Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1860-07-18
RIVER JOTTINGS.
MISSISSIPPI RIVER,

Z 1000 -" OA-~etAAAf CNt1 -CNO-
Dear Czronlcle;-Close to the foot of
the cross and the grave, stands Travel as
ono of the great equalizing institutions of
the age. 1t is no respecter of persons, but
is in strict accordance with that Republi-
can spirit which is now stamping its giant
impress upon the tablet of hHman affairs.
The Irishman with his shielelah or bun
die, is as Independent on the cars or steam
boat as any local Jupiter that ever travel
cd. One mans dollar is as good as anoth-
ers; Rich and poor, high and low, young
and old. all are placed upon a common lev
el. They eat at the same table, sleep in
the same car, are drawn by the same iron
horse, and are knocked about impartially
at the same smash" On Wednesday the
9th inst, we left St Louis by steamboat
for New Orleans. A delightful ride of
twenty-fOur hours brought us to Carlo, the
emporium of Lower Egypt, Ill, near which
few days since, the ill-fated steamer Ben
Lewis, blew up, burned and sank She had
on board nearly one hundred passengers,
fifty of whom perished. The timid trav-
eler wrought up by sights of woe and stO-
ries of explosions and disasters, when he
finds himself being over the boilers of
steamboat, liable to be blown sky high at
any moment is very apt to repeat his
"NOw lay me" &C., with double fer
vency ere he sinks to sleep.
The Mississippi river may be justly
classed among the wonders of the world.
For hundreds of miles from It's source tits
a clear placid stream, varying in width
from half a mile to a mile, interspersed
with islands clothed in verdure to the wa
ter's edge-ft homes for fairies and sylvan
gods, while its shores are lined with for
ests, fields, swamps, and cliffs that loom up
hundreds Of feet against the sky, and re-
mind the beholder Of the castles and towers
of the feudal ages. Below the mouth of
the Missouri, the river undergoes a remark
able change-Instead of a smooth. clear, !
gliding stream, it becomes a wild turbid
torrent, roaring. boiling, sweeping along
into the Gulf of Mexico. !
A western steamboat presents ault,aa
an parrO of human life in its various pha-
ses. Let us stroll through our boat
Come with me to the pilot-hOuse. Here
the river is presented in its finest aspect
See that colossal cliff encirelcd waist high
with cedar and Try mantles, shooting its
bald and blackened head two hundred and
fifty feet above the waters edge. See those
plantations on the other side, with their
long rows of cabins and fields of tobacco
and corn, and beyond that long chain of
grand, stupid, tranquil mountains stretch
ing away for miles in the hazy distance
Let US 60 below. What nondeseript
picture do We see now? Here is a Dutch
nan with a monkey, an Irish peddler, sey-
.ral emigrant families moying-(wough.
now dirty they area score or two of cat
lie, cords of broom handles, wooden bowls
md cheese (from old Trumbull,) tons of
'orn and oats, hOgshcads of tobacco, whis-
" enough to treat all Ireland, a score of,
leck hahds lying miseellaneously about,
md a company of Africans having "break
lown." Suky smiles lovingly at Cufe, as
lie puts down her feet to the tune of 'Clar'
he Kitchen, or. Out of the Wilderness
md gives undoubted evidence of cupids t
,rescnce.
Hark the vollyed Of laughter, hark hejoyous ,
shout /,
lark the Niger chorus ringing sharply out
Merry is the bondsman, gloomy is his lord;
For merciful is Justice, and kind is Fates
award.
% sing We careless negroes in our Joyous ship. {
'loatiug. steaming, dancing down the Miss
issip.''
The northern man who goes South. goes
into the past-the good old
ospitable past-into the age of saddle
ags, stage coaches, pack-saddlcs. gourd ,
hell dippers and big fire places;-thc ,
outhern man who goes North, takes lol.5 !
,ap into the future-the busy buzzing, go '
head futurc-into the age of school hOu- $
es. steamers, railroads, telegaphs and .
,ankee inventions. Reciprocal visits would q
improve both. a
The political struggle between the Doug I
Is and the Breckenridge factions of the C
lemocratic party, has begun throughout f
be South in bitter earncstness. 1t is a o
egular family quarrel, hence the more viz 7
lent and vindictive. The respective fol- a
,wcrs of the Guelps and Gibelhnes of Ital- 5
;. or the houses of YoIk and Lancaster of n
ngland, never strovc with more hatred
nd determination than viii the adherents ?
the 'Hump and Hemp candidates fight b
gaiust each other in the coming campaign.
through the chaos of the contest, already s
leans the Omens Of the Republican tri-' S
mph. 4 majority Of the candid, intelli- 3
ent men of the South are unanimous in b
he opinion that Lincoln viii be elected c
Ie expect to land at New Orleans in two I
ours The yellow fever has already be- P
ln its rayages in that city.
J. NJ.