The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-07-02
LEGENDS or THE MISSISSIPPI.
Arc They to be Forever Lost |!


aA{InaE Es,ess T!ssr ..g.a'', e whom the Romans
sIsty centuries have fi1t served the
mystery OF the Nile. Burtonsand Bruces
have struggled on as YEARLY, as ever.
lastingly as Salathiel oyer.continents OF
water, oil In vain. The fountains OF
''the hoary Nile" are yet undiscovered,
the river still claims the sacred descent
sthat Ooptic symbolism gave it--ohild OF
the rain, born OF heavens thunder
storm.
How OF the sacred river OF America,
tho Mississippif The pioneer, @ man OF
little sentiment, spared the Indian tales
and romances that once filled the val
ley, rs seldom as he spared the pesky
redskin varmints" themselves. The
iaokals TO those lions, the farmers,
ready to devour the feast these children
OF the forest had by their courage and
endurance. provided, gazed on the
forests and prairies, mountains ana
rivers Of the valley, from very com
mercial. dollar,and. cent STANDPOINT, as
so many feet OF lumber, so many acres
OF wheat land, so much coal, so many
horse power. The Mississippi was
among these victims OF American en-
terprisc; they leveed It, bridged II,
damned il. put 1t into harness like
stubborn horse, to work and sweat and
toll for them. To them, 1t was sort of
u.
nursing and physicking in the way OF
jetties and levees before IL could be got
into a good, healthy condition for com
merce and manufactures. and there was
not an old housewife In the country but
had her remedy, cordial or aperient,
for opening or closing II up. :,
Little wonder, with this physicking IT
got, that 1t has become q hypochon-
drac, IL now always out OF order, now
up. now down, now In, now out OF Its
bed. Pills and plasters, draughts aud
emetics are not surer destroyers OF a
Young lady's sentiment than these
remedies have been OF all the myths and
romance OF the river The misty legends
that once gathered around the Undine
Of the New World, the giant child OF
tho Dahcotah rain-god, Unktahe. have
scattered like the Indian before tho
whizzing OF mills and the melancholy
sereach Of passing steamboats,.
Your Dutchman Is no poet, as stolid
man as ever lived as fiat and as uninter-
esting ms his own country, yet wlthal ne
sometimes sticks u pair OF fairy spec
tacles upon his nose,ss par ofspeotacles
that betray fays, gnomes and spectres
long before the gray light or evening
that changes every log into spirit or
ghost. His river, the Hudson, the Rhine
Of America, flows indeed through Fairy
Z land. AS you sail past Spuyten Tuyvil
Creek and Sleepy Hollow; under the
Shades Of Catskill. Kauterskill and
Donderberg, by West Point. and White
Plains. the Highlands, the Palisades,
Anthony's nose, the Storm Lake, the
Tappan Zee--every nook crowded with
legends as sweet and chaste as ever poet
coined-you feel rs IL you were journey
ing not merely on material river, a
road-stead OF commerce, sacred to
schooners and canal boats, wheat, corn
NlS.s.. anna ir.,n
were drifting along some fairy stream,
..seen only in the minds eye, Horatio!'
a river peopled by creatures OF the imag-
nation. purer than those OF this earth.
Where are the lost tales of the Mis-
sssippi They once existed; we hear
their echoes even now stories coming
from far back prc-adamite ages, ere
history was born, when the Mississippi
fought for the dominion or this chaotic
continent. The historians Of that time,
the biologists, tell us that tho Red
River once poured its stream, unaided
and unassisted, into the Gulf OF Mexico,
but that il fell victim to the tyrant
river OF America and was swallowed up
by its mighty neighbor The great lakes
OF the Northwest were once tributary
TO the Mississippi, poured out their SUI
perfiuous waters through the Chicago,
down the Illinois, into "the father OF
waters" Some myriads OF ages past
they rcbelled threw off their allegiance
to the tyrant, and In one mighty effort
forced their foaming way through the
rocks OF Niagara to an unknown, frozen
sea. To these pre- historic, wars OF
the Mississippi, Grecian fables OF the
wars OF giants, gods and Titans are but
as nursery tales, to please and tickle
The Mississippi was the home of the
Indian. Over two thousand tribes livec
along the banks of the greatest child q
the water god, greater far than the tire
god. There is but little left OF theil
stories-that little is dying fast. Wht
hunter of the valley, that became o
nights, by way of punishment ant
expiation, duck himself; of Maris
1uangeguna, who pursued over eartl
and heaven by his enemies, sought
refuge, like Jonah, in the belly, OF
mighty Mississippi catfish; OF little
Chacopee, the Dahcotah Jack, the Clan
Killer, with his famous winged nat an'
magic calumet; Of Membozo. father
the human race, floating up and dowr
the river forever in his iceberg prison
If Ninguis, the little boy that became
robin red breast; of the fight OF th
voung Dahcotah with the Spirit, figh
continued night after night, until th'
brave young chief triumphed, kille'
and buried his enemy, irom wnos
grave, overlooking the Misslssippl
snrang the first stalk OF corn Americ'
had seen: of Nesea, the were wolf. Q
the enchanted sunbeams, Of the island
of the blessed, floating in the silver lax
that served as cradle TO the river: thes
ara few of the many that once people
this valley. Where are they nowg
Nor did this romance fly even when ia
naleface came. To the early frencl
"a nnOhAnfeu.
aae IN. r;rer Have we forgotten de Leon
seu search after the fountain OF perpetus