The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-07-21

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The wonders Of the river would be good
subject for soms Of yoa 10 write on. Ittalks,
laughs, smiles, cries, Joys and sorrows, With
ont ever i Ing word DOo You undesstand
that? Ii you do not. think about il, and tell
me what you think wheA get back. Think
inr 10 your privilege = veil - mine, and you
must iii lesfs 10 think -uts ~ Apk, Ms some Of
the very litsle boys ~ girls wo1ld ~. Writ.
ing somethinR Of your own will help ron to
think, And the sooner yoa leath TO write the
better. An Who know how 70 write hold up
your hands and be counted. The Secretary
must put ihst down.. Now all who will try
to write ~ fat ashley can bold up hands
and be coantec. Very good.
But II is not what begun to write to
you. Az many ~ are in fssor Of hearing
about my boat ride up the river. say AYE. y
ALI right; that is if you have all voted
Surprising you have. and are listening with
your brightest smiles and. hsppiest faces, |
will tell you.
OF bos,nsy There is something rery' fine
aud graud about il, when you are able to en-
joyit. Then To spend days on the boat, to
live. there, to eat and Sleep and walk about
there. 10 60 to bed At night in cosy bed, and
to get up in the morning and find yourself p
hundred miles IN your way. All thls is very
fine, and Just what did on the steamer Du-
buqne. Its The way came six hundred
miles Up the Mississippi river, from keokuis
to st. Paul. Very soon alter we lost sight
Of the bluffs, where some Of you live,tit grew
dark. There were two births in my room.
When retired in the lower birth there was
one man ia the upper one. When / woke up
in the morning there VAS snother man in 4:
Can you tell how that was? We had beesi
going and stopping uH the night, end one q
my room mates had gotten ont al Burlington,
the other had gotten on. Tine must get used
to sucl. doings on steamboats,. The next day
was III . Fourth Of July and ! suppose we
had hundred and fifty flags flying .fEom our
/ deck. Before the passengers weie Up some
one had gone around and nailed mp the beau
tifoi little flags to almost every place that
wonld hold one. | say '.httle, because they
we're nearly all small, such as You might have
handled, but then they were our dear, bright.
| starry Tags, and felt proud of them, som.
thing Ike boy or girl with new shoes. CT
bonnie, on, and who says to everyone, Look
at nv shoes s.Look at my pretty bonnet
Yes, I just felt like struttiEg up and:
down thnt deck and saying TO every
town we passed, Look al our flags
and if they did not show flags enough them,
selves | irit hurt. because il seemed TO me
everyday ought to have one. Keep anew
one al, ut as large as the palm of my hand,
| and would not pa,t with it. When was
away oH IN the Eas. | had larger one with
me- ii il better to carry the flag securely in
| your heati than TO make any Q ter show oil
IT, Inst is'to hove il. and honor It, and guard
it sac. dy Every boy and girl Of the Uni,
ted States should do this, because there is no
| flag under the sun that represents so great
and good Il Government rs ours. | say il is
not important to make much outward show,
but somehow whoever wears our bright ban,
ner Lest his heart IS apt 10 show il. on the
| Fourth 81 July. Az we came up the river
that Cay, while so many were out on pic MICS,
with ltlays and speeches. aud so on, wanted
TO SEE flag lying from every window. and
here and there we saw them. As ae drew
near Muscafine, just after breakfast, stood
on the upper deck, near young man,
Drowned hy the sun and little lame. who
snid. II that Muscatin". cir replied,
| " Yes, sir Then found him oat. lie was
! an Ic a sodier--had not been home since he
| enlist I'd ig sixty one, had been in many dan,
| gers; had lost his father and mother. who
] died il. his nbse CT. aud was now ON his Way
/ to thai home from which he had been AWAY
/ so loug, aud from which two had been taken
| the two who were so dear to him. He, In
battle. was kept alive-they at home were
wrapped in the winding sheet My heart was
/ draw that yomug man At Museatine we
saw number Of flags. flying. Among them
| one oil torn aud blackened. That the sol.
| der saw hrst. and pointed out to me. bal
! flag had !. history all It's own. There the
! boys fired at u.s. Fired with tire crackers and
pistols that nude a loud noise withouf doing
any da;i;.ge. after that we had cheers
and iatk aboard \ party OF excursionists, and
| left 81 our way, right proudly Hattering one
| huuO tl fiAgS anu over 10 lne breeze. once
or twice unwrapped flag that was ftlded
arourJ its staff that il might II AT onis ner
riy, and | ielt hike kissing every one Of them.
By noon that day We we're at Davenport and
Rock island. Here again We saw a good
deal e he Fourth, and large crowd Of pic
nicers the Island. They seemed glad 10
see 81 the bridge. about which ] would
ike OF you, but have not time now -
III, p, up the river we. came. Again it
was ig t. and at Que or two stations We Saw
a dis, OF fireworks.
Tn day after was Friday. The lsrgest
town W. passed WAS Dubuque All that day
the SCENERY was enchanting. The river
wourS through many Islands, between high
hills ;.,t,i bluffs. Sometimes we swept very
near them. All the while they were turning
to us some new face OF beauty, aud when the
sun wrur down the way the trees and hills
trent 81 aud danced as reflected on the
brigb wafer was wonderful At times The
ro!lin. th er banks drew near together ahead
OF us II To meet. 50 could not see
wherf -, river ran: btt, rs we Heated-on the
green lnts opened and We had no obstruc
ton. 1i, IL was charming TO sit On deck
and y Z. .h,s by the hour. Again il WAS
night /, The morning il was SATURDAY. and
that ling. hetweei, six and seven. We saw
anotL ,pnster city they call ST Paul.
about e,c ! may trli tou at another time
| hol ~ f-limsis nUtoo hong
S Lovingly, yonr friend
!. X. ErFIsGER.