Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-01-14
At THE WHARF.
Tho Obesity Irish suardIan Of the River
Shore.

After many days ~enervaGing as those Of
springtime, the weather grew cold yester'
day afternoon, clouds came and there was
a slow rain that almost froze ones bones.
Very many people last night were aspi-
rants for Watchmen's places on the leyee,
IL was 50 cool and comfortable down
there, and the ground was of more than
velvety sOftness, and then the rain drops
psttering down would lull one to repose
n save the necessity of washing ones
face when morning came. It's a pleasant
place at the levee when the mercury Is
very low and northern blasts sweep down
the mighty river. There are few lights
there, and they burn the more dtmly
when the inclOsing panes of glass are COW
cred with half-frOzen rain drops, moving
Iazily over the face of the lamp. There is
nothing more dreary of aspect than a sol
itary, half-blinded lsmplight on such a
night. The few lOiterers that came
along had their coat-cOllars up
turned and heads drawn down,
like startled terrapins. The wharf was
noiseless, dreary, desOlate. Now and
then the footsteps of some belated boat
man or homeless negro could bo heard
splashing in the little pools gathered be-
tween the new paving stones; q at
regular intervals, as if in a water buck
ct, swayed TO and fro, the waves, lifted
up by the wind, broke against the shore,
making a steady lullaby to sOOthe Bob
Good to repOse. 1t is Bob Goods home
down there. By day and night he wan
ders up and down the waters edge, and
the darker the mOonless, starless night,
the more ceaseless the steps of the
w~eatherbeaten wharfmsster. His black
eyes shoot out rays of light through the
mists that ever rise up from his domains,
and nothing escapes his searching vision.
He must meet every boat that touches
the shore, and boats commonly have "tOO
much abosrd"tO keep regular hours. They
come Keeling and staggering in, often
very "tOp heavy" at all unreasonable
hours. II is strange with what a smile
Bob Good greets them. It's the " smile y
he enjoys, and never was there a bOatman
who had the heartlessness to resist the
demands, however unreasonable the law,
Of such a whsrfmaster. If he had lived
and held office at the time, the famous
hatbOat war, waged years ago by the city
government against the river men, would
have filled nc sOUl-hsrrOwing chapters in
the wonderful history of this city.
At one o'clock last night Bob Good
came bowling up the hill from the scene
of his nocturnal wanderings, He heard
loud voices and much laughter at Mad
anne Vincent's. He found admittance,
and there merry rOysterers we're celebrat-
ing the election Of Vincent BacigalupC
as a Director of the German National
Bank. Bob was assigned a seat OF
honor, the steam, as from a scape
pipe, rushed up from his throat
when an exhilarating beverage went
down; and while speeches were made
and glasses clinked, and the room within
was so warm and CHEEKY and the cold
wind went soughi1g around the gables
rafting signboards and window shutters,
Bob Good sailed forth to his
ceaseless ghOstly wanderings along the
shore Of the mUrmuring river. Here the
story ends designed to tell pOsterity o.
hOnOrs bestowed upon the House of Vim.
cent, that Bob Good lived and hOurished
in the nineteenth century and ran late o.
nights, and hat the last was the dreariesi
that e7er darkened the years of his official
existence, When he went down the hill
we heard him singing as he went-BOb is
classical in his tastes-a little song trans,
lated from the Greek of AnacreOn:
Behold, when mother earth is dry
She drinks the droppings of the sky,
And then the dewy cordial gives
To every thirsty plant hat lives.
The MOON, too, quatfs her paly stream
OF lustre from the solar beam
The yapOrs which at evening weep
Are beverage to the mighty deep.
If natures holy law be drinking,
I'll make the law of nature mine
And Dlgdpa the uuJvarSa i'm wilma