122 EDUCATION AND TAXATION. 



the public taxes in 1856 on the support of education as our 

 own old, populous, and wealthy country. Nor is this the 

 whole property devoted to education ; for, besides the amount 

 which I have mentioned as levied by taxation, the thirty-sixth 

 part of all the lands, amounting to 800,000 acres, are set aside 

 for the support of schools. 



The average rate of taxation for Ohio is 1-02 per cent, on 

 the estimated capital value of the entire property of every 

 kind in the State. As the net income from land is estimated 

 at 10 per cent., this rate of taxation on capital is equivalent 

 to a little over 10 per cent, on the annual income. And yet 

 this State is reckoned to be moderately taxed compared with 

 many others. 



After visiting Columbus, the capital of the State, we push- 

 ed on to Wheeling, where we crossed the Ohio river, and en- 

 tered Virginia. Day was just breaking as we reached Alta- 

 mont, the loftiest station on the Alleghanies, and we then 

 commenced our descent on the eastern side of the mountains. 

 They are clothed with wood to their summits, and the glens 

 along which the train shot rapidly out and in are pretty, but 

 not wild. We followed the course of a wimpling streamlet 

 which gathered to itself all the little rills from every hill side, 

 and during the ten hours of our continuous journey, saw it 

 growing by degrees, in a course of 150 miles, into a majestic 

 river, the Potomac. The scenery was very interesting during 

 the whole day's ride, but became extremely fine as we approach- 

 ed Harper's Ferry, where there is but one gorge through the 

 mountains for river, canal, and railroad. The mountains rise 

 on either side to a considerable height, the river dashes along 

 against the precipitous rock on both sides, and the railroad for 

 a mile or more is carried on piers above the stream till the 

 gorge is passed, and a narrow strip of ground gives it a firmer 

 footing. We soon reach the low country, in Maryland, which 



