LETTER XXIV.

Journey by Railroad from Cumberland to Baltimore—­A Tedious Stoppage
—­A Sabbath in Baltimore—­Fruitless Inquiry—­A Presbyterian Church and
Dr. Plummer—­Richmond and its Resolutions—­Dr Plummer’s Pro slavery
Manifesto—­The Methodist Episcopal Church.

The railway from Cumberland to Baltimore is 178 miles long, and (like most lines in the States) is single.  This fact is important, for our cousins, in boasting of the hundreds or thousands of miles of railway they have constructed, forget to tell us that they are nearly all single.  Here and there they have a double set of rails, like our sidings, to enable trains to pass each other.

The ground was covered with snow, otherwise the scenery would have been magnificent.  For a long time the Potomac was our companion.  More than once we had to cross the stream on wooden bridges; so that we had it sometimes on our right and sometimes on our left, ourselves being alternately in Virginia and in Maryland.  When within 14 miles of Baltimore, and already benighted, we were told we could not proceed, on account of some accident to a luggage-tram that was coming up.  The engine, or (as the Americans invariably say) the “locomotive,” had got off the rail, and torn up the ground in a frightful manner; but no one was hurt.  We were detained for 7 hours; and instead of getting into Baltimore at 8 P.M., making an average of about 15 miles an hour, which was the utmost we had been led to expect, we did not get there till 3 A.M., bringing our average rate per hour down to about 9-1/2 miles.  The tediousness of the delay was considerably relieved by a man sitting beside me avowing himself a thorough Abolitionist, and a hearty friend of the coloured race.  He spoke out his sentiments openly and fearlessly, and was quite a match for any one that dared to assail him.  His name was Daniel Carmichael, of Brooklyn.  He is a great railway and canal contractor, and has generally in his employ from 500 to 800 people.  He is also a very zealous “teetotaler.”  We had also a Mrs. Malaprop, from Baltimore, with us, who told us, among other marvellous things, that in that city they took the senses (census) of the people every month.  She was very anxious to let all around her know that her husband was a medical man:  she therefore wondered what “the Doctor” was then doing, what “the Doctor” thought of the non-arrival of the train, whether “the Doctor” would be waiting for her at the station, and whether “the Doctor” would bring his own carriage, or hire one, to meet her, &c.