New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-06-18
+ From the June Overland Monthly.I
THE FATE OF MISSISSIP.

aeatftA s'Hsh---2 si3 w.
Here's the cabin in the hollow, .... #. .,
Where this neck Of woods comes down;
And the mr. trees nod and whisper
As they beckon us and frown. .-...
All the throat of stick and mortar
Breathes no more the curling smoke,
And the raven over yOnder,
Has plaintive funeral croak g H
There's the door Of, broken hinges,
Leaning like weary thing;
And the pathway dim with grasses,
Winding downward to the spring;
While this pyramid of antlers-
Spoils of many a ringing chase
Tells you OF a hunters labor
In this lonely, lonely place.
No, not IN there this is better. a. ,.s
Where The go den sunbeams sleep;
There are stains upon these puncheOns
THAT would make your muscles creep,
Sit upon this log beside me,
And Pll tell you how it came
Match about you THAT the cabin
Has a wild and fearful fame
He was big and hairy throated,
And his name was MISSISSIPPI"
Rather curious mortal was he,
And he didn't care a flip
For the friHs of polished cities,
Or the sciences and arts;
And he fled. like one tormented,
From the highways and the marts.
Well, in trailing down the border,
Here he pitched his tent, at last .....
And the degs-they sought him somehow
Gathered round him thick and fast
Hound and cur, full twenty of them,
Leaped about his open door;
And the cabin was their kennel, I..s
And their couch-its rugged floor.
Up and down the wooded gorges, .. .
Ere the morning sun grew warm,
You could hear their angry chorus,
Sweeping like a winged storm
TIL the quick snarl of his rifle,
Downward by the river shore.
flushed the rolling wave of clamor,
And the gallant chase was DER
But the vanguard of improvement.
With the compass and the chain
BivOuacked along the alley,
From the mountain to the main;
And the iron arm OF progress 4fIl1..r... ..
Ger the virgin wild was thrown.
And the steani-tiend shrieked and beloved
Where the solitude was known, t.,.....
And the canons throbb-d and Numbered
With the tread of mailed steeds,
And the breath of glowing nostYils
Rolled like war clouds Ger the meads.
vainly, when the shadows lifted,
Aud the dew was on the bush.
Mississip would wind his cows horn
In the mornings fragrant hush;
Turk - wonld lead the tawny hunters
To the hill side as of old, a
For the tracks were dim and cold.
And full often, too, mistaking
For the horn the engine.pipes, .l.
They would wander on wild chases-
Like the foolish after snipesl
~ -i.Li-Hi E-Hntr.'t = NH 3l..
Twice and thrice it was repeated
When his gun went DER a bank, -'
And the hunter went to swearing, .. .f
As his heart within him sank:
This has come of that there railroad
And knew when they begun, .. ..--
That 'twould skeer the deer to thunder,
An the hounds, they wouldn't runT
Then he sat within his cabin, ls-a
In cloud of wreathing smoke,
While from hound and cur beside him,
OFT the whine of hunger broke;
But he sat and smoked serenely,
With the famine in his eye,
Till you guessed his awful purpose,
And were sure he meant to die.
And the eyeballs hot and garing
Governed TANKS and dripping jaws,
Spoke the anguish of his hunters
From the emptiness that gnaws.
Nearer, nearer now they circled,
And the click of cleaning fangs
Was the wild beast rising IN them
From the hell of hangers pangs.
VAST the cry of dog or devil
Mercy what sight was there
Oh, the odor of that orgy
Even now must faint the air
Bat hint Well, should rather say So
MISSISSIPPI was soon released,
And their mouths were wet and crimson
With the rich, unholy feast
Simmons, up from Sleepy Hollow,
Happened by the place one day,
And he halted, just to ask him
If his steers had been that way;
But he only reached the threshold
When he started, all aghast,
As a something, swift and noiseless,
Like shadow fitted past:
Dog, perhaps, but then no matter
When he woke from terrOrs thrall,
He was startled by sentence
On board, against the wall;
Mississip, no doubt, had done it
Twas rude and homely scrawl,
Written with piece of charcoal,
"Dern the Rale Rode !" That is all
5. L. S.