dirt, not water, as it sometimes does. Worse weather for soldiers
out in tents could not be imagined--nor for men who were not
soldiers, but who, nevertheless, were compelled to leave their
houses. I only remained at Baltimore one day, and then started
again, leaving there the greater part of my baggage. I had a vague
hope--a hope which I hardly hoped to realize--that I might be able
to get through to the South. At any rate I made myself ready for
the chance by making my traveling impediments as light as possible,
and started from Baltimore, prepared to endure all the discomfort
which lightness of baggage entails. My route lay over the
Alleghenies, by Pittsburg and Cincinnati, and my first stopping
place was at Harrisburg, the political capital of Pennsylvania.
There is nothing special at Harrisburg to arrest any traveler; but
the local legislature of the State was then sitting, and I was
desirous of seeing the Senate and Representatives of at any rate one
State, during its period of vitality.

In Pennsylvania the General Assembly, as the joint legislature is
called, sits every year, commencing their work early in January, and
continuing till it be finished. The usual period of sitting seems
to be about ten weeks. In the majority of States, the legislature
only sits every other year. In this State it sits every year, and
the Representatives are elected annually. The Senators are elected
for three years, a third of the body being chosen each year. The
two chambers were ugly, convenient rooms, arranged very much after
the fashion of the halls of Congress at Washington. Each member had
his own desk and his own chair. They were placed in the shape of a
horseshoe, facing the chairman, before whom sat three clerks. In
neither house did I hear any set speech. The voices of the Speaker
and of the Clerks of the Houses were heard more frequently than