Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-10-25


In the eyes of the people who live there Of
anybody ever did live there long enough TO
swear to the fact) the city possesses in the
highest degree,
''The glory which Greece, f"
And the granduer which was Rome"
In the eyes of other people it doesn't; not
much TO how. f....
Seriously, Cairo is Dutch-Irish village of
one and a half musketoe power during the
winter season. and of no power at all during
the summer--unless it be the power of self
exaltation. which it possesses, it must be'eOn-
fessed in a remarkable degree. 1t is decided
ly fast place, however; for as fast one set
of inhabitants are killed off by the small pOx
(Which attans too large growth there to be
called small) and yellow fever, or are shaken
to death by high-pressure ague-fts, "a thing
that doesn't usually happen oftener than three
times year, another set rush in from the
first feet of fat-boas and lumber-rafts that
passes down the river, to fill up that vacuum
in the town which the nature Of that sort of
people abhOrs. This state of things, together
with the dilapidated condition of some of the
craft engaged in the Cairo trade, gave rise to
the popular Ethiopian melody at whose
pathetic touches thousand lovely eyes have
been dnmed with tender tears:
''Oh, the derndest boat ever saw,
1t was a sternwhecl boat;
The Clerk he had no shoes,
And the Captain had no coat.
hear my true-love weep,
hear my truc-love sigh
. Way down to Cairo
| This niggers gwine to diel'
The Inhabitants of the city consist of about
| fifty Dutch-Irishmen and the same number
Irish-Dutchmen, who spend their time in
drinking adulteratcd whisky out of dirty
tumblers thereby making dirty tumblers of
themselves,) in breaking the sabbath and
each others heads and in saying hard things
about Mound City, the twin-sister and rival
of Cairo, on the Ohio, six miles above.
| During small rise in the Mississippi last
summer the water broke over the city, and
covered it to the average depth of six feet
/ 1t is a wonder to some that the city was not
washed away, but it will cease to be n wonder
! ifthey will remember that there are something's
too dirty to be washed, even by the Missis-
sippi.
| "The river Rhone doth wash Cologne,
! But what, oh what, shall wash the Rhoner
During the dog days the equator, runs inn
mediatcly through Cairo, and in the winter
the north pole stands directly in the centre of
the town. The Ohio steamers all lie up there
I 81, &c Of bn
stipulations in their insurance policies, Cairo
being the safest place in the Western, or any
other waters for a steamboat to stand the
chances of conhagration; for when it Is hot
I there it is so confoD1ldedly hot that such fire
as we are used to in this country goes out in
disgust The Southern terminus of the
| Illinois Central Railroad has the misfortune
to call Cairo its place of residence: stop in
the city during the reign of the "baleful
Sirius" stand in the midst of the inhabitants
until the steam-wbistle reverberates along
the fiery sand-bars of the river, and you can
easily imagine yourself in the basement story
OF Pandemonium. and, that the head-devil OF
! the establishment is calling each anne dannee
to judgment. r..-r.. ..Er. .s-s
. Cairo has one redeeming feature. Had
Sodom and Gomorrah been so fortunate, the
shower of fire and birthstone had never fallen,
Cairo take warning from the fate of her
olden antiques, and guard with vestal vigil
ance the life and citizenship of her one
righteous man-Len. Faxon, the editor Of the
Times and Delta. who is a gentleman, a
5 a judge of brandy, and United
! States Mail Agent. That be is United
States mail agent is sufficient evidence that
he is a Buchanan democrat; and the color of his
politics is the best of proof that he is a
Judge of brandy.-That he, as a gentleman
and a scholar, succeeded in obtaining an APP
pointment under the present Administration,
can only be accounted for upon the SUPPOSE
ton that he suffered the President to suspect
him of neither learning nor honesty. Len.
Faxon is brick. He has seen Cairo in all
her phases, and clings to her still with q
tenacity worthy of a b etter object In his
efforts to build up the city he is neither
daunted by dangers nor deferred by difficult
ties. When the Mississippi over flowed thC
place, he sat a-straddle of his office witt
his feet dangling in the food, and
wrote editorials in praise of the town on a
single. He is man of courage, and as he
has secured by letters patent the exclusive
right to tell the truth about Cairo, you viii
please suppress the copies OF this number Of
the Patriot that should so to Southern Illinois
Y.