A Trip Down the Ohio River in 1842
by Charles Dickens "The Ohio is a fine broad river, but in some parts much wider than in others; and then there is usually a green island, covered with trees, dividing it into two streams. The banks are for the most part deep solitudes, overgrown with trees. For miles and miles, these solitudes are unbroken by any sign of human life; nor is anything seen to move about them but the blue jay, whose colour is so bright, and yet so delicate, that it looks like a flying flower. The river has washed away its banks, and stately trees have fallen down into the stream. Some have just toppled over, and having earth yet above the roots, are bathing their green heads in the river, and putting forth new shoots and branches. Through such a scene as this, the unwieldy steamer takes its hoarse, sullen way; venting, at every revolution of the paddles, a loud high-pressure blast." |
