The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1891-11-12

tho boscm 81 TIT muddy and turgid
stresu They Twin = species Of water
CT It e exact shnterpart Of which Is
Unknown in marble architecture from
tn daJ6 Of No6e's ark down to the
psriod0k the .Ao1itor and her success
ors, the cruisers Of to-day. -.
In the center Of q narrow, nat bot
toned, uncouth affair is built . small
shanty, composed Of the debris Of old
river tubs that have gone to wreck. or
dropped to pieces from time and hard
usage This primitive cabin Is usually
painted by an unslkilledg hand, and
shows in glaring hues all the colors Of
Observation-Disclosures 1t often happens
that this artistic part of the work is al
together omitted. The interior. so far
as space allows, is divided into COM
partments for cooking, eating, sleep
ing, and, last, but most important
feature of the whole. is the saloon.
This is simplicity itself, being formed
of few rough shelves, sufficient tn
hold dozen or so of black bottles and
glasses
With the coming OF the spring, from
Pittsburgh down to the mouth of the
Ohio. the river is dotted all along with
this feet and Its crews of tradesmen,
,andsthe trsf3c is kept up continuously,
save when the river is frozen solid,
which happens not infrequently, or
when the droughts of the summer
cause such scarcity of water that not
even a toy boat could float However,
1t is during the summer and fall that
this kind ofEtraffic reaches its greatest
proportions.
The people who follow this mode of
life are toughs of the hardest kind; the
most unmitigated scamps that ever
stole purse or scuttled ship. They
avoid with great care and ingenuity
coming in contact with minions of the
law. When the season opens these
river pirates lay in a cargo composed
chiefly of tobacco and whisky, the lat
ter being the most villainous COM
pound imaginable. One drink of it
would set an ordinary Christian crazy;
| two drinks would make man murder
his sweetheart, or elope with q half
A choice stock in trade having been
| safely put aboard, the proprietor of
this floating palace shoves his craft
out in midstream and drifts with the
current until he reaches some point
where brisk trade is to be expected
Desiring to communicate with friends
on shore, he poles his boat up to with
in few lengths of land and comes to
anchor Then the natives put out in
skiffs, board the stranger and business
begins. , The proceedings are formally
opened with drinks all round, in which
the ladies take a conspicuous part.
This puts every one in good humor and
serves to give an impetus to CONNER
cial reciprocity. They trade everything
-pocketknives. old hats, coats, COON
skins, etc.
At nightfall, these honest merchants
having finished in a manner more or
less satisfactory the work of the day,
pleasure reigns supreme. Blue light
ming is consumed in liberal quantities
and the dawn of the following day is
apt to witness broken skulls, if not
more serious results.
TIC AC1u VI pIOut UcIuS cXuduStcu,
the boat is pushed out again into the
current and drifts down stream until
another landing place is reached, where
the former scenes are REPEATED. When
these rowing traders have reached the
mouth of the river they retrace their
tracks, and by casting line to some
steamer northward, manage to get
back to the point from which they en-
barlzed. These people are possibly de-
scendants of the old traders who fol-
lowed the same line of traffic in the
days when Louisiana was a Spanish
possession, and when those old pirates
used to fight their way down the Ohio
into the Mississippi and the nee to New
Orleans.
These chevaliers of to-day manage
to avoid all legal complications, as q
rule, by keeping in the middle of the
river, SO as to be beyond the jurisdic-
ton of any state whose laws they may
violate. The approach of winter, OF
course, stops this river traffic, and
these nomads of the water anchor
their craft in some creek or in some OF
the hooks around the wharves in Pitts.
burgh. Then these fresh-water sail.
ors melt away into the interior and re-.
main in the woods, hunting or hiber-
| mating, until the coming of another
season brings them all to life again
| N. Y. Advertiser.