The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1872-10-18

FOR the JAsrkE CoualK.
ABOARD THE SALT RIvgR PACKET.l
DEcEiTFUL SMILER.
FRIEND EDITOR Knowing our .cw
friends. who We lett behind on laat
Thursday night. have strong soici,ude
for our safe arrival at the head OF Iayi-
CATION on Salt River. thought l would
give them II few incidents relative 10
TIE organization of our crew, trip, etr.,
through the columns Of your valnaLls
paper.
On entering the packet. the gas from
the lager beer consumed during the can
vass hOw,ed in the most dreary manner,
and the crew struggled in with their
clothes almost torn Off of them by
the brush and briars Of Hall aud Col
umba townships. There were only fve
whole buiion-holes in tie Whole crew.
amt they were owned by tie Chapiain
and Deck-sweep. The crew looked
deeply detected. aud after al got aboard
and took their seats. scarce, any one
raised their syes from the floor n"
words were spoken. and silence was Tor
some time unbroken. Finally, Miller.
with trennulons voice. rose up ane.
read s. dispatch from the Awarding
Committee. and pounded on board
near by with All empty beer mug. which
attracted the attention of the crew
After q silence OF few moments, BE
ker announced that the crew Were all
aboard and ready to 50 in.o pefDa-
nent organization oi the crew.
a committee. consisting u Hobbs, Ii'-
derieden and Spurlock, wu. appointed
OH credentials. tho rviire2 to dark
and lonely part Of the packet. and after
Il long time, in which The balance OF us
sat in silence, chewing our tobacco,
sucking empty beer mugs. and musing
over on, sad fate, the committee re-
turned with a small scrap Of paper.
handed il 10 Ilendricksom, who aros.
and read it with slow and fatering
voice, which sounded like man chok-
ing To death in n churn, that the crew
was now ready to go into = permanent
organization and elect officers for tie
"Trip. Morgan then arose and brought
{ he heel OF his boot in contact with the
lower deck. and tried to make brief
but Intellectual assault upon the peryad-
ing melancholy, aud then announced
himself as candidate ior Master OF
His craft in is14, aud then sat down.
The steam began 10 whistle rom
every crcvice of the OLD boiler. but no
eyes were raised from the floor.
After awhile, Fink arose, and al
Ia commit u waniou aud ma
iicioUs o:aiorcal outrage upon the
mriaucholy crew; his conscience failed
him and his voice quiveret, and whistlcd
like lie wind blowing in a jug.
tli. .nuctup1. ti.a .n,upA ttfaa an
nounccd the crew organized. as significd
sight alterations.
a voice was heard. "All aboard"
and our pleasant packet lett your wharf
iii dense political fog and 10 make our
more gloomy, the old pew
Ter band struck up "Hark from The
to'nbs.' etc, which caused most Of us
to feel like we were marching to tie
time of The Old Hundred. Our noble
old craft moved up slowly. through the
dark. until we passed Greeley Bend.
where quite n number OF passengers
We're in waiting for US which we took
aboard.
BY this time the fog had cleared
away, the sun shomc in its briliiancy.
Our noble Commander took aboard y
few kegs OF lager beer. together with
tobacco. cigars. whisky, aud n little
more brandy. and then ordered Hem
Erickson and Hobbs to steer for the
head o; navigation.
After taking aboard our new recruit.
aud imbibing pretty freely in our adj
ditionai beverages. our dropping spirits
began TO revive. and when the old band
struck up" Captain Jinks il seemed
that our noble old craft WAS running At
railroad speed.
We are now near the head waters of
Salt River, aud have made The trip in
four days. There has been no dissatis-
faction among The crew since tho second
day. All have discharged their duty
well. There have been three convcr-
sion- on board, " no will manifest their
faith by their works in November. Our
faithful Chaplain has stood at his post.
Most Of u have decided that IL is not as
melancholy Il trip as first anticipated.
NEAR THE HEAD WATERS OF SALT
RIVER, Oct. il. 1872.
A PASSENGER.
y. b. We stand ready to Greet our
friends from Cincinnati aud Baltimore
in November. aud hope they may have
as pleasant a trip rs we have had. A. p.