Life on the Mississippi

Коллекция текстов · travel

The 'Body of the Nation'
BUT the basin of the Mississippi is the Body of The Nation. All the other parts are but members, important in themselves, yet more importan…
Chapter 1
The River and Its History THE Mississippi is well worth reading about. It is not a commonplace river, but on the contrary is in all ways re…
Chapter 2
The River and Its Explorers LA SALLE himself sued for certain high privileges, and they were graciously accorded him by Louis XIV of inflat…
Chapter 3 (1)
Frescoes from the Past APPARENTLY the river was ready for business, now. But no, the distribution of a population along its banks was as ca…
Chapter 3 (2)
'But next night about half-past nine, when there was songs and high jinks going on, here she comes again, and took her old roost on the sta…
Chapter 4
The Boys' Ambition WHEN I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village {footnote \1. Hannibal, Missouri…
Chapter 5
I Want to be a Cub-pilot MONTHS afterward the hope within me struggled to a reluctant death, and I found myself without an ambition. But I…
Chapter 6
A Cub-pilot's Experience WHAT with lying on the rocks four days at Louisville, and some other delays, the poor old 'Paul Jones' fooled away…
Chapter 7
A Daring Deed WHEN I returned to the pilot-house St. Louis was gone and I was lost. Here was a piece of river which was all down in my book…
Chapter 8
Perplexing Lessons At the end of what seemed a tedious while, I had managed to pack my head full of islands, towns, bars, 'points,' and ben…
Chapter 9
Continued Perplexities THERE was no use in arguing with a person like this. I promptly put such a strain on my memory that by and by even t…
Chapter 10
Completing My Education WHOSOEVER has done me the courtesy to read my chapters which have preceded this may possibly wonder that I deal so…
Chapter 11
The River Rises DURING this big rise these small-fry craft were an intolerable nuisance. We were running chute after chute,—a new world to…
Chapter 12
Sounding WHEN the river is very low, and one's steamboat is 'drawing all the water' there is in the channel,—or a few inches more, as was o…
Chapter 13
A Pilot's Needs BUT I am wandering from what I was intending to do, that is, make plainer than perhaps appears in the previous chapters, so…
Chapter 14
Rank and Dignity of Piloting IN my preceding chapters I have tried, by going into the minutiae of the science of piloting, to carry the rea…
Chapter 15 (1)
The Pilots' Monopoly ONE day, on board the 'Aleck Scott,' my chief, Mr. Bixby, was crawling carefully through a close place at Cat Island,…
Chapter 15 (2)
The owners and captains were the only obstruction that lay between the association and absolute power; and at last this one was removed. In…
Chapter 16
Racing Days IT was always the custom for the boats to leave New Orleans between four and five o'clock in the afternoon. From three o'clock…
Chapter 17
Cut-offs and Stephen THESE dry details are of importance in one particular. They give me an opportunity of introducing one of the Mississip…
Chapter 18
I Take a Few Extra Lessons DURING the two or two and a half years of my apprenticeship, I served under many pilots, and had experience of m…
Chapter 19
Brown and I Exchange Compliments Two trips later, I got into serious trouble. Brown was steering; I was 'pulling down.' My younger brother…
Chapter 20
A Catastrophe WE lay three days in New Orleans, but the captain did not succeed in finding another pilot; so he proposed that I should stan…
Chapter 21
A Section in My Biography IN due course I got my license. I was a pilot now, full fledged. I dropped into casual employments; no misfortune…
Chapter 22
I Return to My Muttons AFTER twenty-one years' absence, I felt a very strong desire to see the river again, and the steamboats, and such of…
Chapter 23
Traveling Incognito MY idea was, to tarry a while in every town between St. Louis and New Orleans. To do this, it would be necessary to go…
Chapter 24
My Incognito is Exploded AFTER a close study of the face of the pilot on watch, I was satisfied that I had never seen him before; so I went…
Chapter 25
From Cairo to Hickman THE scenery, from St. Louis to Cairo—two hundred miles—is varied and beautiful. The hills were clothed in the fresh f…
Chapter 26
Under Fire TALK began to run upon the war now, for we were getting down into the upper edge of the former battle-stretch by this time. Colu…
Chapter 27
Some Imported Articles WE met two steamboats at New Madrid. Two steamboats in sight at once! an infrequent spectacle now in the lonesome Mi…
Chapter 28
Uncle Mumford Unloads ALL day we swung along down the river, and had the stream almost wholly to ourselves. Formerly, at such a stage of th…
Chapter 29
A Few Specimen Bricks WE passed through the Plum Point region, turned Craighead's Point, and glided unchallenged by what was once the formi…
Chapter 30
Sketches by the Way IT was a big river, below Memphis; banks brimming full, everywhere, and very frequently more than full, the waters pour…
Chapter 31 (1)
A Thumb-print and What Came of It WE were approaching Napoleon, Arkansas. So I began to think about my errand there. Time, noonday; and bri…
Chapter 31 (2)
Can you divine what my first thought was? Put into words, it was this: 'It seems, then, you escaped me once: there will be a different resu…
Chapter 32
The Disposal of a Bonanza 'SUCH was Ritter's narrative,' said I to my two friends. There was a profound and impressive silence, which laste…
Chapter 33
Refreshments and Ethics IN regard to Island 74, which is situated not far from the former Napoleon, a freak of the river here has sorely pe…
Chapter 34
Tough Yarns STACK island. I remembered Stack Island; also Lake Providence, Louisiana—which is the first distinctly Southern-looking town yo…
Chapter 35
Vicksburg During the Trouble WE used to plow past the lofty hill-city, Vicksburg, down-stream; but we cannot do that now. A cut-off has mad…
Chapter 36
The Professor's Yarn IT was in the early days. I was not a college professor then. I was a humble-minded young land-surveyor, with the worl…
Chapter 37
The End of the 'Gold Dust' FOR, three months later, August 8, while I was writing one of these foregoing chapters, the New York papers brou…
Chapter 38
The House Beautiful WE took passage in a Cincinnati boat for New Orleans; or on a Cincinnati boat—either is correct; the former is the east…
Chapter 39
Manufactures and Miscreants WHERE the river, in the Vicksburg region, used to be corkscrewed, it is now comparatively straight—made so by c…
Chapter 40
Castles and Culture BATON ROUGE was clothed in flowers, like a bride—no, much more so; like a greenhouse. For we were in the absolute South…
Chapter 41
The Metropolis of the South THE approaches to New Orleans were familiar; general aspects were unchanged. When one goes flying through Londo…
Chapter 42
Hygiene and Sentiment THEY bury their dead in vaults, above the ground. These vaults have a resemblance to houses—sometimes to temples; are…
Chapter 43
The Art of Inhumation ABOUT the same time, I encountered a man in the street, whom I had not seen for six or seven years; and something lik…
Chapter 44
City Sights THE old French part of New Orleans—anciently the Spanish part—bears no resemblance to the American end of the city: the America…
Chapter 45
Southern Sports IN the North one hears the war mentioned, in social conversation, once a month; sometimes as often as once a week; but as a…
Chapter 46
Enchantments and Enchanters THE largest annual event in New Orleans is a something which we arrived too late to sample—the Mardi-Gras festi…
Chapter 47
Uncle Remus and Mr. Cable MR. JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS ('Uncle Remus') was to arrive from Atlanta at seven o'clock Sunday morning; so we got up…
Chapter 48
Sugar and Postage ONE day, on the street, I encountered the man whom, of all men, I most wished to see—Horace Bixby; formerly pilot under m…
Chapter 49
Episodes in Pilot Life IN the course of the tug-boat gossip, it came out that out of every five of my former friends who had quitted the ri…
Chapter 50
The 'Original Jacobs' WE had some talk about Captain Isaiah Sellers, now many years dead. He was a fine man, a high-minded man, and greatly…
Chapter 51
Reminiscences WE left for St. Louis in the 'City of Baton Rouge,' on a delightfully hot day, but with the main purpose of my visit but lame…
Chapter 52 (1)
A Burning Brand All at once the thought came into my mind, 'I have not sought out Mr. Brown.' Upon that text I desire to depart from the di…
Chapter 52 (2)
Dear Bro. Page,—Herewith please find the letter kindly loaned me. I am afraid its genuineness cannot be established. It purports to be addr…
Chapter 53
My Boyhood's Home WE took passage in one of the fast boats of the St. Louis and St. Paul Packet Company, and started up the river. When I,…
Chapter 54
Past and Present Being left to myself, up there, I went on picking out old houses in the distant town, and calling back their former inmate…
Chapter 55
A Vendetta and Other Things DURING my three days' stay in the town, I woke up every morning with the impression that I was a boy—for in my…
Chapter 56
A Question of Law THE slaughter-house is gone from the mouth of Bear Creek and so is the small jail (or 'calaboose') which once stood in it…
Chapter 57
An Archangel FROM St. Louis northward there are all the enlivening signs of the presence of active, energetic, intelligent, prosperous, pra…
Chapter 58
On the Upper River THE big towns drop in, thick and fast, now: and between stretch processions of thrifty farms, not desolate solitude. Hou…
Chapter 59
Legends and Scenery WE added several passengers to our list, at La Crosse; among others an old gentleman who had come to this north-western…
Chapter 60
Speculations and Conclusions WE reached St. Paul, at the head of navigation of the Mississippi, and there our voyage of two thousand miles…
Appendix (1)
APPENDIX A (FROM THE NEW ORLEANS TIMES DEMOCRAT OF MARCH 29, 1882.) VOYAGE OF THE TIMES-DEMOCRAT'S RELIEF BOAT THROUGH THE INUNDATED REGION…
Appendix (2)
All along Black River the 'Susie' has been visited by scores of planters, whose tales are the repetition of those already heard of sufferin…
Appendix (3)
The candor which he expresses, and evidently feels, they mistake for irony, or totally distrust; his unwillingness to give pain to persons…
Appendix (4)
Returning now to Iamo, he had passed all the time in the same condition we had left him, the head directing his sister, in order to procure…