The Iron Is So Pure That It Is Broken Off In Solid
Blocks, Almost Free From Alloy; And As The
Metal stands up on the
earth's surface in the guise almost of a gigantic metal pillar,
instead of lying low
Within its bowels, it is worked at a cheap
rate, and with great certainty. Nevertheless, at the present
moment, the iron works of Pilot Knob, as the place is called, do not
pay. As far as I could learn, nothing did pay, except government
contracts.
CHAPTER VI
CAIRO AND CAMP WOOD.
To whatever period of life my days may be prolonged, I do not think
that I shall ever forget Cairo. I do not mean Grand Cairo, which is
also memorable in its way, and a place not to be forgotten, but
Cairo in the State of Illinois, which by native Americans is always
called Caaro. An idea is prevalent in the States - and I think I
have heard the same broached in England - that a popular British
author had Cairo, State of Illinois, in his eye when, under the name
of Eden, he depicted a chosen, happy spot on the Mississippi River,
and told us how certain English immigrants fixed themselves in that
locality, and there made light of those little ills of life which
are incident to humanity even in the garden of the valley of the
Mississippi. But I doubt whether that author ever visited Cairo in
midwinter, and I am sure that he never visited Cairo when Cairo was
the seat of an American army.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 171 of 531
Words from 45587 to 45845
of 142339
