Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1892-08-23
RIVER INHABITANTS.
A FLOATING VILLAGE WHERE Pto-
PIE PASS rrGlR LIVES.


who Msks Their He@ss ss Oas .f the
T'isa'.ris. .f the Mi.sissippi-rhsy
Pay No Hen, and sps.a Little.
Up where Wolf river. ireacheruus and
insatia,e ~ the animal for which II is
named. emptie- iis yellow waters into
The great fool ~ the Mississippi, II Q
cluster ~ old looking craft, half hous~.
half boat. that lie moored Ia the hank
aud form part ~ q great floating sub
urb % Memphis. oi whose existence the
average citizen IL totally unaware.
Nevertheless. strange ~ IL may seem.
the inhabitants % this hoaiing village
arr born. live. marry and die In their
movable homes In much the same man.
ner A. people In similar walk. % life
whose houses have frmsr foundation.
and. stranger still, they like their river
life and would L. extremely loaih to
give II up.
Who they are and where tksy came
from. whittier they 20 and how they
live. were questions that Aroused the Gu.
riosity % the writer and induced him ,o
make a tour % inquiry among the house
boat-, ~ they are called
These are ~ all shapes and sires. from
he more pr.tcntious home - the well
% do .hipbuilder Ia the humble abode
q the itinerant fisherman. Some 10
them are named and some are not.
Many are neatly Iaintei and show
glimpsss ~ interior. In which lace cur
tains. CARPETS AMI pictur-s combine 10
make not inhsrmonious ssttings. Spcial
line- are not very tightly drawn In the
village Of the hOuselosts. and the homes
20 whites and blacks lie miIei indis-
criminately. without regard to race. col.
or Or previous condition u s.ryitude.
Wanderers by nature. the term water
gyr-ie- may b. applied M, inap,ly to
the inhabitants - the village II Il not
10 H. wondered at therefore that the
colony Il by no means oompDssd ~ thoss
who are to the manner born. On tho
contrary. IL l. made up ~ reprr-enia-
tiyes from nearly all ~ the twenty cd
states that are drained by the Misis-
sippi or it, tributaries. Were a census
4 the floating village taken tomorrow
Il would show some interesting statistics
concerning the birthplaces u it, inhab-
itanis. Here one can iind man who
has drifiei down from the Black Hills
u Montana side by side with q native %
Pittsburg OF Cincinnati. while their next
nsighlpr may h. frlm ~. Paul or Knox.
Vile.
From faf mp the Missouri, the Missis-
sippi. the Ohio aud the Trnnes-.e rivers
they come. resting here like birds -
passage for q time. till, moving ever
southwar,l with the current. they become
merged with the cosmopolitan populs-
ton ~ the Crescent city. hundreds u
miles below. even ~ the waters u the
Mis-i.-ippi b-comc lo-t In the grea, Gulf
- Mexico.
There l. but little dOub, that tho
dwellsr Ia the Mississippi hOuseboat
has successfully solved tho problem 70
living on next % nothing. Believing
that the riyer u fr,e. and that u owes
him living. the waif q the father u
waters does not find II very difficult 10
collect the debt. Just wha, the Ice fields
are to the Eskimo. the desert 90 the
Arab. the plains Ia the Indian. the river
l. to him. II l. 40 once his place -
abode and his means ~ support. Land.
Lords. OF. more properly Speaking. water
Lords. arc unknown Ia him, and rent
day. that nightmare - the ppor. u
fraught with no terrors to his mind. b.
csus. he pays no rent.
The law provides that any one moor.
ing a boat to the hank u river i sub
ject 10 u rental at the option of the
owner, bot in the c'pse u the hous.boat
dwellsr this l. rarely enforced For fuel
he catches the driftwool brought down
by the riyer or gathers that which se-
cumulatc- along the bank. His princi-
pal article of foOi Il hsh, for which he
turns once more to the riyer, and from
it, yellow bosom draws the Juicy cat
f.h. the buffalo. the perch and innumer-
able other varieties that abound therein.
Only his clothes and few other bar.
nec.s-aries IL life are not supplied by
the riyer. and the means to obtain these
Is readily secured 10y the thousand pur.
suits open 10 the sturdy lOng,horrman.
Scattered among the hopsenDat colony
are here and there family who have
virtually taken Ia the riyer out u nece--
siiy. These are refugees from the fooie'i
districts of the upper Mississippi. who
have b.cn rendered homeless by fr,shets.
Ruined by the encroachment of tho
riyer. they have collected such u their
effects a. the water. left aud embarked
on q hastily constructed craft. built a.
likely ~ not from the debris of their
former homes.-Msmphis Appaal.Ays-
lanche.