Mississippi Democrat. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1844-18??, 1846-04-01
cARRoLLToN. WEDNESDAY. APRIL /. 1916


water, running above the land on which
they reside. To prevent this easy and
apparently natural inundation, there seems
to be a power constantly exerled to hold
the food in check, and bid il ego so far
and no farther;" and but for this interpo.
siliou of divine power, here SO slgnally
| displayed, the fair fields Of the south would
become sandbars upon the shores OF the
Atlantic, and the country which might
now support the world, would only bear
the angry ocean wave. Suppose, for an
instant, that universal spring should
beam upon our favored continent, and
that the thousands Of streams which are
tributary 10 the Mississippi we're TO be-
come at once Embossed: the mighty flood
in lis rushing course would destroy the
heart of the northwestern CONTINENT
But mark the goodness and wisdom OF
Providence. Early in the spring the wa
tiers Of the Ohio rise with its tributaries,
and the Mississippi bears them off, without
injuriously overlooking its banks. When
summer sells in, rs own head-waiers about
the lakes, and the swift Missouri, with its
melting ice from the Rocky Mountains,
come down, and thus each, in order, makes
the Mississippi lis outlet to the Gulf oil
Mexico. But were all these streams per
mlted to come together in their strength,
what, again we ask, would save the Eden
gardens Of the South
In CONCENTRATIONS like these, carried out
to their fullest extent, we may arrive at
the character of this mighty river. II is
in the thoughts ii suggests, and not in the
breadth or length, visible at any given
point to the eye. Depending on the sen
ses alone, we should never think Of being
astonshed, or even feeling the least degree
Of admiration. You may rest upon its boz
som, and be lost amid lie world of waters,
and Yet you will see nothing Of lis vast
ness; for the river has no striking beauty
its waves run no higher than child can
reach upon its banks we find no cloud.
capped mountains, no towering preciplcesl
All, all is dul---l might say tame. But lei
US float day after day upon its apparently
sluggish surface, and, by contemplation
and comparison, once begin 10 compre-
henil It's magGitude, and the mind is over,
wheimed with fearful admiration. There
seems to rise up from its muddy waters, q
spirit, robod in mystery, that points back
for its beginning 10 the dcluge, and wills
pers audibly: I" ! roll on, and on, and on,
altering but not altered, while time ex-
istsm Here, too, we behold power, fer
rible in its loneliness, for on the Mississip-
pl II sameness meets your eye without q
single change Of scene. A river incom.
prehensible, illimitable, and mysterious,
flows eyer onward, tossing to and fro I'm.
der its depths, in It's own channel, as il
fretlinp in its ordered limits; swallowing
lis banks here, and disgorgng them else.
where SO suddenly, that the attentive pilot
as he repeats his frequent route, feels that
he knows not where he is, and often hest.
tutes fearlully along in the mighty flood
by the certain lead and again and again
| is he startled by the ominous cry Less
faihom deep" where but yesterday the
lead would have in vain gone down fol
soundngs. Such is the great Aora Of the
continent Of North America; alone anc
unequalled in its majesty; proclaiming il
its course the wisdom OF God, who only
can measure It's depths, and "iurn them
about as very little thing
L. ---4-~-----s-,------,-~. stes