though these creatures, except the old lady, were little 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 cach 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 b. sa te a fir the ha re W to su by to ha the ne 1. flav I h oys had son pie a j it i are res and but sem siz hav A land who his rend afte chic tabl not re little man na 1ssment common d lived red her ad lived the last 1. This ause, as rt of the ers that young clay. 0 more epicted r move educabut its ror. za, and 1 young me dis was on xpected sidence. d suffihe eve› end of at they ? young ; they to the shell in le; nor · latter. > that of 'n inchhape of those oved to 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; I 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 hur-' SO H ry fat of br pla be to tril of str hal one the by too sations, in the crsation and so to their 'n cour oup de er my pted by e door, They night. grown in the Ianoth e of so about myself mornt from though ia; the morning Iveying rket for he preno end. ved the sporta@sant to t is the be bad e underh; but of the ry mile, Iped to heavy. man of wo 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 coutributed 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 Marous 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 where the mail had to be opened, such was the press and clamour of the crowd, (court was sitting,) that the mail was not opened at all! The driver (though a good hand at the bottle himself,) was so overawed by the crowd, which really had a formidable appearance, that he was glad to be off, and so was I. It is much to be lamented that the blessings of liberty should arrive at such a pass, that it is dangerous to open the mail at the seats of justice! Alas for my country, has it come to this! The swords of your enemies were unable to conquer you, but like Alexander, you are vanquished by your vices! No longer, it appears, can sober men be found to transact public business-even in transporting the mail, a business which demands the highest trust: from Nashville to this place, I have seen but one driver who would not drink! My present driver is bold in it; he carries his bottle in the box; this is soon emptied, but grog shops abound on the road, to these he has recourse. Several times to-night, has he left the stage in the road, without any one to attend it, and went, God knows where, to buy whiskey; absent sometimes thirty minutes. It was well the horses were sober! The risk is not only in the mismanagement of the stage, and horses, by these drunken drivers, but in matters of much greater consequence. Although I am not much of a coward, I must confess, I felt rather uneasy in the stage, while this fellow was absent, particularly in a country where mail robbery was not unknown. A little before ten o'clock, I arrived in Alexandria, the first town I evcr set foot in, in the eastern country. Alexandria.-Having been whirled here in the night, I had no opportunity of seeing the city. Upon going to the window next morning, which faces the street, and market-square, I was shocked at a sight entirely new to me. The street and market-square presented groups of men, women, and children, combining every shade of colour, from the fairest white, down to the deepest black. White and black people I had been accustomed to see, and a few mulattoes, but such a multifarious mixture, bursting upon the sight at once, was as novel, as whi guis one exc in i to h blac som tha gra cha muc as litic befo it a: mor that But lead slave has flesh truls even most exan most beca whic mon say) a sta cies prov but E Arago Inore |
