Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-11-11
A TRIP UP THE MISSISSIPPI.
BY MRS. c. F. WINDLE


BT MRS. c. F. WINDLE.
There is something in the first period
Of recovery from severe illness that re-
wives in one much of the freshness OF
sensation that usually belongs only to
early childhood After the body has
been racked with pain, the pulses re-
doubled in their action by fever, the nerves
quickened through confinement to an ag-
onized and weary bed, and the mind
startled at the near prospect of death,
the blessed calm which succeeds, in the
season of recovery, is accompanied by a
feeling of enjoyment of existence, as de-
rived through the mere avenues of sense,
altogether exclusive of those more world
ly and exciting causes, which, in the
glow of uninterrupted health, constitute
the chief charm of human life Suffer-
ing, and the half opened grave, it would
seem, have served to wean the GONZALES
cent from all such interests; and the
breath of the balmy air, the beauty of a
tree or flower, the flavor of delicious
fruit, carry with them, for him, the high
est degree of qualification. Not only,
too, does he thus rcvel in these self-min-
lsterlng pleasures, but he thinks of turn
ing from their innocent delights, to find
again, as heretofore, his happiness amid
the tumultuous interests of the world,
with procrastinating dread.
L recently experienced the truth of these
remarks, during a trip [ made up the
Mississippi, to recruit my health after an
attack from the virulent epidemic of the
past season. Notwithstanding that the
river was at that low stage, when it pre-
>ents least to interest the traveller, the
charms of Nature, as they are to be found
on the Mississippi, never delighted me
more. The "sight refreshing green" of
the wooded banks, the waving flow of the
great I" Father Of Waters" pur.uing his
majestic course, the invigorating air of
the more northern latitudes, into which
gradually advanced-thcse ministercd
completely tom my qualification. For hours
at time, | sat in liStless mood, rcvel-
ing III the sense ofpleasure they inspired.
We had but few passengers on our
boat, moreover, so that there was little,
in the circumstances by which was sur
rounded, calculated to arouse me from nv
quescent condition. The only Interrupt
ton it met with, was in the conviction
which occasionally forced itself upon Inc
with sort of apprehension that | would
soon have to awaken from it. At such
moments, | believe, would have been
willing to sink my identity to feel that
was absolycd from all further part, save
OF supcmumerary, Oh the stage of hui
man existence. Even the thought of tax
ing up a book or newspaper vas dis
tasteful to me while, the whole time, all
my impressions, delicious, as have said,
were strangely evancscent and | bcheld
passing incidents, as an infant might
have viewed them, with momentarv en-
tertalnment, that left no trace behind it.
| had never Travelled on this river be-
fore, without having ever present with
me consciousness of danger. The ter
rlble accidents that have so often hap
pened IN the history of its navigation
the many living victims who have been
swallowed up in its turbid depths, or
blown TO the winds Of Heaven by means
of the mighty engines which plough its
mighty channel-can scarcely fail to rise
to any travellers remembrance, while
speeding along It's surface, if possessed
at all of a reflective turn of mind. For
myself, this was the first tirAe, in the
course of many journeys upon the Mis-
Sissippi, that | had not becn filled, foI
the most part, with the mOmentous con-
slderation that each passing instant
might see myself, and those around me,
consigned to 4 dreadful and untimely
grave. | do not mean that | was wont
on such occasions, to give way to ner-
vous apprehcnsivcness; | was only per-
petually alive, in my own mind, however
apparently otherwise occupied, to the
constant peril, against which the chances
to say the least, were uncertain.
+ Whether my apathy to my usual con.
yictiOns of this kind, in the present in
stance, was caused by the circumstance
that Death had SO lately been still nearer
me, in a scarcely less awful guise, anG
! that had become as it were, familiarizeC
in measure, with the approach of the
dread King of Terrors, know not.
scarcely believe, however, that such was
the case. 1t is true that | had, on IN,
sick bed, humbly trust, with solemn
dcliberation, cast my present affections
and future hopes into the balance, ant
believed myself content to leave the re
suit in the hands of Almighty wisdom
But it is one thing to die, even upon
couch of pain, and another to perish a
the WARNING of an instant in the pnrolin
torrent of mighty river; and [ canno
but suppose that my indifference to dan
ger was but another result of the condi
ton have endeayored to describe.
served, at all events, to make my journe
still more agreeable ; for, strange to say