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"Itasca". It was to sail on Wednesday but on account of some repair to be made was delayed three days so we decided we could not wait and started through by rail for the afternoon. Then I went over to say good bye to Lotta. And at four o'clock we left Baltimore. I was sorry to leave so many friends as I have in the city. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Smith remained[[?]] at the place I boarded. They are from near home. Also Mr. Stuart, Mr. Boydston from W. Va. boarded at Mrs. Arnold's. The woman where I roomed used me so nice. I could not keep from liking her. We left Baltimore the twenty seventh of Jan. We did not leave Washington until eleven forty five that night. We spent our time in walking about, eating our supper, and etc. at last I sat down for a rest in the waiting room and I entertained myself by studying faces. On the same row of seats on which I was sitting was a man & woman. Neither of them looked to be over twenty five. The woman was holding a quaint little bundle in her arms and from it came a quaint little music which was not at all pleasant to the ears of the listener. I do think a depot is tiresome even without the sound of a crying baby. But poor little thing, it was surely sick. They had their baggage packed in a large white sack, - rather handy after all -. But the dear little babe how I wanted to go to it and some way pacify it. But no, I was only doomed to listen to the sweet music. When I became tired sitting I would w                                                                                                                                                        alk about over the large waiting room. There were two wedding parties passed through that evening going off on their honeymoons. I will not stop to say anything about them, for they are common to all. A lady, well dressed out nice looking, came into the waiting room. In her eye was a longing look, as if some
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thing was about to happen either to her sadness or joy. But in a few minutes she came promanading across the room with a handsome young man. All that look of anxiety was gone she seemed to be perfectly happy. I said to brother, "They are sweet hearts." "How do you know?" he said. "because I[[underline]]do [[underline]] know." All those actions were not for nothing. At eleven forty five we started for the South. There were several passengers on the train. I spent the remainder of the night in reading and sleeping. At day light we had only reached Lynchburg Virginia. I wondered at this. I had been sleeping so soundly for a long time I was not aware of the fact that the train had run off the track and we were delayed about four hours. As the train was going very slow at that time no serious injury was done. The country we passed through after leaving Virginia was not so pretty as our mountains of West Virginia, but some of the pretty, green fields did look nice.  There were several soldier boys on the train. One of the boys passed a plate of cake around to the passengers. I know his mother baked that for him. It was so good. A man & woman, son and daughter from Vermont were on their way to Hickory N.C. They seemed very pleasant. The old gentleman wore a fur coat. We also met a lady from Boston. She was going to Florida. I talked with her quite a while before we reached Columbia. She asked me if I were just married. She said some one told her Rufus and I were a young married couple, but she said, she thought we resembled each other a little. It was very amusing to me to be taken for a bride. Rufus and I do act just like people