seldom run through the fairest and richest portions of the
country. They must take the route where there is the least grading. We
soon emerged, however, from the marshy district, and then beheld the
vast cotton-fields, now mostly planted in corn. A good idea. And the
grain crops look well. The corn, in one day, seems to have grown ten
inches.

In the afternoon we were whisked into Georgia, and the face of the
country, as well as the color of the soil, reminded me of some parts of
France between Dieppe and Rouen. No doubt the grape could be profitably
cultivated here. The corn seems to have grown a _foot_ since morning.

MAY 14TH.--The weather is very warm. Day before yesterday the wheat was
only six or eight inches high. To-day it is two or three feet in height,
headed, and almost ripe for the scythe.

At every station [where I can write a little] we see crowds of men, and
women, and boys; and during our pauses some of the passengers, often
clergymen, and not unfrequently Northern born, address them in
soul-stirring strains of patriotic eloquence. If Uncle Abe don't find
subjugation of this country, and of such a people as this, is truly a
"big job" on his hands, I am much mistaken.

Passed the Stone Mountain at 11 o'clock A.M. It appears at a distance
like a vast artificial formation, resembling the pictures of the
pyramids.

Arrived at Montgomery 10 o'clock P.M., and put up at the Montgomery
House. The mosquitoes bled me all night. Mosquitoes in the middle of
May! And as they never cease to bite till killed by the frost, the pest
here is perennial.

MAY 15TH.--From my window at the top of the house, I see corn in silk
and tassel. Three days ago the corn I saw was not three inches high. And
blackberries are in season. Strawberries and peas are gone.

This city is mostly situated in a bottom on the Alabama River.

Being fatigued I did not visit the departments to-day, but employed
myself in securing lodgings at a boarding-house. Here I met, the first
time, with my friend Dr. W. T. Sawyer, of Hollow Square, Alabama. A
skillful surgeon and Christian gentleman, his mission on earth seems to
be one of pure beneficence. He had known me before we met, it appears;
and I must say he did me many kind offices.

In the afternoon I walked to the capitol, a fine structure with massive
columns, on a beautiful elevation, where I delivered several letters to
the Virginia delegation in Congress. They were exceedingly kind to