The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-05-15

And the wave, and the surf, aud the tide still
and moan their song
As the mourlful story their music tells
In every sigh of the wild wind swells,
And walls along.
ON THE >SISSIPPI RIVER.
Mark Twain's Experiences AS a Cub Pr
lot on the Mississippi.
4 pilot mist have MEMORY: but
there are two higher qualities which he
must also have. He must have good
and quick judgment and decision, and
cool, calm courage that no peril can
shake. Give a man the merest trif1e of
pluck to start with, and by the time he
has become pilot he cannot be I'M
manned by any danger steamboat can
get into; but one cannot quite say the
same for Judgment; Judgment is a
matter of brains, and man must start
with a good stock of that article, or he
will never succeed as pilot.
The growth of courage in the pilot
house is steady all the time, but it does
not reach high and satisfactory con-
dition until some time after the young
pilot has been standing his own watch"
alone and under the staggering weight
of all the responsibilities connected
with the position. When an appren-
tice has become pretty thoroughly &C
quainted with the river, he goes clat-
ter1ng along 30 fearlessl4 with his
steamboat, night or day, that he pres
emily begins to imagine that it is his
courage that animates him; but the
first time the pilot steps out and leaves
him to his own devices, efinds out it was
the other mans. He discovers that the
article has been left out of his own car
90 altogether. The whole river 10
bristling with exigencies in a moment;
he is not prepared for them; he does
not know how to meet them; all his
knowledge forsakes him; and within
fifteen minut.s he Is as White as sheet,
and scared almost to death. Therefore,
pilots wisely train these cubs by vari-
Gus strategic tricks to look danger in the
face little more calmly. favorite
way of theirs is to play friendly swim
die upon the candidate.
MIR. r. served rae in this fashion once,
and for years afterward I used to blush
even in my sleep when I thought of it.
I had become good steersman so
good, indeed, that had all the work to
w oH ouH "aoCus aiRho nhu uoy' 49,
B. seldom made a suggestion to me !;
all he ever did was to take the wheel
on particularly bad nights or in par
ticularly bad crossings, land the boat
when she needed to be landed, play
gentleman of leisure nine-tenths of the
watch, and collect the wages. The
anybody had Questioned my ability to
run ahy crossing between Cairo and
New Orleans without help or instruc-
ton, I should have felt irreparably
hurt. The idea of being afraid of any
crossing in the lot, in the daytime, was
thing too preposterous for contem-
plation. Well, one matchless summers
day 1 was bowling down the bend above
island &c, brim full of self conceit and
carrying my nose as high as a giraffe 8,
when Mr.. B. said
"I am going below awhile. sup
pose you know the next crossing 2"
This was almost an anront. It was
about the plainest and simplest crossing
in the whole river. One wouldn't come
to any harm, whether he ran it right or
not and as for depth, there never had
been any bottom there. ] knew all
this, perfectly well.
"Fnow how TO run its Why; I cen
run it with my eyes shut"
elbow much water is there in it ?"
well, that is an odd question. 1
couldn't get bottom there with church
steeple."
"You think SO, do you?"
The very tone of the question shook
my confidence. Thet was what Mr.. B.
wao expecting. he left without saying
anything more. began to imagine all
sorts of things: Mr.. B., unknown to
me, of course, sent somebody down to
the forecastle with some mysterious
instructions to the leadsmen, another
messenger was sent to whisper among
the officers, and then Mr.. B. went into
hiding behind a smokestack where he
could observe results. Presently the
captain stepped out on the hurricane
deck next the chief mate appeared
then clerk. Every moment or two
straggler was added to my audience
and before I got to the head of the
island I had fifteen or twenty people
assembled down there under my nose.
began to wonder what the trouble was.
As l started across, the captain glanced
aloft at me and said, with a sham I'M
easiness in his voice
"Where is Mr.. B p
"Gone below, sir"
But that did the business for me.
My imagination began to construct
dangers out of nothing, and they multi
piled faster than 1 could keep the run
of them. All at once imagined I saw
shoal water ahead The wave of cow
ard agony that surged through me then
came near dislocating every joint in me.
ALI my confidence in that crossing van
ished.. I seized the bell-rope dropped
it. ashamed; seized it again /; dropped
it once more clutched it trembllngly
once again, and pulled it so feebly that
L could hardly hear the stroke myself.
Captain and mate sang out instantly.
and both together "Starboard lead
there and quick about it !"
This was another shock. began to
climb the wheel like squirrel but I
would hardly git the boat started to
port before would see new dangers on
that side, and away would spin to the
other, only to find perils accommodating
to starboard, and be crazy to get to
port again. Then came the leadman's
sepulchral cry:
"D-e-e-p four y
Deep four in a bottomless crossing
The terror of it took my breath away.
mark three! Ma r-k three
Quarter less three Half twain r
This was frightful! l seized the bell
ropes and stopped the engines.
"Quarter twain Quarter twain
Mark twain y
I was helpless. I did not know what
in the world to do. I was quaking from
head to foot, and could have hung my
can on nv ewes. they stuck out so far,
"Quarter less twain Nine and
half p
We were drawing nine y! My hands
we're in a nerveless futter. could not
ring bell intelligibly with them. 1
few to the speaking-.ube and shouted
TO the engineer
"Oh, Ben, if you love me, back her
Quick, Ben Oh, back the immortal
soul out of her T.
I heard the door close gently. l look
al ororDJ and thara stood Mr.