his brother Samuel.

On the boat, all the way down the river, the general topic of
conversation was the contrast between the desolate slave-cursed shores
of Kentucky, and the smiling plenty of the opposite bank; but Louisville
was largely settled by Northern people, and was to prove an oasis in the
desert of slavery.

It lay at the head of the Falls of the Ohio, and the general government
had lately expended large sums in building a canal around them. Henry
Clay was in the zenith of his power, slavery held possession of the
national resources, Louisville might count on favors, and she was to be
Queen City of the West. There was an aspiring little place which fancied
itself a rival, a little boat-landing, without natural advantages,
called Cincinnati, where they killed hogs; but it was quite absurd to
think of her competing with the great metropolis at the head of the
canal.

I was quite surprised to find there were a good many houses and folks in
Cincinnati; but our boat did not stop long, and we soon reached our
Eldorado. Before we effected a landing at the crowded wharf, I fell to
wondering if a Pittsburg drayman could take a Louisville dray, its load,
its three horses and ragged driver, pile them on his dray, and with his
one horse take them to their destination--and I thought he could.

Samuel met us, and as we went in a hack to the boarding place he had
engaged. I wondered what had happened that so many men were off work in
the middle of the forenoon. Who or what could they be, those fellows in
shining black broadcloth, each with a stove-pipe hat on the side of his
head, his thumbs in the armholes of a satin vest, displaying a wonderful