Had He Done So, His Love Of Truth
Would Have Forbidden Him To Presume That Even Mark Tapley Could Have
Enjoyed Himself In Such An Eden.
I had no wish myself to go to Cairo, having heard it but
indifferently spoken of by all men; but my friend with whom I was
traveling was peremptory in the matter.
He had heard of gun-boats
and mortar-boats, of forts built upon the river, of Columbiads,
Dahlgrens, and Parrotts, of all the pomps and circumstance of
glorious war, and entertained an idea that Cairo was the nucleus or
pivot of all really strategetic movements in this terrible national
struggle. Under such circumstances I was as it were forced to go to
Cairo, and bore myself, under the circumstances, as much like Mark
Tapley as my nature would permit. I was not jolly while I was there
certainly, but I did not absolutely break down and perish in its
mud.
Cairo is the southern terminus of the Illinois Central Railway.
There is but one daily arrival there, namely, at half-past four in
the morning; and but one dispatch, which is at half-past three in
the morning. Everything is thus done to assist that view of life
which Mark Tapley took when he resolved to ascertain under what
possible worst circumstances of existence he could still maintain
his jovial character. Why anybody should ever arrive at Cairo at
half-past four A.M., I cannot understand. The departure at any hour
is easy of comprehension.
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