Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1857-04-09
THE RETRlBUTlON:
An Incident on Board a Mississippi
Steamboat. 99

] 49, - -
t An Incident ON Board Mississippi
\ Steamboat.
A number of years since, when
d was connected, in the capacity {
Q agent, with the large manufacturin
establishment in which / am now
3 partner, business of Importance oblie
ed me to pass several months in tray
cling to. and fro in the great valley 0
! the West; and one of the most iovel,
afternoons of departing spring behelt
me at st. Louis, upon the point o
embarking in the snug little steameI
Lucy Wilmot, for New Orleans
There were many passengers OF
board besides myself, and the great
er partof them were destined to some
port on the lower Mississippi. A.
mong them were several sturdy plan
ters with their families, and number
of merchants and river traders--ma-
king upon the whole very respec-
table and pleasant company. The
river was low, and We were delayed
somewhat by the shoals; upon one
occasion we were obliged to land a
considerable portion Of our cargo in
order to pass some rapids about fifty
miles above Cairo. After reaching
the mouth of the Ohio, however, we en-
countered no further detention, but
plowed the muddy water rapidly past
Memphis, Napoleon and Vicksburg,
towards our destined port,
! had been so unfortunate as to
secure a birth beside one of the pad.
cle-boxes, where nay ears were per-
petually salutsd with the dia of the
machinery, and the splash of the wa.
ters. In the night time ! vas especi-
ally discommoded. 1t is customary
for the pilots, in the darkness of the
night, to steer their boat as near the
middle of the channel as possible, for
the purpose of avoiding suags and
sand bars. Unhappily this is the
portion Of the stream where the great
mass of floating timbsrs and rubbish
accumulate, and as the steamer rush.
ed onward, heI wheels, at every reyo-
luton, go thump, thump against the
floating logs; so that the prominent
idea in the mind of the sleepless
traveller is that Of padding all night
over a corduroy road. Sometime the
is varied by the hoarse
rattle of ii slab or branch, which be-
comes entangled in the paddle, and is
dragged around by them within the
box, foran interval of five minutes
or more.
Among the passengers with whom
| was brought most Immediately in
contact, WAS youth of about twenty
years Of age, resident of st. Louis
lie was a slender, intellectual look
ing lad, of retiring hanits, and was on
bis way to visit relation in New Or
leans, with the design of seeking en-
in some mercantile pursuit
in that city. He rarely conversed
with his fellow passengers. Circum-
stances, however, conspired to bring
US into somewhat intimate connection
during the early part Of our voyage.
and he con6ded to me a portion of
his history. /
He was the son of New England |
farmer named Gale, who, five years
previously, seized by one Of those |
emigration fevers which from time to
time have ragged so extensively in this |
section of the country, gathered to-
gether his moveable household goods !
the principal part of bis |
property into cash, and with his FAM
ily, comprisinga a younger brother, a
wife and three children, the oldest Of
whom, Stephen-the lad who related
the story TO me--was less than fifteen
years ofage, began his pilgrimage to-
wards the land Of promise.
One day, as their little caravan was
slowly vending its way over the fer
tile prairie swells which rise in grace
lul undulations from the eastern bor-
der Of Rock River, in Illinois, an ac-
cident to the wagon which contained |
The more bulky portion of their
goods, caused some delay, and at |
ength it was resolved that Mr.. Gale
and bis son Stephen should remain
behind and repair the vehicle, while
-he remainder Of the party pushed
IN to their proposed camping ground.
Ind there await their arrival.
Hardly had the moving wagon
..--~l - = & e,crhf Iof>,r 49,. ro,,<ry, /