The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-01-20
WATER SQUATTERS.
DRIFTING FROM PITTSBURG
TO NEW ORLEANS.
A Printer who Took to the Novel
Life to Escape Consumption
How he Lives with his Family
A Queer Existence.

''Fish, cats, muskrats and roots. Those
are what We propose to live on this
winter You have asked me candidly
and squarcly how manage to keep my
family without working at a recognized
business, and just as candidly 1 tell
you"
He was not handsome A critical eye
would hardly have been satisfied with
the few rcd hairs on the sides and upper
lip of his leather face; it would have re.
quircd more of them, more evenly placed,
or less. He wore soft felt hat, with
out band or shape, firmly fixed on his
head by Strings tied under his
chin; his shirt was of I'm.
bleachcd muslin; his patched
coat was a misft; there was a fine com.
pensation for the deficiency in the right
leg of his trouscrs-thc lower part OF
which had been torn away--by the top
boot which he wore upon the right foot,
the left being clad in Congress gaitcr.
He was standing in the doorway of a
/ shanty boat, which was tied up at the
sand bar on the Kentucky shore Of the
Ohio river, opposite Cincinnati. The
shanty boat was a rough pine box, thirty
feet long by fifteen feet wide and eight
feet high, secured upon the fiat bottom
of home made battcau The cracks left
at the joints of the upright boards had
been battcncd with laths. and stovcpipe,
from which was rising stream of yellow
smoke, pushed about eight battered
inches of its length through the top of
the box. There were half dozen
similar structures ranged along the
length of the bar, some Of them pulled
we'll out on the sand and banked up,
showing that they proposed to travel no
more this winter.
eve generally manage to drift with
the ducks. so as to have pair Of them
for our Christmas dinner; but last
Christmas they got ahead of us and are
now where we ought to be-in the vicini-
ty of Cairo. But all the same VIC had our
Christmas dinner-six CATS
Hc held up four gnarlcd fingers and
two thumbs, and laughed at the con-
struction that might be put upon his
speech.
"No. we didn't cal the CATS" he said.
"We skinned them, and sold the hides and
inwards to merchants on Front street in
Cincinnati. They average us fifteen cents
apiece. which with fish and q pos
som l shot up the Little Miami, made us
a feast fit for Lucnllus." "
The gray matter in tho mans head was
evidently more cultivated than its outer
covering.
"W]:orc did you catch the cats:'
'Right here on the river bank: There
is generally strong breeze blowing over
the town of Newport from the river, and
when I crush a few handfuls of catnip
the wind carries the scent up among the
houses. The cats follow the scent to its
source like the hounds after fox. 1t is
only necessary to bait few traps with
catnip in the evening, leave them on the
bank, and in the morning each holds
cat. Black cats bring the highest price
fifteen cents 4 pelt; white cats the low
est. When man has no artificial wants,
he can live fairly well on cats to be
caught in the ncighborhood of any city in
this country; and when he knows the
habits of muskrats and the appearance
and qualities of roots-ginscng, yellow
seal, blood root, wild ginger, &c.-he
can live luxuriously if he can move up
and down the rivers at will; that is, if he
lives in boat like mine.
"Scvcn years ago I had wife, new
baby, cases on the Pittsburg Commercial
Gazette, and the cheerful information
from my doctor that unless quit type
setting would have rest from the cares
of this world inside of six months In
cipient pulmonary consumption, induced
by scdcntary occupation, was tho way
he diagnosed my trouble, farmers life
was his prescription. After VIC had paid
for our baby, Mary and I found that we
had just seventy dollars in money and
hardly strength enough together to up
end barrel of flour. Plainly we could
not 60 West to plow the stubborn glcbc
just yet, especially as winter was coming
on.
II came home one morning at o'clock.
completely Worn out, after a night Of
wrestling with the mcancst takes that /
ever lifted off a copy hook-not a line of
fat, not lead, nor a pickup head in the
whole batch.
"N[ary was wide awake and watching
for nc.
"I'vc got it. Tohn,' she said: I'VE will
60 to New Orleans for the winter. The
climate will help you, and the tri p there
will be change and rest for both of us.
It will take three months to get there,
and in those three months we will do
nothing-actually Y nothing
Certainly, I answered, 'and after we
get there VIC will buy villa on st. Charles
avenue, and suck oranges and smell mag
nolia blossoms. We will get servant
"'No.' she said; we will get shanty
boat. We can buy one for $50. We
will take our kitchen and dining room
furniture with MS. sell the rest. lay in a
supply of flour. vegetables and salted
meat. and. with the fish you catch and
the game You shoot on the way. we shall
live on almost nothing, and land in New
Orleans with more money than we have
now, after resting for whole quarter Of
a year.
"That was the kind of a girl Mary was ::
and after we got our shanty boat-a poor
little box. about half as big as this one
she was the happpicSt woman in the
whole Ohio valley. She did not care for
style. neither did I: but all the same. VIC
rugged the boat up for solid comfort,
giving the floors carpets, papcring the
walls. and hanging pictures and little
knirk- -knackS wherever VIC found room
to drive 4 nail. We had a little garden
on the roof OF the establishment. and bY