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enty miles; which journey is accomplished in a day by the stage. But, whether fortunately or otherwise, our stage broke down about half a mile from Cob-run. The driver, by leading the horses, made out to get it to a tavern, kept at the Run, twenty-five miles from Alexandria; and here I had to stay from Saturday till Monday evening. The accommodation was wretched as words can describe. The tavern was kept by one O'Neal, of Irish descent, as his name bespeaks; he appertains to the old nobility of Ireland. But unfortunately for him and myself, the name was all that remained of his noble family. The house was open and cold; the family, which was no small one, had been sick and looked like ghosts, and they had but two wretched beds in the house, with not more furniture than ought to serve for one; this, however, I found out by degrees. The appearance of the house out side, was certainly the greatest take in, in the world. It was a spacious frame building, painted white, with a long piazza. But upon gaining the interior I was struck with horror. The first thing I saw was a squalid young woman, who upon our approach, jumped into the bar, and stood with her head thrust through a small window in the same, and with a ghastly smile seemed to signify her business, viz: she had whiskey to sell. O poverty, to what shifts art thou reduced! I looked at her and shuddered! I then looked, what was the prospect? the family, which consisted of three other women and as many children, were sitting by a poor fire; the room was wretchedly furnished; the only thing in it was a large sign-board, which the wind. had blown down, with Marcus O'Neal, painted in large letters, and entertainment for waggoners. All to my comfort, (no small one,) was the appearance of the landlady, whose countenance bespoke every thing I wished. She was sadly dressed indeed; but she had a sweet countenance, and evidently showed she had seen better days; a glance at her assured me I was safe; and I felt as happy as though I were in a palace; the event proved that I had not mistaken her. O'Neal was from home, he was at a sale. I took a seat by the fire; converted the misfortune into a subject of amusement;

though these creatures, except the old lady, were little qualified to amuse, farther than it presented human nature in a new light. Concealing my embarrassment with all the care I could muster, I introduced common topics, such as weather, and how long they had lived there, how many children, &c. ; I soon gathered her history. She was a native of Maryland, but had lived in Virginia for the last eight years; and for the last eighteen months on the place where she then lived. This last place was a low flat situation, from which cause, as she conjectured, her family had been sick great part of the time. She had, besides small children, four daughters that were grown. But alas! what a falling off: those young people seemed no more than lumps of breathing clay. Without their sprightliness, they possessed no more judgment than children. Whether that apathy depicted in their every look, and inaction exhibited in their movements, was the effect of their disorder, climate, education, or mental defect, I was unable to discover; but its effect on me was that of mingled disgust and horror.

To divert my feelings, I walked into the piazza, and commenced a conversation with a traveller, a young man, the only one about the house. He lived some distance up the country; had been to Alexandria; was on foot, and was waiting for a waggon, which he expected from Alexandria that evening, to ride on to his residence. While conversing with this stranger, I discovered sufficient matter of amusement for the remainder of the evening. This was a bank of oyster shells, at the end of the porch; the first I had seen. I suspected what they were at first sight, when it was confirmed by the young man. These shells are very like muscle shells; they are, however, much longer in proportion to the width; much thicker, and differ from a muscle shell in this, viz: they have a protuberance on the inside; nor is the cavity of the shell as deep as that of the latter. The extremity of each end is not so pointed as that of a muscle shell; they differ in size from one to seven inches in length; they are broad at one end, in the shape of a negro child's foot. Whilst I was admiring those shells, a waggon drove up to the door, which proved to

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be the one in which the young man was to take his passage, and to my infinite delight it was loaded with oysters! Curiosity was now fully gratified. We soon had a quantity produced from the waggon and laid on the fire in the shell, which is called roasting oysters. A little time serves to make them sufficiently done; we next had them fryed, stewed, &c. From what I had heard respecting oysters, I made up my mind, that either I would be immoderately fond of them, or dislike them altogether; but neither these conclusions proved the result. For, although I could eat them very well, I was by no means enamoured with them; and was at a loss to account for that enthusiastic admiration on the one hand, and that violent dislike on the other, expressed on the subject of oysters, as an article of food. That fondness which many attain, must be acquired from habit; have since been told, that they are esteemed for their flavor; but I did not find it agreeable, or the contrary. I heard a great deal said about the appearance of fresh oysters, (pickled oysters are common in the west.) I had heard them compared sometimes to one thing, and sometimes to another; and amongst other things, to a piece of fat meat; but no comparison I had heard was a just illustration of the oyster. If it be like any thing, it is like one of those tendons, or large gristles, which are attached to beef-shins, when boiled very tender. It resembles this more than any thing else, both in color and substance; it is flexible like the gristle, when hot; but differs from it in this: it has a hard substance resembling a kernal towards one end; the largest is, in size, something like a man's thumb; but to those who have seen pickled oysters, this last is needless.

At length night arrived, and with it came O'Neal, the landlord, and likewise a troop of rough looking men, who had, like him, been at the sale. O'Neal as well as his companions, had been sacrificing to Bacchus, which rendered them rather unwelcome guests. A little while after their arrival, supper, which consisted of coffee, chickens, butter, cheese, and biscuit, was placed on the table; (in a different room from the bar-room.) I had not the courage, however, to sup with such a savage

looking group and felt no very pleasing sensations, while I from the fire beheld the party at the table in the same room where I was seated. Their conversation was not absolutely without sense; but so loud and so mingled with oaths and horse-laughs, added to their fierce eyes, and red faces, that it put my western courage to the test. To my infinite joy the whole group departed after they had supped; and I sat to supper myself. Before I was done, however, I was interrupted by the entrance of waggoners, who drove up to the door, and entered the supper room without ceremony. They called for supper, and for leave to spend the night. This added to my perplexity again; as it had grown late, and I wished to lie down, but my bed being in the same room where the waggoners must eat, I had another opportunity of exercising patience, a virtue of so much service to us in this uncertain world. In about an hour, the supper affair being over, I located myself upon a pallet before the fire, and slept sound till morning. Next day I derived no little amusement from looking at the great number of waggons which (though Sunday) were going and returning from Alexandria; the - road, which passed near the door, was full from morning till long after dark. These waggons were conveying flour to Alexandria, which affords a good market for that article. I had met upwards of an hundred the preceding day; and it appeared that it was to have no end. The road from Berry's ferry to Alexandria is paved the whole way; which, though it facilitates the transportation of flour in these waggons, is not very pleasant to travel on at the rate of seventy miles per day; it is, the roughest pavement I ever was on; it would not be bad policy to have one's life and limbs insured, before undertaking the trip. The toll I am told is very high; but waggons with broad tire pass free, on account of the service they are to the road. At the end of every mile, there is a broad stone set up near the road.

These waggons, and the history of O'Neal, helped to beguile the time, which nevertheless was very heavy. O'Neal is a native of North-Carolina; he is a man of gigantic size, six feet in height, weighing about two hun

dred, strong and muscular. His manners were blunt, but sincere; his countenance open-his face showed intemperance; he was forty-seven years of age, and plainly clad; but under this disguise, I could discern something generous, something like noble independence. He had six uncles, besides his father, in the revolutionary war-two of his mother's brothers, and four of his father's! One of his uncles was wounded at the battle of the Cowpens; as he stated, the bullet went in at his breast and came out at the point of his shoulder. He placed his back against a tree and fired his piece, which he had never let fall, and then desired some of the men to take him off the field. This man, whose family contributed so large a share in securing the independence of his country, is now, with a large and helpless family, struggling with poverty; while others, of perhaps not half his deserts, who never contributed to the amount of one cent towards this great event, and who never saw the face of an enemy, are enjoying the benefit achieved by those worthy patriots. But thisi s the way with this too ungrateful world.

Productions of the Country.-The principal growth consists of black oak, black jack, hickory, sassafras, box, ash, pine, and persimon. Good wheat is reared in the counties near the Blue Ridge, in some places as high as thirty-eight bushels to the acre. Some of the land brings good tobacco, maize does not succeed well, timothy succeeds well as low down as O'Neal's. Some limestone too, is found in places-good water is scarce. On Monday evening I bid adieu to Cobrun and Marcus O'Neal, and undertook a journey of twenty-five miles about sunset, in the worst carriage I ever was in! Once more patience. One distinguishing trait in the. character of these lowlanders, is a fondness for drink; besides the evidence already mentioned, I witnessed a few in the course of the evening. When we drew near Fairfax court-house, we met numbers of gentlemanly looking men on horseback, reeling in the saddle, their red faces and bloated bodies, proved them to be old veterans of the bottle. As we passed the court-house,

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