The source of the
Juniata is seen very soon after passing Altamont, and perhaps we were
more disposed to do justice to the beauty of the river, from the happy
frame of body and mind we were in, owing to the excellent dinner we had
just partaken of at that place, consisting of roast beef, roast turkey,
apple tart, cranberry preserve, and a most superlative Charlotte
Russe--pretty good fare for an hotel in a mountain pass! No wine or
stimulants of any kind were allowed, or what the consequence might have
been on papa's restless state of mind it would be difficult to say; as
it was, I counted that he rose from his seat to look at the view from
the other side of the car, thirty times in the space of an hour and a
half, making a move, therefore, upon an average, of once in every three
minutes; and this he afterwards continued to do as often as the road
crossed the river. I foolishly, at first, partook of his locomotive
propensities, but my exhausted frame soon gave way, so that he declares
I only saw one half of its beauties, namely, the half on the side where
I was seated; but this half was ample to satisfy any reasonable mortal.
I am at a loss to imagine what our fellow-travellers could have thought
of him, as they lounged on their seats, and scarcely ever condescended
to look out of window.
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