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I tried to get a flock of hogs to drive to Baltimore, but failed, although a lot are sent every year. So I followed the wagon that had my clothes, but, as the driver lived higher than I could afford, I resolved to leave him. I could walk as fast as he drove, for he seldom made more than sixteen miles daily, although it was the best macadam road one could wish to see. So I left him after two days. I thought if I went through the Allegheny Mountains I could kill enough game to live off. So, besides a few clothes, I took my gun and started.
It was a most beautiful road, grain fields, houses, woods, hills, land valleys blended together. In the distance were the Alleghenies visible though I was still far from them. The first day I walked twenty-three miles - the most I
ever walked in a day. Although I was very tired when evening came, it was nothing compared to the following days. I went through many small towns whose names I cannot remember. Brownsville was one of the large towns with a very long
bridge over a river. The farther I went the more tired I got. In the evening when I had walked the whole day my legs ached as if they would break, and when I sat down it was almost impossible to get up again, so exhausted I was. I could not sleep for the ache of my whole body, and my shoulder hurt so from carrying the gun. But, as I had only a little money, I had to go on whether or no. For four days I walked, and had made about one hundred miles when I was overtaken by some people from Ohio. They were going to Westminster, twenty-seven miles from Baltimore,	on horseback. One of them had	two horses	and
offered me a ride on one of them. I refused, as I was afraid my money would not hold out if I went in company with others. I told them I was a sailor and did not know how to ride. But they insisted and finally I consented and got on. It eased my poor legs	some.	When the man offered to	let me ride to
Westminster with them for one dollar, I accepted because I thought we would get there so much faster and I would not spend so much at the inns. We rode about thirty miles a day, and that	should	take us to Baltimore in six days. It	was
not very comfortable riding,	as the	horse had neither saddle	nor bridle,	but
only a rope around the neck. When they walked the horses all went pretty well, but going down hill they always trotted, and it nearly killed me. In the evenings when I got off I was as stiff-legged as when I walked.
The Alleghenies are overgrown with fir, spruce, and laurel trees. So many springs coming down the rocks make it beautiful although it was winter. The Laurel Hills, so called for their many laurel trees, were the highest I came over. It really seemed as though one were in the clouds, everything looked so little down below. Cumberland, a little town eight miles from the mountain, looked as if it lay right at the foot of it. I would have given much if I could have had with me one man I knew, to enjoy this splendid sight with me.
We rode together for four days and lived well, but by the fifth day my capital had melted down to twenty-five cents, and it was yet over fifty miles to Baltimore. We ate only twice a day. Breakfast I had paid for, but my supper would cost my whole sum and I could not get a bed. I was ashamed to tell my fellow travelers that I had no more money, so at noon I began to complain of a severe headache which got worse and worse before we stopped at the inn. I couldn't eat any supper, but asked for a bed, which took my half capital. I still had thirty miles left. Ten of them I rode the horse, but then they had to take another road, so we parted with all good will. I was rather glad to be alone again, and walked on as hungry as a dog. I bought a honey cake and a glass of beer for six cents, and kept on walking till dark. Then I lay down in a ditch for the night. I couldn't sleep, for it was the month of January and I froze nearly to death. Before day I was back on the
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Koch, Christian Diary-29
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