St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-12-28
Life OH a Mississippi steamer.
Correspondence of the New York Time.I


on Saturday. That word Cons seemed
to he an Authorization of something, |
but there was no clew to it anywhere |
about the boat 1t might be consular,
or consolidated, or consumptive, or
or consequential. The
name of the other boat, too, had some |
thing original about it-Paris {. Brown.
But there was nothing romantic III 1t. |
| had hoped to go down the river on
something like the Belle of the West,
or the Golden Crown. both of which
are names of Mississippi river boats.
But / was booked for the Paris {.
Brown. and she was to start at o'clock
on Friday afternoon. With her initial
letter in the middle, she, too, presented
great possibilities for speculation. If 1t
had been the Paris Green there would
have been nothing astonishing about
it. But Paris Brown And 1t might
he Paris Cincinnati Brown, or Paris
Cotton Brown, or Paris Goldfish Brown.
A large Photographic portrait of Paris
G.. Brown, hanging in the forward end
of the saloon, only added to the mys-
tification As the boat did not start at
4 o'clock, nor yet ut >, nor even at d,
nor at Z, | had plenty of time to
cogitate on this subject, and found 1t
almost equal to the mental exercise of
living awake and counting the number
of letters in the signs | am familiar
with After a while, when | got my
intellect fairly oiled up and in good
running order, the photograph OF MIR.
Brown came to the rescue. 1t was the
picture of a nice man, with his hair
neatly plastered down, and his blonde
side wiiskers smoothly brushed. Then
knew, of course, that the c. stood for
"Chawley.n The two boats We're very
nearly alike, though they belonged to
different lines. Both were loading
freight, and both had runners ont to
catch passengers. The Paris {. Brown
was lust such Il boat as | had come
from Pittshurg to Wheeling in, only
about six times as large. Her engines
were down in the basement which was
oUcn To the weather. On the first i1oor,
up one flight of STAIRS, were the saloon
and the cabins. Up on the Mansard
roof, two flights up, was very large
deck, running from stem to stern, Gov
cred with tarred paper and fine gravel,
and making grand promenade. Above
all doomed the pilot-hOuSe, Il good 30
feet above the water. These Missis-
Sippi boats don't 90 very deep into the
water, so they make up for it by going
well up into the air. The big upper
deck (called the Texas deck) had an
uncomfortable way of yielding To the
foot, as if it were not strong enough to
bear IL mans weight, but when they
brought Il derrick into play and hoist
ed up there bodily Il big Tennessee
farm wagon, and afterward an entire
buggy and about 800 empty oil barrels,
| was no longer afraid that my tritiing
weight would break it through. There
was Il big red paddle-whcel out in the
| back ward of the boat, and the cabin
was fitted up with some little regard
to comfort. There was It big stove at
each end and there were plenty of arm
chairs. And the diningtahles, which
occupied the centre of the big room,
constantly gliStened with red napkins.
| This was great comfort, because, after
they had been in use Il week or ten
DAYS, they did not show the marks of
battle. There was Il small bar ut one
end, and the statc-roOms were small,
dark, unwhOlesOme, and the bedding
unclean. | am sorry to have to say
| this. because | promised to give the
old Paris G.. Brown Il good puff. But
nothing could induce me to deviate the
one-thOusandth part of Il hairs breadth
from the exact truth. And a man can't
write really healthy and beneficial
putfs while he has to sleep on sheets
! that have been used 10y four or five sets
of passengers.
Gradually, throughout the afternoon,
our passengers came aboard. One of
the most noticeable things about the
complement of passengers was the fact
| that going anywhere by boat was sup
posed to he prima facie evidence that
IL man had not money enough to go by
train. 1t was not believed to be with
in the bounds of possibility that any
body should travel by the boat from
choice. The appearance of the passen-
gers, too, justified this conclusion.
| There were some very nice people
among them, but none who looked us
| if they had more money than they
wanted. Flannel shirts, SLOUGH hats,
muddy boots, and suits that had done
good service were to he seen on every
hand. Each state-ToOm had door and
window opening upon the guards, hut
the guards were soon piled up with
freight, and the doors and windows
were barricaded. The freight that
shut out my view of the river scenery
and ut the same time deprived me OF
the air to which | was entitled, was Il
pile of collins boxed up in pine cases
More than one night lay wondering
who would at last occupy those cheer
full boxes, and whether the old fellows
would be more comfortable in them
than | was in my narrow bunk.
There came on board the packet, be-
fore she started, Il party of about u
- swampers.' They bought state
rooms and travelled first class. Swamp
ers are young and old farmers and la
borers. from the west and south, who
go in gangs down to the neighbOrhood
of the Red river in the winter and cut
logs. They are called swampers he.
cause their work is principally in the
swamps. They cut timber, which is
afterward sawed into barrel slaves
and in the spring they come nortl
again and go at their old trades. TIL,
work is hard and unhealthy, but they
all seem to regard it as IA great frOlic
They were not the set of rOughs that
might he imagined, nor were they the
healthy and hardy fellows one NIGH
think. The fried fat and hot breaC
universally eaten by people hereahout,
had taken the bloom out of theil
checks and the fire out of their eyes
Some of them were not more than Il
or % years old. Some were over 90
and looked as if one of the cot1ims out.
side of my window would he an nc.
ceptahle present. Some of them were
highly accomplished. There were tive
or three among them who could sit
ID feet away from the spittoon aud moi
miss it 10y more than six inches al