OCR Text |
Show ON HIS TRAVELS. Caught Hi e Polities, and Sorely1 Afflicted With It. A Little War History. ftioles nod Oiluion. j Columbia, Pa, JlarchSO, 1S77. Editors Herald: , This town in on the leit bank of tho SiifquchannA, immidiately opposite oppo-site Wrifchtaville, with which ii is connected by a railroad bridge a mile land a quarter in length. This bridee, or rather its predecessor, baa a his- 1 tory closely associated with a critical ( event in the annals of our nation during the war of the rebellion. I i rofer to the battle of Gettysburg, in 1 1803. Just before this bioody and hard faugh t action the confederates under General E.irly had invested ( Wriyhlavillo were only prevented j from crossing to Columbia by ; tho burning of the bridge This checked tho advance of Lee in Peuu- -eylvnnia, gave General Mead timo to ' come up, and thoroby determined the fate of the confederate leader on tho j field of battle, Columbia, liko Lancaster Lan-caster Co. generally, is strongly re-' publican; while its sister burough,1 Wrightsvillo, in the county of York, is equally tenacious of democratic, principles. Thus the feuds of the I "Two Koses" are politically realized l in the nineteenth century. The Susquehanna river forniB the, boundary between the two counties ' and is included in that of Lancaster. ! Columbia is a live railroad town with lines branching in four diflerent directions; di-rections; it basils quota of public buildings, mercantile houses and numbers its inhabitants at 9,000;' with a liberal per cent of colored ! element. It also has two telegraph, and two express oQicea an excellent free school, several iron loundries many lino orivate residences, many old fashioned ones and supports three newspapers. ' In common with tho whole country this place ban been much agitated by ! the fluctuations of the late political, excitement. Journalists favoring either party havo been busily engaged , since hut November in waging a war ' lare of quills and graphite and scat-; tering the embers ol internecine Btrife, cold dinners and curtain lectures etc., . throughout the community. Newsboys News-boys have reaped a pecuniary harvest, ' while juvenile street broils have been . in daily order for months motions of belligerent import, presented, seconded, accepted, and amended Lhe day following. On the night of the olh inst., a cheap attempt at a demonstration wa3 instituted by a few over-zealous republicans, who, braving the inauspicious state of the weather whose clerk is evidently a democrat paraded the streets for two hours to the soulstirring uproar ol two snare drums, and the infinite disgust dis-gust of all quiet loving inhabitants in bed who were under the impression that some small boys were "playing soidier." It was a mournful looking cortege, forcibly suggesting in spite of the noisy drums, tho "Burial of Sir John Moore," and inspiring in the minds of observers a pity for their weather-beaten condition. The sky as though weeping at the election result re-sult was drizzling with rain; and Aeolus contributing liberally to render the scene yet more unplensant, iho aspect of these enthusiasts with bluo noses, oil Bkin cioaks, and cigars clutched convulsively in tho teeth, vainly trying to delude themselves into the belief that they were having a good time, was ludicrous in the extreme; ex-treme; and only equaled by the like picture of a troop of Shanghai roosters on a rainy morning. But the excitemeni of the electtion has subsided; the embers of radicalism radical-ism are smouldering, and except now then when a half fledged son of Ethiop, whose father don't take a paper, (since ho was caught at it last) gives vent to his swelling patriotism patriot-ism in a prolonged yell of "Hurra (or Hayes," or an argumentative friction fric-tion causes the cooling cinders of democracy to scintillato afresh, no one would know but that the political atmosphere was becalmed, and Hayes the nation's choice. A peculiar item of interest aftf r the occurrence of any marked event in history is the number of wiseacres who predicted just such a result-men result-men who "told you bo" and "knew how it would all end" when the biggest big-gest heads in the country were in the midst of doubt and speculation. Tho present is not wanting in these retrospective phenomena, but their alleged predictions savor of the element ele-ment in the case of the old darkie hoeing potatoes; who, after whacking ; into his big toe protruding from the soil some eighteen inchea ahead, thinking it was a vegetable, "knowed mighty well it was his toe, de minit he hit it." The opinion is obtaining, however, that Hayes is the man for the p'ace he holds; though the motor whicu placed him thero is and ever will be earnestly deprecated by all fair minded people. His policy is conciliatory apparently, and is per haps actuated by a desire for the general gen-eral cood; but this does not hide' the illegality of his election nor palliate hia wilful usurpation of the place which belongs to another, and this reproach with the sobriquet of "Brad-Icy "Brad-Icy Hayes" will follow him to the end of his career. During the Centennial the universal uni-versal regret was that everybody's home wasn't in Philadelphia. Non-people Non-people seem to think that Ohio is the best place in which to live; the reason is obvioiu. But I arn dabbling dab-bling too much, in politics for my peace of mind. The election ievfr in contagious and as my Shakespearian antecessor observes "I have it, 'tis here, yet confused" which you have ere this, doubtless, preceived. We all can't be stoical though, and one might as well ignoro his breakfast us politics, now. Dumvivimtts vivamus. But politicians are not the only indigenous in-digenous growth to Pennsylvania. One of the principal products of larming, wmcu is extensively followed fol-lowed in this county, is tobacco of an excellent quality for the cigar manufacture manu-facture known as the Counecticut broad-leaf. It even attracts lawyers from California and the estimated receipts in 1S7G for Lancaster Co. alone, amount to two millions of dollars. Of necessity the raising o( tobacco impoverishes the land to an extent, but tho use of lime (of which vast quantities are burnt) as a lertilizer, restores and perpetuates its productiveness. Nature, a bountiful in supplying rain to this region, and thus obviates the labor and expense of irrigation to which our Utah farmers are subjected. The "garnered fullness" even now is pouring profusely, aa it has been for several days, and on tiie street is frequently heard the expression l" it never going to letup?" Which. by thtj way reminds me that your readers may have a limited pMienre and ejaculate similarly regarding , this letter. ' I ago. , |