A
craving for soap and water is as the wail of the weak and the
confession of cowardice.
This indifference is carried into all
their affairs, or rather this manifestation of indifference. A few
pages back, I spoke of a man whose furniture had been sold to pay a
heavy tax raised on him specially as a secessionist; the same man
had also been refused the payment of rent due to him by the
government, unless he would take a false oath. I may presume that
he was ruined in his circumstances by the strong hand of the
Northern army. But he seemed in no wise to be unhappy about his
ruin. He spoke with some scorn of the martial law in Missouri, but
I felt that it was esteemed a small matter by him that his furniture
was seized and sold. No men love money with more eager love than
these Western men, but they bear the loss of it as an Indian bears
his torture at the stake. They are energetic in trade, speculating
deeply whenever speculation is possible; but nevertheless they are
slow in motion, loving to loaf about. They are slow in speech,
preferring to sit in silence, with the tobacco between their teeth.
They drink, but are seldom drunk to the eye; they begin at it early
in the morning, and take it in a solemn, sullen, ugly manner,
standing always at a bar; swallowing their spirits, and saying
nothing as they swallow it. They drink often, and to great excess;
but they carry it off without noise, sitting down and ruminating
over it with the everlasting cud within their jaws. I believe that
a stranger might go into the West, and passing from hotel to hotel
through a dozen of them, might sit for hours at each in the large
everlasting public hall, and never have a word addressed to him. No
stranger should travel in the Western States, or indeed in any of
the States, without letters of introduction. It is the custom of
the country, and they are easily procured. Without them everything
is barren; for men do not travel in the States of America as they do
in Europe, to see scenery and visit the marvels of old cities which
are open to all the world. The social and political life of the
American must constitute the interest of the traveler, and to these
he can hardly make his way without introductions.
I cannot part with the West without saying, in its favor, that there
is a certain manliness about its men which gives them a dignity of
their own. It is shown in that very indifference of which I have
spoken. Whatever turns up, the man is still there; still
unsophisticated and still unbroken. It has seemed to me that no
race of men requires less outward assistance than these pioneers of
civilization. They rarely amuse themselves. Food, newspapers, and
brandy smashes suffice for life; and while these last, whatever may
occur, the man is still there in his manhood. The fury of the mob
does not shake him, nor the stern countenance of his present martial
tyrant. Alas! I cannot stick to my text by calling him a just man.
Intelligence, energy, and endurance are his virtues. Dirt,
dishonesty, and morning drinks are his vices.
All native American women are intelligent. It seems to be their
birthright. In the Eastern cities they have, in their upper
classes, superadded womanly grace to this intelligence, and
consequently they are charming as companions. They are beautiful
also, and, as I believe, lack nothing that a lover can desire in his
love. But I cannot fancy myself much in love with a Western lady,
or rather with a lady in the West. They are as sharp as nails, but
then they are also as hard. They know, doubtless, all that they
ought to know, but then they know so much more than they ought to
know. They are tyrants to their parents, and never practice the
virtue of obedience till they have half-grownup daughters of their
own. They have faith in the destiny of their country, if in nothing
else; but they believe that that destiny is to be worked out by the
spirit and talent of the young women. I confess that for me Eve
would have had no charms had she not recognized Adam as her lord. I
can forgive her in that she tempted him to eat the apple. Had she
come from the West country, she would have ordered him to make his
meal, and then I could not have forgiven her.
St. Louis should be, and still will be, a town of great wealth. To
no city can have been given more means of riches. I have spoken of
the enormous mileage of water communication of which she is the
center. The country around her produces Indian-corn, wheat,
grasses, hemp, and tobacco. Coal is dug even within the boundaries
of the city, and iron mines are worked at a distance from it of a
hundred miles. 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.
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