New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-02-28
OLD TIMES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
By MARK TW AIN.

i At the end Of what seemed tedioJ
a while, l had managed to pack my head fu
;. OF islands, towns. bars, points" and bend
:, and curiously inanimate mass of lumbt
!. it was, too. However, inasmuch as coul
+ shut my eyes and reel Oft a good long strin
/ of these names without leaving out NOR
: than ten miles of river in every fifty,
began to feel that | could take boat dow
to New Orleans if | could make her ski
> those little gaps. But of course my con
a placency could hardly get start enough t
: lift my nose tritle into the air. before MI
b would think of something to fetch i
q down again. One day he turned on IL
a suddenly with this settler:
f What is the shape of Walnut Bend. ?"
He might as well have asked me m,
grandmother's opinion of protoplasm.
: reflected respectfully, and then said
didn't know it had any particular shape
My gunpowdery chief went of with
bang. OF course, and then went on loadlns
and firing until he was out Of adjectives.
had learned long ago that he only car
ried just SO many rounds of ammunition
and was sure to subslde into very plaza
bic and even remorseful old smooth bore
as soon az they were all gone. The wore
''old' is merely affectionate; he was no,
more than thirty four. l waited. BY and
by he said:
my boy, you've got to know the shape
OF the river perfectly. 1t is all there is left
to steer by on a very dark night. But mind
you. it hasn't the same shape in the night
that 1t has in the day time"
"HOw on earth am l ever going to learn
it, them"
How do YOU follow hall at home in the
dark! because you know the shape of it.
You can't see it,
DO you mean to say that I've got
to know all the million t.ihing variations
of shape in the banks. of this interminable
! river as well as know the shape of tle
front hall at home!'
"On my honor you've got to know them
better than any man ever did know the
| shapes of the halls in his own house"
| IL wish 1 was dead,'
| Now l don't want to discourage you
but
| We'll, pile It on me; might as we'll have
it now as another time
| You see, this has got to De learned:
:here isn't any getting around it. clear
starlight night throws such heavy shadows
| that il you didn't know the shape of shore
| perfectly you would claw away from every
bunch Of timber, because you would take
| the black shadow of it for a solid cape: and
you see you would be getting scared to death
| every fifteen minutes by the watch. You
would be fifty yards from shore all the
time when you ought to be within twenty
feet of it. You can't seq a snag in one of
those shadows, but you know exactly
where 1t ls, and the shape of the river tells
you when you are coming to it. Then
there's YOUR pitch dark night: the river is
very different shape on pitch dark night
from what it is On a starlight night. AlI
shores seem to be straight lines, then, and
mighty dim ones. too; and you'd run them
tor straight lines, only you know better.
You boldly drive your boat ri ght into what
seems to be a solid, straight wall (you
knowing very well that in reality there is a
curve), and that wall falls back and makes
way Tor you. Then there's your gray mist
You take night when there's one of these
grisly, drizzly, gray mists, and then there
Isn't any particular shape for shore. A
gray mist would tangle the head of the
oldest man that ever lived. Well, then.
different kinds of moonlight change the
shape of the river in different ways. You
see
"Oh, don't say any more, please Have |
got to learn the shape of the river accord |
ing to all these five hundred thousand diff. |
ferent wayss II tried to carry all that |
cargo in my head it would make me stoop- |
shOuldered.
NO. you only learn the shape of the |
river; and you learn it with such absolute |
certainty that you can always steer by the |
shape that's in your head, and never mind
the one that's before your eyes"
Very well, III try it; but after l have
learned it can l depend on it! Will it keep
the same TORN and not go fOoling around,'
Before MIR. Be could ans wer, Mr. W
came in to take the watch and he said:
b. you'll have to look out tor Presi
dents island and all that country clear
away up above the Old Hen and Chickens.
Inc banks are caving and the
shape of the shores changing like
everything. Why. You wouldn't know
mint Nnv |
side the old sycamore snag, now
80 that question was answered Here
were leagues of shore changing shape. Nv
spirits were down in the mud again Two
things seemed pretty apparent to me. One
was, that III order to be a pilot man had
got to learn more than any one man ought |
to be allowed to know; and the other was.
that he must learn it all over again in a
different way i'll twenty-four hours
That night we had the watch until twelve |
Now 1t was an ancient river custom for the
two pilots to chat bit when the watch |
changed. While the relieving pilot put on
his gloves and Lit his cigar, his partner, the
retiring pilot, would say something lika
this:
II Judge the upper bar is making down a
little at Haie's Point; had quarter twain
With the lower lead and mark twaiut with |
he other"
Yes, thought it was making down a
little last trip. Meet any boats 2"
MET one abreast the head of Twenty.one,
'ut she was away over hugging the bar.
md couldn't make her out entirely. took |
Ter for the Sunny South-hadn't any sky-
lights forward Of the chimneys."
And go on. And as the relieving nilot |
ook the wheel his partner would mention
hat we were in such and such bend, and
ay we were abreast of such and such a
mans wood yard or plantation. This
s esstS e0uf Bas Mr. supposed it c, WAS ne
watch full twelve minutes late. on tbi.
'artlcular nght-a tremendous breach of {
tiquette; IN tact, it is the unpardon-
'ble sin among pilots. SO Mr.. b gave
nm no greeting whatever. but simply sur
endered the wheel and marched out of the &
'il0tho without word. | was an. 6
alled; IL was villainous night for black
ess; we were In particularly wide and t
llnu part OF the river, where there t
vas no shape or substance to ANYTHING.
nd it seemed incredible that MI
should have left that poor /
elbow to kill the boat irving to t
no out where he was. But resolved that q
would stand by him any way. He should s
nd that he was not wholly friendless. So t
stood around and waited to be asked '
'herere we were. But Mr.. W plunged j
q serenely through the solid firmamenT of | u
lack cats that stood for an ATMOSPHERE /
nd never opened his mouth. Here i, a y
roud devil, thought |: here is a limb of .
atan that would rather send US all "a do. [
~ 1t may not be necessary. but still it can do h
Jag and the shore.-M T. S0n INC
Two fathoms. Quarter twain is two and ona. | a
larter fathoms, thirteen and one.haIf 60 10 que
rec is three fathoms A A0e'' Mal&
Partner is technical for 'the other pilot