The secret service, the field, the dungeon, and the escape

Front matter

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Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from The Library of Congress

THE

Chapter I

Going South ia the Secret Service. — Instructions from the Managing Editor. — A Visit to the Mainmotli Cave of Kentucky. — Nashville, Tennessee. — Alabama Unionists. — How the State was Precipitated into the Rebellion. — Reaching Memphis. — Abolitionists Mobbed and Hanged. — Brutalities of Slavery 17

'^ CHAPTER II.

In Memphis. — IIow the Secessionists Carried the Day. — Aims of the Leading Rebels. — On the Railroad. — A Northerner Warned. — An Amusing Dialogue. — Talk about Assassinating President Lincoln. — Arrival in New Orleans. — Hospitality from a Stranger. — An Ovation to General Twiggs. — Braxton Bragg. — The Rebels Anxious for "War. — A Glance at the Louisiana Convention , 31

Chapter III

Association with Leading Secessionists. — Their Hatred of New England. — Admission to the Democratic Club. — Abuse of President Lincoln. — Sinking Buildings, Cellars and "Walls Impossible. — Cemeteries above Ground. — Monument of a Pirate. — Canal Street. — The Great Erench Markets. — Dedication of a Secession Flag in the Catholic Church. — The Cotton Presses. — Visit to the Jackson Battle-ground. — • The Creoles. — Jackson's Head-Quarters. — A Fire in the Rear. — A Life Saved by a Cigar. — A Black Republican Flag. — Vice-President Hamlin a Mulatto. — Northerners leaving the South 43

Chapter IV

How Letters were "Written and Transmitted. — A. System of Cipher. — A Philadelphian among the Rebels. — Probable fate of a Tribune Ooi*- respondent, if Discovered. — Southern Mannfactnres. — A Visit to a Southern Shoe Factory. — Where the Machinery and Workmen came from. — How Southern Shoes were Made. — Study of Southern Society. — Report of a Slave Auction. — Sale of a White Woman. — Girls on the Block. — Husbands and Wives Separated. — A most Revolting Spectacle. — The Delights of a Tropical Climate 57

Chapter V

A Northerner among the Minute Men. — Louisiana Convention. — A Lively Discussion. — Boldness of the Union Members. — Another Exciting Discussion. — Secessionists Repudiate their Own DoctriE ds. — Despotic Rebel Theories.— -The Korthwest to Join the Rebels. — The Great Swamp. — A Trip through Louisiana. — The Tribune Correspondent Invited to a Seat in the Mississippi Convention VI

Chapter VI

The Mississippi State-House. — View of the Rebel Hall. — Its General Air of Dilapidation. — A Free-and-Easy Convention. — Southern Orators. — The Anglo- African Delegate. — A Speech Worth Preserving. — Familiar Conversation of Members. — New Orleans Again. — Reviewing Troops. — New Orleans Again. — Hatred of Southern Unionists. — Three Obnoxious Northerners. — The Attack on Sumter. — Rebel Bravado . . . . , 81

Chapter VII

Abolition Tendencies of Kentuckians. — Fundamental Grievances of the Rebels. — Sudden Departure from New Orleans. — Mobile. — The War Spirit High. — An Awkward Encounter. — "Massa, Fort Sumter has gone Up."— Bells Ringing. — Cannon Booming.— Up the Alabama River. — A Dancing Little Darkey. — How to Escape Suspicion. — Southern Characteristics and Provinciahsm. — Visit to the Confederate Capital. — At Montgomery, Alabama. — Copperas Breeches «s. Black Breeches. — A Correspondent under Arrest 91

Chapter VIII

A Journey Through Georgia. — Excitement of the People. — Washington to be Captured. — Apprehensions about Arming the Negroes. — A Fatal Question.— Charleston.— Looking at Fort Sumter.— A Short Stay in the City.— North Carolina. —The Country on Fire.— Submitting to Rebel Scrutiny.— The North Heard From.— Richmond, Virginia.— The Frenzy of the People.— Up the Potomac— The Old Flag Once More. — An Hour with President Lincoln. — Washington in Panic. —

A Eegiment which Came Out to Fight. — Baltimore under Eebel Eule. — Pennsylvania. — The North fully Aroused. — Uprising of the whole People — A Tribune Correspondent on Trial in Charleston. — He is Warned to Leave. — His Fortunate Escape 105

11. —THE FIELD.

Chapter IX

Sunday at Niagara Falls. — View froiu the Suspension Bridge. — The Palace of the Frost King. — Chicago, a City Eising from the Earth. — Mysteries of Western Currency. — A Horrible Spectacle in Arkansas.— Patriotism of the Northwest. — Missouri. — The Eebels bent on Eevolution. — Nathaniel Lyon. — Camp Jackson. — Sterling Price Joins the Eebels. — His Quarrel with Frank Blair. — His Personal Character. — • St. Louis in a Convulsion. — A Nashville Experience. — Bitterness of Old Neighbors. — Good Soldiers for Scaling Walls. — Wholesome Advice to Missouri Slaveholders 125

Chapter X

Cairo, Illinois. — A Visit from General McClellan. — A little Speech-making. — Penalty of Writing for The Tribune. — A Unionist Aided to Escape from Memphis by a Loyal Girl. — The Fascinations of Cairo. — The Death of Douglas. — A Clear-headed Contraband. — -A Eeview of the Troops. — "Not a Fighting Nigger, but a Eunning Nigger."— Capture of a Eebel Flag 141

Chapter XI

Missouri Again. — The Eetributions of Time.— A Eailroad Eeminiscence. — Jefferson City. — A Fugitive Governor. — " Black Eepublicanism." — Belligerent Chaplain. — A Eebel Newspaper Converted by the Iowa Soldiers. — Two Camp Stories of the Marvelous 151

Chapter XII

Chicago. — Corn, not Cotton, is King. — Curious Reminiscences of the City. — A Visit to the Grave of Douglas. — Patriotism of the Northwestern Germans. — Their Social Habits. — Cincinnati in the Early Days. — A City Founded by a Woman. — The Aspirations of the Cincinnatian. — Kentucky. — Treason and Loyalty in Louisville. — A Visit to George D. Prentice. — The first Union Troops of Kentucky. —

Struggle in the Kentucky Legislature. — "What the Eebel Leaders Want. — Eousseau's Visit to Washington.— His Interview with President Lincoln. — Timidity of the Kentucky Unionists. — Loyalty of Judge Lusk 157

Chapter XIII

Western Virginia. — Campaigning in the Kanawha Valley. — A Bloodtliirsty Female Eebel. — A Soldier Proves to be a Woman in Disguise. — Extravagant Joy of the Negroes. — How the Soldiers Foraged. — The Falls of the Kanawha. — A Tragedy of Slavery. — St. Louis. — The Future of the City. — A disgusted Eebel Editor 173

CHAPTER XIY.

The Battle of Wilson Creek. — Daring Exploit of a Kansas Officer. — Death of Lyon. — His Courage and Patriotism. — Arrival of General Fremont. — Union Families Driven Out. — An Involuntary Sojourn in Eebel Camps. — A Startling Confederate Atrocity 181

Chapter XV

Jeflferson City, Missouri. — Fremont's Army. — Organization of the Bohemian Brigade. — An Amusing Inquiry. — Diversions of the Correspondents. — A Polite Army Chaplain. — Sights in Jefferson City. — "Fights mit Sigel." — Fremont's Head-Quarters. — Appearance of the General. — Mrs. Fremont. — Sigel, Hunter, Pope, Asboth, McKinstry. — Sigel's Transportation Train. — A Countryman's Estimate of Troops 189

Chapter XVI

A Kid-gloved Corps. — Charge of Fremont's Body-guard. — Major White. • — Turning the Tables. — Welcome from the Union Eesidents of Springfield.— Freaks of the Kansas Brigade — A Visit to the Wilson-Creek Battle-Ground. — "Missing." — Graves Opened by Wolves. — Capture of a Female Spy. — Fremont's Farewell to His Army. — Dissatisfaction Among the Soldiers. — Spurious Missouri Unionists. — The Conduct of Secretary Cameron and Adjutant-General Thomas ,. . 199

CHxiPTER XVII.

Tlebel Guerrillas Outwitted. — Expedition to Fort Henry. — Scenes in the Captured Fort. — Commodore Foote in the Pulpit. — Capture of Fort Donelson. — Scenes in Columbus, Kentucky. — A Curious Anti-Climax. — Hospital Scenes 213

Chapter XVIII

Down the Mississippi. — Bombardment of Island Number Ten. — Sensations under Eire. — Flanking the Island. — Daily Life on a Gunboat. — Triumph of Engineering Skill. — The Surrender 225

Chapter XIX

The Battle of Shiloh. — "With the Sanitary Commission. — A Union Orator in Rebel Hands. — Grant and Sherman in Battle. — Hair-breadth 'Scapes. — General Sweeney. — Arrival of BuelPs Army. — The Final Struggle. — Losses of the Two Armies 235

Chapter XX

Grant under a Cloud. — He Smokes and "Waits. — Military Jealousies. — The Union and Rebel Wounded 243

Chapter XXI

An Interview with General Sherman. — His Complaints about the Press. : — Sherman's Personal Appearance. — Humors of the Telegraph. — Our Advance upon Corinth. — Weaknesses of Sundry Generals. — "Tea Thousand Prisoners Taken." — Halleck's Faux Pas at Corinth. — Out on the Front. — Among the Sharp-shooters. — Halleck and the War Correspondents 24T

Chapter XXII

Bloodthirstiness of Rebel Women. — The Battle of Memphis. — Gallant Exploit of the Rams. — A Sailor on a Lark. — Appearance of the Captured City. — The Jews in Memphis. — A Rebel Paper Supervised.— "A Dam Black-harted Ablichiness." — Challenge from a Southera Woman. — Valuable Currency. — A Rebel Trick. — One of Sherman's Jokes. — Fictitious Battle Reports.— Curtis's March through Arkansas. — The Siege of Cincinnati 259

Chapter XXIII

With the Army of the Potomac. — On the War-Path. — A Duel in Arizona. — How Correspondents Avoided Expulsion. — Shameful Surrender of Harper's Ferry. — General Hooker at Antietam. — "Stormed at with Shot and Shell."— A Night Among the Pickets.— The Battle-field 275

Chapter XXIV

The Day after the Battle. — Among the Dead. — Lee Permitted to Escape. — The John Brown Engine-House. — President Lincoln Reviewing the Army. — Dodging Cannon Balls. — "An Intelligent Contraband." — Harper's Ferry. — Curiosities of the Signal Corps. — "View from Maryland Eights 287

Chapter XXV

Marching Southward, — Eebel Girl with Sharp Tongue — A Slight Mistake. — Removal of General McClellan. — Farailiarity of the Pickets. — The Life of an Array Correspondent. — A Negro's Idea of Freedom. The Battle of Fredericksburg. — A Telegraphic Blunder. — The Batteries at Fredericksburg. — A Disappointed Virginian. — The Spirit of the Army under Defeat 299

Chapter XXVI

Eeminiscences of President Lincoln, — His Great Canvass with Douglas. — His Visit to Kansas. — His Manner of Public Speaking. — High Praise . from an Opponent. — A Deed without a Name. — Sherman's Quarrel with the Press. — An Army Correspondent Court-Martialed. — A Visit to President Lincoln. — Two of his "Little Stories." — His familiar Conversation. — Opinions about McClellan and Vicksburg. — Our best Contribution to History , 311

Chapter XXVII

Eeminiscences of General Sumner. — His Conduct in Kansas. — A Tlirilling Scene in Battle. — How Sumner Fought. — Ordered Back by Mc- Clellan. — Love for his Old Comrades. — Traveling Through the Northwest. — A Visit to Rosecrans's Army, — Rosecrans in a Great Battle. — ■ A Scene in Memphis 82T

III.— THE DUIS'GEOK.

Chapter XXVIII

Running the Vicksburg Batteries. — Expedition Badly Fitted Out. — " Into the Jaws of Death." — A Moment of Suspense. — Disabled and Drifting Helplessly. — Bombarding, Scalding, Burning, Drowning. — Taking to a Hay Bale. — Overturned. — Rescued from the River. — The Killed, "Wounded, and Missing , , , , , 83T

Chapter XXIX

Standing by Our Colors. — Confinement in the Vicksburg Jail.— Sympathizing Sambo. — Paroled to Return Home.— Turning the Tables. — Visit from Many Rebels. — Interview with Jacob Thompson. — Arrival in Jackson, Mississippi. — Kindness of Southern Rebels. — A Project for Escape 347

CnAPTER XXX.

A "Word with a Union "Woman. — Grierson's Great Raid. — Stumping the State. — An Enraged Texan Officer. — AVaggery of a Captured Journalist. — The Alabama River. — Atlanta Editors Advocate Hanging the Prisoners. — Renegade Vermonters 357

Chapter XXXI

Arrival in Richmond. — Lodged in Libby Prison. — Sufferings from Vermin. — Prisoners Denounced as Blasphemous. — Thieving of a Virginia Gentleman. — Brutality of Captain Turner. — Prisoners Murdered by the Guards. — Fourth of July Celebration. — The Horrors of Belle Isle 365

Chapter XXXII

The Captains Ordered Below. — Two Selected for Execution. — The Gloomiest Night in Prison. — Glorious Revulsion of Feeling. — Exciting Discussion in Prison. — Stealing Money from the Captives. — Horrible Treatment of Northern Citizens. — Extravagant Rumors among the Prisoners 373

Chapter XXXIII

Transferred to Castle Thunder. — Better than the Libby. — Determined Not to Die. — A Negro Cruelly Whipped. — The Execution of Spencer

Chapter XXXIV

A "Waggish .Journalist. — Proceedings of a Mock Court. — Escape by Killing a Guard. — ^Escape by Playing Negro. — Escape by Forging a Release, — Escaped Prisoner at Jeff Davis's Levee 387

Chapter XXXV

Assistance from a Negro Boy. — The Prison Officers Enraged. — Visit fi-om a Friendly "Woman. — Shut up in a Cell. — Stealing from Flag-of-

Truce Letters. — Parols Eepudiated by the Rebels. — Sentenced to tbe Salisbury Prison. — Abolitionists before the War 393

Chapter XXXVI

The Open Air and Pure "Water. — The Crushing Weight of Imprisonnaent. — Bad News from Home. — The Great Libby Tunnel. — Escape of Colonel Streight. — Horrible Sufferings of Union Officers. — A Cool Method of Escape. — Captured through the Obstinacy of a Mule.— Concealing Money when Searched. — Attempts to Escape Frustrated. — Yankee Deserters Whipped and Hanged 401

Chapter XXXVII

Great Influx of Prisoners. — Starving in tlie Midst of Pood. — Freezing in the Midst of Fuel. — Eebel Surgeons Generally Humane. — Terrible Scenes in the Hospitals. — The Rattling Dead- Cart. — Cruelty of our Government. — General Butler's Example of Retaliation 411

Chapter Xxxviii

Attempted Outbreak and Massacre. — Cold-blooded Murders Frequent. — Hostility to The Tribune Correspondents. — A Cruel Injustice. — Rebel Expectations of Peace. — The Prison Like the Tomb. — Something about Tunneling. — The Tunnelers Ingeniously BaflBed 419 ly.— THE ESCAPE.

Chapter XXXIX

Fifteen Months of Fruitless Endeavor. — A Fearful Journey in Prospect. —A Friendly Confederate Officer.— Effects of Hunger and Cold.— Another Plan in Reserve.— Passing the Sentinel. — "Beg Pardon, Sir." — Encountering Rebel Acquaintances , . .' 427

Chapter XL

*'Out of the Jaws of Death."— Concealed in Sight of the Prison.— Certain to be Brought Back. — Commencing the Long Journey. — Too Weak for Traveling. — Severe March in the Rain 435

Chapter XLI

A Cabin of Friendly Negroes. — Southerners Unacquainted witli Tea. — Walking Twelve Miles for Nothing. — Every Negro a Friend. — Touching Fidelity of the Slaves. — Pursued by a Home-Guard. — Help in the Last Extremity. — Carried Fifteen Miles by Friends 441

Chapter XLII

Curious Dilemma. — Food, Shelter, and Friends. — Loyalty of the Mountaineers. — A Levee in a Barn. — Visited by an Old Friend. — A Day of Alarms. — A Woman's Keady Wit. — Danger of Detection from Snoring. — Promises to Aid Suffering Comrades. — A Eepentant Rebel 449

CHAPTER XLII I.

Flanking a Eebel Camp. — Secreted among the Husks. — Wandering from the Eoad. — Crossing the Yadkin River, — Union Bushwhackers. — Union Soldiers " Lying Out." — An Energetic Invalid 461

CHAPTER XLiy.

Money Concealed in Clothing. — Peril of Union Citizens. — Fording Creeks at Midnight. — Climbing the Blue Ridge. — Crossing the New River at Midnight 469

CHAPTER XLV.

Over Mountains and Through Ravines. — Mistaken for Confederate Guards. — A Rebel Guerrilla Killed. — Meeting a Former Fellow-Prisoner. — Alarm about Rebel Cavalry. — A Stanch old Unionist. — The Greatest Danger.— A Well Fortified Refuge 477

CHAPTER XLVI.

DanEUis, the Union Guide. — In Good Hands at Last. — Ellis's Bravery. — Lost ! A Perilous Blunder. — A most Fortunate Encounter. — Rejoining Dan and His Party. — A Terrible March 487

CHAPTER XLYII.

Fording Creeks in the Darkness. — Prospect of a Dreary Night. — Sleeping among the Husks. — Turning Back in Discouragement. — An

Alarm at Midniglit. — A Young Lady for a Guide. — The Nameless Heroine 495

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Among the Delectable Mountains. — Separation from Friends. — Union Women Scrutinizing the Yankee. — "Slide Down off that Horse." — Friendly "Words, but Hostile Eyes. — Hospitalities of a Loyal Patriarch.—" Out of the Mouth of HeU." 503

"^iir couVv^'^

THE FIELD, THE DOTGEON, AND, THE ESCAPE.

Chapter I

I will go on the slightest errand now to the antipodes that you can desire to send me on. — Mctoh Ado about Nothing.

Early in 1861, I felt a strong desire to look at the Secession movement for myself; to learn, by personal observation, wliether it sprang from the people or not ; what the Revolutionists wanted, what they hoped, and what they feared.

But the southern climate, never propitious to the longevity of Abolitionists, was now unfavorable to the health of every northerner, no matter liow strong his political constitution. I felt the danger of being recognized ; for several years of roving journalism, and a good deal of political speaking on the frontier, had made my face familiar to persons whom I did not remember at all, and given me that large and motley acquaintance which every half-public life necessitates.

Moreover, I had passed through the Kansas struggle ; and many former shining lights of Border Ruffianism were now, with perfect fitness, lurid torches in the early bonfires of Secession. I did not care to meet their eyes, for I could not remember a single man of them all who

18 The Managing Editor. [isei.

would Ibe likely to love me, either wisely or too well. But the newspaper instinct was strong within me, and the journalist who deliberates is lost. My hesitancy resulted in writing for a roving commission to represent The Tribune in the Southwest.

A few days after, I found the Managing Editor in his office, going through the great pile of letters the morning mail had brought him, with the wonderful rapidity wliich quick intuition, long experience, and natural fitness for that most delicate and onerous position alone can give. For the modern newspaper is a sort of intellectual iron-clad, upon which, while the Editorial Captain makes out the reports to his chief, the public, and entertains the guests in his elegant cabin, the leading column, and receives the credit for every broadside of type and every paper bullet of the brain poured into the enemy, — back out of sight is an Executive Officer, with little popular fame, who keeps the ship all right from hold to maintop, looks to every detail with sleepless vigilance, and whose life is a daily miracle of hard work.

The Manager went through his mail, I think, at the rate of one letter per minute. He made final disposition of each when it came into his hand ; acting upon the great truth, that if he laid one aside for futui'e consideration, there would soon be a series of strata upon his groaning desk, which no mental geologist could fathom or classify. Some were ruthlessly thrown into the waste-basket. Others, with a lightning pencilstroke, to indicate the type and style of printing, were placed on the pile for the composing-room. A few great packages of manuscript were re-enclosed in envelopes for the mail, with a three-line note, which, while 1 did not read, I knew must run like this : —

1861.] PkELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS. 19

"My Dear Sir — Tour article has unquestionable merit; but by the imperative pressure of important news upon our columns, we are very reluctantly compelled," etc.

There was that quick, educated instinct, which reads the whole from a very small part, taking in a line here and a key- word there. Two or three glances appeared to decide the fate of each ; yet the reader was not wholly absorbed, for all the while he kept up a running conversation :

" I received your letter. Are you going to ISTew Orleans?"

" Ifot unless you send me."

"I suppose you know it is rather precarious business?"

"O, yes."

"Two of our correspondents have come home within the last week, after narrow escapes. We have six still in the South ; and it would not surprise me, this very hour, to receive a telegram annourfcing the imprisonment or death of any one of them."

"I have thought about all that, and decided."

"Then we shall be very glad to have you go."

" When may I start ?"

"To-day, if you like."

" What field shall I occupy ?"

"As large a one as you please. Go and remain just where you think best."

' ' How long shall I stay V '

"While the excitement lasts, if possible. Do you know how long you will stay ? You will be back here solne fine morning in just about two weeks."

"Wait and see."

Pondering upon the line of conduct best for the journey, I remembered the injunction of the immortal

20 A Rede Through Kentucky. [isei.

Pickwick: "It is always Ibest on these occasions to do what the mob do!" "But," suggested Mr. Snodgrass, " suppose there are two mohs ?" '■-'■ 8Jiout witJi the largest^'''' replied Mr. Pickwick. Volumes could not saymore. Upon this plan I determined to act — concealing my occupation, political views, and place of residence. It is not pleasant to wear a padlock upon one' s tongue, for weeks, nor to adopt a course of systematic duplicity ; "but personal convenience and safety rendered it an inexorable necessity.

On Tuesday, February 26th, I left Louisville, Kentucky, by the NashviUe train. Public affairs were the only topic of conversation among the passengers. They were about equally divided into enthusiastic Secessionists, urging in favor of the new movement that negroes already commanded higher prices than ever before; and quasi Loyalists, reiterating, "We only want Kentucky to remain in the Union as long as she can do so honorably." Not a single man declared himself unqualifiedly for the Government.

A ride of five hours among blue, dreamy hills, feathered with timber ; dense forests, with their drooping foliage and log dwellings, in the doors of which women and little girls were complacently smoking their pipes; great, hospitable farm-houses, in the midst of superb natural parks ; tobacco plantations, upon which negroes of both sexes — the women in cowhide brogans, and faded frocks, with gaudy kerchiefs wrapped like turbans about their heads — were hoeing, and following the plow, brought us to Cave City.

I left the train for a stage-ride of ten miles to the Mammoth Cave Hotel. In the midst of a smooth lawn? shaded by stately oaks and slender pines, it looms up huge and white, with a long, low, one- story off-

1861.] The Curiosities of White's Cave. 21

slioot fronted Iby a deep portico, and known as "tlie Cottages."

Several evening hours were spent pleasantly in White's Cave, where the formations, at first dull and leaden, turn to spotless white after one grows accustomed to the dim light of the torches. There are little lakes so utterly transparent that your eye fails to detect the presence of water ; stone drapery, hanging in graceful folds, and forming an exquisitely beautiful chamber ; petrified fountains, where the water still trickles down and hardens into stone ; a honey-combed roof, which is a very perfect counterfeit of art; long rows of stalactites, symmetrically ribbed and fluted, which stretch off in a pleasing colonnade, and other rare specimens of N'ature's handiwork in her fantastic moods. Many of them are vast in dimension, though the geologists declare that it requires tliirty years to deposit a formation no thicker than a wafer! "Well says the German proverb "Grod is patient because he is eternal."

With another visitor I passed the next day in the Mammoth Cave. "Mat," our sable cicerone, had been acting in the capacity of guide for twenty- five years, and it was estimated that he had walked more than fifty thousand miles under ground. The story is not so improbable when one remembers that the passages of the great cavern are, in the aggregate, upwards of one hundred and fifty miles in length, and that it has two hundred and twenty-six known chambers. The outfit consisted of two lamps for himself and one for each of us. Cans of oil are kept at several interior points ; for it is of the last importance that visitors to this labyrinth of darkness should keep their lamps trimmed and burning.

22 The Mammoth Cave. — Lung Complaints, [isei.

The thermometer within stands constantly at fiftynine Fahrenheit; and the cave ""breathes just once a year." Through the winter it takes one long inspiration, and in summer the air rushes steadily outward. Its vast chamhers are the lungs of the universe.

In 1845, a number of wood and stone cottages were erected in the cavern, and inhabited Iby consumptive patients, who believed that the dry atmosphere and equable temperature would prove beneficial. After three or four months their faces were bloodless ; the pupils of their sunken eyes dilated until the iris became invisible and the organs appeared black, no matter what their original color. Three patients died in the cave ; the others expired soon after leaving it.

Mat gave a vivid description of these invalids flitting about like ghosts — their hollow coughs echoing and reechoing through the cavernous chambers. It must have looked horrible — as if the tomb had oped its ponderous and marble jaws, that its victims might wander about in this subterranean Purgatory. A cemetery would seem cheerful in comparison with such a living entombment. Volunteer medical advice, like a motion to adjourn, is always in order. My own panacea for lung-complaints would be exactly the opposite. Mount a horse or take a carriage, and ride, by easy stages at first, across the great plains to the Rocky Mountains or California, eating and sleeping in the open air. Nature is very kind, if you will trust her fully ; and in the atmosphere, which is so dry and pure that fresh meat, cut in strips and hung up, will cure without salting or smoking, and may be carried all over the world, her healing power seems almost boundless.

The walls and roof of the cave were darkened and often hidden by myriads of screeching bats, at this

1861.] Methodist Church. — Fat Man's Misery. 23

season of the year all hanging torpid loj the claws, with heads downward, and unable to fly away, even when subjected to the cruel experiment of being touched by the torches.

The Methodist Church is a semi-circular chamber, in which a ledge forms the natural pulpit ; and logs, brought in when religious service was first performed, fifty years ago, in perfect preservation, yet serve for seats. Methodist itinerants and other clergymen still preach at long intervals. Worship, conducted by the " dim religious light" of tapers, and accompanied by the effect which music always produces in subterranean halls, must be peculiarly impressive. It suggests those early days in the Christian Church, when the hunted followers of Jesus met at midnight in mountain caverns, to blend in song their reverent voices ; to hear anew the strange, sweet story of his teachings, his death, and his all-embracing love.

Upon one of the walls beyond, a figure of gypsum, in bass-relief, is called the American Eagle. The venerable bird, in consonance with the evil times upon which he had fallen, was in a sadly ragged and dilapidated condition. One leg and other portions of his body had seceded, leaving him in seeming doubt as to his own identity ; but the beak was still perfect, as if lie could send forth upon occasion his ancient notes of self-gratulation.

Minerva's Dome has fluted walls, and a concave roof, beautifully honey-combed ; but no statue of its mistress. The oft-invoked goddess, wearied by the merciless orators who are always compelling her to leap anew from the brain of Jove, has doubtless, in some hidden nook, found seclusion and repose.

We toiled along the narrow, tortuous passage, chis-

24 A Ride Down the Lethe. [issi.

eled througli the rock 'by some ancient stream of water, and appropriately named the Fat Man' s Misery ; wiped away the perspiration in the ample passage beyond, known as the Great Relief; glanced inside the Bacon Chamber, where the little masses of lime-rock pendent from the roof do look marvelously like esculent hams ; peeped down into the cylindrical Bottomless Pit, which the reader shall be told, confidentially, 7ias a bottom just one hundred and sixty feet below the surface ; laughed at the roof-figures of the Giant, his Wife, and Child, which resemble a caricature from Punch; admired the delicate, exquisite flowers of white, fibrous gypsum, along the walls of Pensacola Avenue ; stood beside the Dead Sea, a dark, gloomy body of water ; crossed the Styx by the natural bridge which spans it, and halted upon the shore of Lethe.

Then, embarking in a little flat-boat, we slowly glided along the river of Oblivion. It was a strange, weird spectacle. The flickering torches dimly revealed the dark inclosing walls, which rise abruptly a hundred feet to the black roof. Our sable guide looked, in the ghastly light, like a recent importation from Pluto's domain ; and stood in the bows, steering the little craft, which moved slowly down the winding, sluggish river. The deep silence was only broken by drops of water, which fell from the roof, strildng the stream like the tick of a clock, and the sharp yip of the paddle, as it was thrust into the wave to guide us. When my companion evoked from his flute strains of slow music, which resounded in hollow echoes through the long vault, it grew so . demoniac, that I almost expected the walls to open and reveal a party of fiends, dancing to infernal music around a lurid fire. I never saw any stage effect or work of art that could compare with it

1861.] The Star Chamber. — Magnificent Distances. 25

If one would enjoy the most vivid sensations of the grand and gloomy, let him float down Lethe to the sound of a dirge.

We first saw the Star ChamlDer with the lights withdrawn. It revealed to us the meaning of ' ' darkness visible." We seemed io feel the dense blackness against our eye-balls. An object within half an inch of them was not in the faintest degree perceptible. If one were left alone here, reason could not long sustain itself. Even a few hours, in the absence of light, would probably shake it. In numberless little spots, the dark gypsum has scaled off", laying bare minute sections of the white limestone roof, resembling stars. When the chamber was lighted the illusion became perfect. We seemed in a deep, rock- walled pit, gazing up at the starry firmament. The torch, slowly moved to throw a shadow along the roof, produced the effect of a cloud sailing over the sky ; but the scene required no such aid to render it one of marvelous beauty. The Star Chamber is the most striking picture in all this great gallery of Nature.