10 A CALIFORNIA TRAMP. 



with blue vitriol. In those clays the Western trains started 

 from Eleventh and Market streets, and were drawn by mules 

 to the suburbs. The drift of the rain on the car windows al- 

 most hid the lamp lights as we slowly passed out the drenched 

 streets ; until, when beyond the Schuylkill, a locomotive dis- 

 placed our long-eared propellers. There were no sleeping-cars 

 then to mitigate the sorrows of all-night travel, so I had 

 ample time, in my wakefulness, to think over past deeds and 

 the future troubles my leaving home might bring. To cheer 

 myself up I bought a comic book of one of the juvenile fiends 

 who, even in those times, made travelers miserable; but its 

 overdrawn humor and stale jokes so increased my unhappy 

 feeling that I put it awa}^ in disgust. Ever since I have had 

 a horror of books of the alleged "funny" order, a feeling 

 which extends even to works of the "Mark Twain" class, 

 books whose humor generally is made at the expense of relig- 

 ion and morality. The night passed at last, and when morn- 

 ing brought a clear sunrise and a view of the beautiful valley 

 of the Juniata, I began to take a more cheerful view of life. 



Around curves, by heavy grades and through gloomy tun- 

 nels, and the Alleghenies were passed ; and at two o'clock in the 

 afternoon the smoke- plumed chimneys of Pittsburgh came in 

 sight. The coming night was passed on a Lake Erie steamer, 

 and the next afternoon found me at my destination. 



The party who employed me turned out to be a visionary — 

 a " crank " he would be termed now. The large tract of land 

 he was on he was simply superintendent of, instead of owner, 

 and the business I was to have charge of was simpl}^ his men- 

 tal tenant, without prospect of the remotest materialization. 

 So in course of a month I discharged my employer; and with 

 ten dollars and a pair of boots I had earned, I re-obeyed 

 Greeley's as yet unspoken command to " Go West, young man " 

 — an order, it will be noticed, I obeyed in instalments. 



I stopped one day in Chicago, then on jack-screws and work- 



