Uncle' Mumford, our second officer, said the place had been suffering from high water, and consequently was not looking its best now. Uncle Mumford said, further, that Grand Tower was a great coaling center and a prospering place. Cape Girardeau is situated on a hillside, and makes a handsome appearance. There is a great Jesuit school for boys at the foot of the town by the river. He directed my attention to what he called the 'strong and pervasive religious look of the town,' but I could not see that it looked more religious than the other hill towns with the same slope and built of the same kind of bricks.
Partialities often make people see more than really exists.
Uncle Mumford has been thirty years a mate on the river. It beats all the other changes put together, for surprise. It is so manifestly sensible, that it might have been thought of earlier, one would suppose. But his troubles are ended now. And the greatly improved aspect of the boat's staff is another advantage achieved by the dress-reform period.