Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1874-12-24

!; about fifteen hundred miles from
e Cincinnati to New Orleans. where
t could doubtless get a ship. | ha'
e thirty dollars left; l would go an'
/, complete the exploration of the ANA
zon. This was all the thought
2 gave to the subject. | never wa
great in matters of detail. / packed
my valise, and took passage on al
ancient tub, called the Paul Jones
for New Orleans. For the sum of six
teen dollars l had the SCARED and
! furnished splendors of sher" main
saloon principally to myself, for she
was not creature to attract the eve
of wiser travellers.
When we presently got under way
and went poking down the broad
Ohio, | became new being, and the
subject of my own admiration. |
was a traveller. A word never had
tasted so good in my mouth before.
had an exultant sense OF being
bound for mysterious lands and dis
tant climes which | never have felt
in so uplifting a degie, since.
| was in such gloriied condition
that all ignoble feelinge departed out
of me, and | was able to look down
and pity the untravelcd with com,
passion that had hardly a trace of
contempt in it. Still, when We stop
ped at villages and wood-yards, l
could not help lolling carelessly upon
the ratings of the boiler deck to en-
joy the envy of the country boys on
the bank. If they did not seem to
discover me, l presently sneazed to
attract their attention, or moved to Il
position where they could not help
seeing me. And as soon as | knew
they saw me l gaped and stretched,
and gave other signs of being might
ly bored with travelling.
kept my hat off all the time, and
stayed where the wind and sun could
strike me, because wanted to get
the brOnzed and weather beaten look
of an old traveller Before the second
day was half gone | experienced Il
joy which filled me with the purest
gratitude; for | saw that the skin
had begun to blister and peel off my
face and neck. | wished that the
boys and girls at home could see me
now.
We reached Louisville in time-at
least the neighbOrhood of it. We
stuck hard and fast on the rocks in
the middle of the river and lay there
four days. l was now beginning to
feel strong sense of being a part of
the boats family, sort of infant son
to the Captain and younger brother
to the officers. There is no estima-
ting the pride took in this gran
deur, or the affection that began to
swell and grow in Inc for those peo-
pie. / could not knew ~hoA. the lesd-
ly steamboatmen scOrns that sort of
presumption in a mere landsman. |
particularly longed to acquire the
least triile of notice from the big,
stormy mate, and | was on the alert
for an opportunity to do him ser
vice to that end. 1t came at last.
The riOutous pow-wow of setting a
spar was going Gil down on the fore
castle, and | went down there and
stood around in the way-or mostly
ont of it'll the mate sud
denly rOared general order for
to bring him capstan bar.
sprang to his side and said, Tell
me where it is; I'll fetch it?''
If Il rag picker had offered to do a
service for the Emperor of
Russia, the monarch could not have
been more astounded than the mate
was. He even stopped swearing.
He stood and stared dowa at Inc.
1t took him ten seconds to scrape his (
disjointed remains together again.
Then he said impressively: "Nell, !
if this don't beat hell~ and turned
to his work with the air of man /
who had been confronted with a
problem too abstruse for solution.
crept away and courted solitude l
for the rest of the day. | did not go {
TO dinner; stayed away from supper l
until every body else had finished. ;
[ did not feel so much like a member {
1f the boats family now as before.
However, my spirits returned in in l
;tallments rs we pursued our way '
lOwn the river. | was sorry | hated t
,he mate so, because it was not in {
young human nature not to admire |
lim. He was huge and muscular; {
ais face was bearded and whiskered S
Ill over; he had red woman and {
Ilue woman tattoOed on his right G
lrm-one on each side of blue an
;hor with red rope to it; and in Z
he matter of profanity he was per 9
ect. When he was getting out car a
70 at landing, | was always where t
could see and hear. He felt all the S
ublimity of his great position, and t
made the world feel it, too. When a
lie gave even the simplest order, he t
it like blast of light g
ling, and sent long reverberating Il
zeal of profanity laundering after it. a
could not help contrasting the way
n which the average landsman would il
rive an order with the mates way of $
Ioing it. If the landsman should II
Wish the gang plank moved foot h
urther forward, he would probably s
ay: "James, or William, one of you o
'ush that plank forward, please" ft
mt put the mate in his place, and he
Tould roar out: ''Ilere, now, start c
hat gang plank for'ard! Lively, ii
ow! What're you about, Snatch
+ snatch it. There, there! Aft
gain! Don't you hear me? Dash
too, dash! are you going to sleep :.
yer it! Vast heavlng. Vast heav- /,
lg, tell you! Going to heaye it :. :.
lear astern? Where re you going =
nth that barrel? For'ard with it =,