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River Commerce 13 |
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River. Later the list expanded to include Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and far-ofF New Orleans. There must have been fascination for Stephen in these destinations and in the picturesque names of boats which he entered on the bookkeeping ledgers: Northern Light, Taglioni, Chalmetto, Talisman, Ohio Belle, Planet, Gladiator, Schuylkill, South America, Bolivar, Germantown, Clipper, Messenger, Hibernia, Mary Stevens, Declaration, and Telegraph.*
The Telegraph—bound for the Southland! A melody nad been bubbling in Stephen's ^brain which called itself "Oh! Susanna." So he had the darky narrator of the song shout "I jumped aboard de Telegraph."12 On certain • spring mornings as he looked down the olive-green river from the office windows, Stephen ^would doubtless have liked to jump aboard too.
Then Archibald Irwin or Dunning would hand him bills of lading, mute reminders that passenger travel was only one part of this business and of life; and he would neatly write on the books the shipments for Pittsburgh on the daily packet service: "10 hhds Sugar, 13 feacks Wool, 10 tons Sundries"; "13 brls 'Potatoes, 2.5 do Whisky, ao tons Sundries"; '"100 brls Lime, 5 do Alcohol, 1 do Oil, 6 tons Sundries"; and "120 brls Whisky, 18 do Lard Oil, 7 hhds Bees Wax."13 ^
With a population which by 1848 reached 1 io,ooo14 Cincinnati had come to hold sway in |
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