Morning journal and courier., 1880-12-16
Price Four Cents.
CORRESPONDENCE.
Rain and Mud in Alabnma-On ,Ke TOmbigbee-ssRolI Dat Cottonr-ahe River Steamers Of the South.

l I River Steamers Of the South.
 | UNIoNrowN, Ala, Dec G. | To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 It has rained in this section for ten consec-
 utive days, and is still raining All this low
 CT country or black belt is one mass of mud.
 and mud that sticks as our New England mud
 never does. I worked two solid hours yes-
 serday morning getting from my overcoat
 the mud spattered on in an eighteen mile
 ride last week, and didn't get it all of by
 long ways, either. AS walk the streets in
 this town carry around several pounds of
 the slimy, sticky stuff that cannot be kent
 from sticking to my feet. All the rivers are over their banks, and in Alabama alone not
 less than 10, ,O00 bales of cotton unpicked is
 under water. l was caught last Thursday
 eighteen miles away from any railroad up at Gainesville on the bank of the Tombiebee l river, and the only chance to get out to steel rails again was to take steamer down the
 river, which decided to do. I knew there
 were three up the river, and in all likelihood
 one would be along in the | course of twenty four hours Now any one who has been on the Sound or up the Hud-
 son knows little what waiting for a river steamer here means. I sat up Friday night at my hotel until II, and leaving word with ] my colored friend, whose duty it was to see I a | boat came in the night, I went to a rest which l was undlsturbed till Saturday morning, when
 Q black head appearing inside the door saluted me with the words, Boss is you gwine down de riber dis mornin ?'' My reply being in the affirmative the head continues, well l you better git up for de boat just done land l ed, and disappears. l am out of bed and dressed in five minutes, and am shortly aboard | the Mary Boyd, stern-wheel boat about | 175 feet in length and capable of carving | about 1000 bales of cotton, taking which staple to Mobile forms the chief business of
 the boats plying this river. have time to | get good breakfast and watch the loading of sixty bales of cotton before the | bell rings warning all who are not | going to get ashore. The river at this point | is more than bank full, except at the bluff on which the town stands, and still rising On l the opposite bank stands house (two storyl in which once lived an old woman now dead | who, when the great rise took place in the river in "A, would not leave her house until she was taken out of the second story win | dow, together with her COW, pigs, chickens
 and dogs, in boats. once forded the river
 at this point. Now it is 50 or 60 feet deep ! and very muddy.
 l It amused me to watch the black deck
 hands roll the bales of cotton aboard at the different landings. They worked in pairs or | as partners, and about thirty were employed getting the bales aboard and trimming them | POoAbAOA
 musical and shouted their rude negro melo-
 dies as they rolled the bales over and over,
 and song and laughter made the work light. DemopoEs, Alabama, my destination, is sey- | enty-fve miles by river from Gainesville and | only thirty-fv by land. But short as is the
 distance, we were twelve hours in making | the trip. Much time was consumed in mak- | ing landings, difficult by reason of
 the high river and rapid current, and by the getting in the cotton and the cotton seed, l several hundred bags of which we took on, destined for a cotton seed mill at Demopolis. l One of the mill owners was on board and he told me there a great demand for the oil | much of which was made into bottled eOlive oil' and sold as imported; also that they had | received an order for 1000 bushels of seed | to be ground extra fne from leading man ufacturer of French and German mustards Those of your readers who are fond of the mild French mustard" can feel sure that they
 are eating something partly made of cotton seed from which the oil has been extracted It's healthy. Twon't hurt lem half as much as the real mustard. Cattle are fond of it and hogs grow fat on it.
 The pilot-house of the ''Mary Boyd" like that of all similar steamers in this section is about fifty feet up from the water, and al-
 most to the top of the tall smokestacks of 1 the steamer. Perched up there with the pi- l lot, could look over the tops of the great 1 trees lining the river bank, now bare of leaves, and half covered by the muddy river, and of into the surrounding country The | river is narrow and some of the turns very short, and every little while the pilot would
 signal to ''stop her' land let the current car ry her around the sharp points. Every few
 miles hail from the bank answered by the pilot, would elicit the fact that there was cot ton on the bank below waiting shipment, and | the boat would swing round and throw out line and tie up to some stump or bush the
 'roustabouts" would get out, and with jokes and songs roll the cotton on, while all the
 population of the neighborhood, of all sizes, colors and conditions, would turn out and
 watch the operation of loading and the de- parture of the steamer as she swung into the current and away again.
 Inside, the captain, clerk and a couple of
 passengers spent the long hours playing the national game of "draw poker" quitting the table only to eat hurried meals. At nearly every landing some of the young bucks of the country would come aboard, slouch hats set on the back of heads that looked as-if
 barber's shears would improve them, and pants in boots to patronize the bar and get a toddy or two while the boat waited. Ne-~ groes would bring on butter, eggs and chick ems for sale, and gaze with open eyes and mouths at the gilded appointments of the cabin and offices and at the game of draw poker.
 At dark, instead of halls, we are stopped by fires built the bank, and we round to see fat pine torches placed in iron frames lit up by some of the deck hands, making the scene weird and strange. Our captain, finally having all the cotton he can safely carry refuses to stop in reply to the torch light fires and appealing halls from either
 bank, and we steam away, pufing and blow ing. down the dark river until the lights of Demopolis and long whistle by the steamer and ringing of bells announce that the well come end of my long journey has come.
 It is difficult to imagine anything more graceful than one of these southern river steamers. Drawing little water, they go up the smallest rivers. The lower deck open on all sides, contains the boilers and machin- cry and all heavy freight The second or cabin deck is for passengers, and is light and airy and cool. Here are the offices, barber shop, bar, pantry and dining room. Above this deck is the third or officers deck, which includes sitting room and sleeping rooms for the officers of the boat. Still higher is thesoilot house, and towering still higher are the tall smokestacks, from which stream the long columns of black smoke, which at night are full of live red sparks. No American's life of travel is complete until he has taken trip on one of these airy river palaces and seen the black boys roll on cotton, or wood up at some of the many wood yards.
 In ten days more I bid farewell to the stsunny South" and turn my face toward old . Connecticut. I have been away from her borders for over five and one-half months and shall be reioieed to see her again, even if she is covered with snow and ice, as I imagine her to be- Here we sit without fires, win dows and doors open and flowers in bloom. Yesterday picked apple blossoms from one of the trees here. As write we are in se- were thunder storm, and it is raining as if it had not rained any for the last ten days. I will send you one more letter before I return, and give you Yankee boy's impressions of the South, politically and socially.
 0. H. CLARKE
 Civil Marriage in Georgia.