UNWONTED CIVILITY ON KAIL. 79 



liness than any I had been in before, but that in charge 

 of the van there was (by the greatest good luck) a really 

 civil and respectable baggage-master, who, at the request 

 of Adams's express telegraphic agent, agreed to take my 

 dogs as far as Pittsburgh for nothing. In this train, and 

 further on, I met with several gentlemen and ladies of 

 the upper classes, well informed in all matters, most 

 agreeable and delightfully good-natured, and, if I am not 

 incorrect in my recollection, I cannot help thinking that 

 among them (betwixt Pittsburgh and Cincinnati) I met 

 with Mr and Mrs Sullivant, going to their residence at 

 Homer, Champlain County, Illinois, who most kindly in 

 vited me to pay them a visit. The pencil note of the ad 

 dress, made at the moment, has become so nearly effaced 

 that it is with much difficulty that I can read it ; but I 

 am fain not to pass over, from apparent neglect, some of 

 the most agreeable and kind acquaintances made by me 

 during my visit to the United States. We began, then, 

 the gradual ascent of the Alleghany Mountains on as fine 

 a day as any traveller could desire to be out in, and the 

 scenery was perfection ! To have a better view, I left the 

 inside of the train and stood out upon the little landing- 

 place behind, where the breaksman stands to regulate the 

 speed, and thence holding on to the hand-rail, I could 

 see all around me, and make a note of all I desired to re 

 member. On either side, the high hills arose, clothed in 

 timber to their summits, the foliage occasionally varied 

 by the jutting into sight of rocks and crags. Beneath 

 these crags- might have been caverns for the dens of bears 

 who still haunt these forests, though their race is nearly 

 run, on account of the gradual approach of man. At in 

 tervals the bleached ghosts of mighty trees, similar to 



