The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1875-03-11

BY the time we hal gone seven nr
.'igh, hundred miles up the river, i had
earned to be tol-rable plucky u,,-
stream s,eersm.n, i'll daylight, and he
TIRE We reach. d St. Louis, l had
made a tr.a. of progress in III .ht
so. K, but only t. Ac. l hid note
ook that iairly b.i~,lc,i with the
nsmes nf towns,' points," bars, islands.
bends, reaches, ETC., but the informa-
tiou was to be found only in the note
book-none Of it was in nv head. It
made my heart ache to think ! had
only got half of the river set down;
for Is our watch was four hours of
and four hours on, day and night,
there was . long four hour gap in my
book for every time | slept since the
voyage began.
Ny chief was presently hired to 60
on . big New Orleans boat, and |
packed my sachel and wen, with him.
She was . grand affair. When. l
stood in the pilot-house Was SO far
above the water that seemed perch
cd on . mountain !; and her decks
stretched 30 far away, fore and aft,
below me, that ! wondered how
could have considered the little Paul
Jones large craft. There were 9TH
er differences, too. The Paul Jones
pilot. house was a cheap, dingy, bat
tered rattle trap, cramped for room; !;
nut here was sumptuous glass tenn
pie; room enough to have dance in;
SNOWY red and gold window curtains
an imposing sofa leather cushions
and back to the high bench where
visiting pilots sit, to spin yarns and
''look At the river )" bright, fanciful
:" cuspadores" instead of broad
wooden box filed with saw-dus, ;nice
new oil-cloth on the floor; a hospit-
able big stove for winter; a wheel as
high rs my head, costly with inlaid
work; q wire tiller rope; bright brass
knobs for the bells; and a tidy, white
aproned black "Texas- tender to
bring up the tarts and ices and coffee
during mid-watch, day and night
Now this was something like" and
~ / began to take heart once more to
believe that piloting WAS romantic
sort of occupation after all. The mo-
ment We were under way | began 10
prowl about the great steamer and
ill myself with JOY. She was as clean
and - dainty ~ . drawing ronm;
when ! looked down OH her long, gill
tied saloon i, WAS like gazing through h
= splendid tunnel; she had an oil pic
.urr, BY some gifted sign-painter on
every stateroosn door she gIit,errd
with no end OF prism -iring~d chan
deliers; the clerks office was
elegant, th~ bar was marvel .us, and
the barkeep-r had been bsrb-red and
upholstered At incredible cost Tn.
b,,iler deck Il. e., I e second story oi
he bat, SO to speak was as spac,
ious Is church, it seemed t. me
% with the forecas le, and there was
no pitiful handful of deck hands, 6r,..
men and roustabout. down there. bu,
. whole ba,,al on Of mrn. The fires
wer. e rc' ly giaring from long row
Of furnaces. And over them wer.. ght
hugo buil+re! This was unutte, able
pomp. The mighty engi"es-bu,
enough Of ,his. l had never {. 1t sc
6ne before. And when l found tina,
the regiment Of uatty servants re
spectfully "sir'd" me, my satisfactio,
was complete.
When l returned to the pilot house
St. Louis was gone and l was lost
Here was . piece Of river which wa.
al down in my book, but | coull
make neither head nor tail of it; yo,
understand, it was turned around.
| had seen it when coming up stream
but had never faced about to Sc,
bow it looked when it was behind me
Ny heart broke again, for it was plai,
that had got TO learn this trouble
sono river both sooys.
The pilot-houss was fall Of pilots
going down to ''look at the river
What 10 called the supper river" (th'
two hundred miles between St. Loui
and Cairo, where the Ohio comes in,
was low; and tho Mississippi change
its channel 20 constantly that tho pi
lots used to always End it necessar
to run down to Cairo to take fres
look, when their boats were to lie i
port for . week, that il, when tn
water was at low stage. A deal ,
this Stocking at the river" was don
by poor fellows who seldom had
bcr,h and whose only hope of ge,tio
one lay in their being always freshl
posted and therefore ready to dro
into the shoes Of some reputable pilo
for . single trip, on account Of sue
pilots sudden illness, or some 9TH
necessity. And > good many, Of the
constantly ran up and down, inspec
ing the river. not because they sv
really hoped to get . birth, but b
oause (,Aey being guests Of the boa
i was cheaper TO look At the riv
than stay sshore and pay bosrd.
time ,hess fellows became dainty
I Ak..se tasfn AUA ~~.1., :~f..H~A ~.