiful variegated foliage of October for groundwork, are objects
which neither weary nor satiate our sight.
The practice of taking a vote for presidential candidates in the cars
has been run into the ground. By this I mean that it has been carried
to a ridiculous excess. So far I have had occasion to vote several
times. A man may be indifferent as to expressing his vote when out of
his state; but a man's curiosity must have reached a high pitch when
he travels through a train of cars to inquire how the passengers vote.
It is not uncommon, I find, for people to carry out the joke by voting
with their real opponents. Various devices are resorted to to get a
unanimous vote. For example, a man will say, "All who are in favor of
Buchanan take off their boots; all in favor of Fremont keep them on."
Again, when there are several passengers on a stage-coach out west,
and they are passing under the limbs of a tree, or low bridge, as they
are called, it is not unusual far a Fremont man to say, "All in favor
of Fremont bow their heads."
I have a word to say about refreshments on railroad routes. It is,
perhaps, well known that the price for a meal anywhere on a railroad
in the United States is fifty cents. That is the uniform price. Would
that the meals were as uniform! But alas! a man might as well get a
quid of tobacco with his money, for he seldom gets a quid pro quo.
Once in a couple of days' travel you may perhaps get a wholesome meal,
but as a general thing what you get (when you get out of New England)
isn't worth over a dime. You stop at a place, say for breakfast, after
having rode all night. The conductor calls out, "Twenty minutes for
breakfast." There is a great crowd and a great rush, of course. Well,
the proprietor expects there will be a crowd, and ought to be
prepared. But how is it? Perhaps you are lucky enough to get a seat at
the table. Then your chance to get something to eat is as one to
thirteen: for as there is nothing of any consequence on the table,
your luck depends on your securing the services of a waiter who at the
same time is being called on by about thirteen others as hungry as
yourself. Then suppose you succeed! First comes a cup of black coffee,
strong of water; then a piece of tough fried beef steak, some fried
potatoes, a heavy biscuit a little sour (and in fact everything is
sour but the pickles). You get up when you have finished eating it
would be a mockery to say when you have satisfied your appetite and
at the door stand two muscular men (significantly the proprietor is
aware of the need of such) with bank bills drawn through their
fingers, who are prepared to receive your 50c. It is not unusual to
hear a great deal of indignation expressed by travellers on such
occasions. No man has a right to grumble at the fare which hospitality
sets before him. But when he buys a dinner at a liberal price, in a
country where provisions are abundant, he has a right to expect
something which will sustain life and health. Those individuals who
have the privilege of furnishing meals to railroad travellers probably
find security in the reflection that their patronage does not depend
on the will of their patrons. But the evil can be remedied by the
proprietors and superintendents of the roads, and the public will look
for a reformation in dinners and suppers at their hands.
I might say that from Benwood, near Wheeling where I arrived at
about four in the afternoon, having been nearly twenty-four hours
coming 875 miles I passed on to Zanesville to spend the night;
thinking it more convenient, as it surely was, to go to bed at eleven
at night and start the next morning at eight, than to go to bed at
Wheeling at nine, or when I chose, and start again at two in the
morning.
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