Bloomington herald. [volume] (Bloomington, I. T. [Iowa]) 1840-1849, 1844-05-24

being Hgnt myself kOt along very well
but whenever the fat passenger got off g
a line with the centre Of the cabin, the pi
lot would give the bell one tap, and iht
Captain would bawl GU. trim the boat.
Dinner came on, and the table was cover,
ed with the biggest roas, beef, the bigges
potatoes. and the biggest carving knife and
fork that ever foa,ed, and The steward
rung the biggest bell for dinner, and lon
ger than any other steward. and the cap.
tain talked about the immense extent Of
the Mississippi, the contemplated canal
through The ls,hmus Of Darien, and The
ability Of stcam war ships he said that in
the contemplation of the subject his feel
'ngs were propelled by five hundred horse
power, that the bows Of his Imagination
cut through the muddy waters ofreality,
that the praciicabili,y of his notions were
as certain as rudder in giving the proper
direction, that his judgement, like safety
valve to his mind, would always keep him
from advocating any thing tina. woulc ev>
er burst up, and that it was unfortunate
that Robert Fulton had not lived to be
President Of the United States.' With
such enlarged ideas he wiled away the
hour of dinner; arrived at the mouth of
dry outlet a little gutter that draws off
some Of the water of the Mississippi when
very high turned the bow of the Ems
peror' into its mouth, and shot down a.
long it with an empty flour barrel, with an
alacri.y that sent the bows Of the boat high
and dry on the land, the first bend it came
to. great deal Of hard work, got us
off, and away we went again, at one time
sideways. at another every way, hitting
against the soft alluvial banks, or brush,
ing our pipes among the branches of O.
verhanging trees. Finally the current 90,
too strong, and carried us ahead with a.
farming velocity; the bows of the boa,
was turned in The opposite direction from
what we were going. and thus managed
to keep an onward progress. compatible
with our safety. The banks Of the dry
outlet were very low, very swampy, and
were disfgured occasionally with wretch
cd cabins, in which lived human beings,
who, the Captain Of the 'Emperpr' ia
i issasd aa s!;... sse cl...::. &c hr.s
and rouhi.s on, on the landscape, and a,
bis boa. as she passed, from the far, that
they had no cultivatablc land, and looked
ike creatures fed on unhealthy air. we
presume that was their only occupation.
In time we arrived a. the small village
the destination Of The mail pouch, and
landing, visited the town. II was one of
the ruins Of great city, conceived of by
land Spectators in 'glory times SIEVE
raj splendid mansions were decaying a
bout, in the hall finished frames that were
s,rewn upon the ground. A barrel of
whiskey was rolled ashore, the mail de-
livered, the fat man got oat, and we de
parted. The dry outlet merged itself
into broad inland lake, tina. itself, as
PECULIARLY OF the tributaries of the Mis-
sissip2i emp,ied into that river. Our lii
tie boat plunged on. keenina up with un-,
tired consistency of al its original preten4
sion and putting, and The same clanking
of tiny machinery, soaring the wild ducks
and geese, and scattering the white cranes
over our heads, and making the cormo,
rant screech with astonishment in hoarser
tones Than the engine itself. Occasional.
~ we would land at 'squ alters settle.
ment,' turn round and come up to the0
banks with grandeur. astonishing the
squatler's children and two very invalid
hens that lived in the front yard. TIE
captain would pay up the bill for wooa,
and off he would 60 again as big as Il
out Of DOORS and great deal more natu'
raj. Thus we struggled on, until sailing
up stream with incessaps labor such as
we went down when we commenced our
sketch, we merged into the world Of we
ter that flows in the Mississippi. Down
the rapid current we gracefully went, The
very ae,onishmen, of the regular inhabi-
la,its on its banks. sa
Again for the innumersbles .ime,' the
furnaces consumed the wood, eNas - II
had 10 be replenished, ve ran alSngside
one of those immense wood-yards, 90 pc.
culiar to the Mississippi, where lay ia one
continuous pile thousands Of cords Of
wood. The captain Of the Emperor as
he stopped his boat before it. hallooed out
from his upper deck in q voice Of the
loudest kind p go 4 !
Got any woqaahere = :.
Now the owner55who was very rich
man, and very GlFly one, looked on the
I. heap and saida he thought i possible.
Then said the captain, how do you
The wood.man eyed the boat, and its
crew, and its passengers, and then said ne
would not sell the boat any wood, but
that the crew might come ashore and get
their hats foil OF .chips for nothing ~
Hereupon the five hundred horse power
or the captains feelings, che rudder and