The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-01-10
Especial Corrcspondcncc.}

OF the Mississippi river between Cairo and
the gulf is nothing but Il monotonous wall
OF green, save where it is relieved by the
spires and hOusetops of u city, town or vii
lage
1t is nearly 90 years since I first sailed
down It's turbid waters on my way to this
city. | had made the acquaintance of n
typical young Missssippan OH the boat
and found him very agreeable companion
When within half dozen miles of here he
pointed to bit of land that jutted out
from the main shore on the right and re-
marked:
See that little peninsula yonder, with it's
three Expresses intertwincd with Spanish
moss?"
YES"
We'll. never see that spur of land with
out thinking of the time when saw it first.
A cousin of mine and were on our way to
New Orleans We were nero schooboys,
neither OF us over IL, and were off OH va
cation frolic. We were out OH deck to-
gether as the boat went drifting by that
spur, when suddenly-though the day was
very sultry-both my cousin and began to
shiver, and | cried out, Oh how deathly
cold | ami!
:" SO am L. said my cousin, dropping into
q seat with face rs white as II snowflake
1t was n singular feeling that possessed us,
Dtit IL soon passed away.
well, our vacation i'll New Orleans drew
10 close, and we prepared to return home.
When does the boat leave, Hal?' |
qucricd of my cousin.
I'VE are not going home by the boat
he replied
But we have return tickets said.
No matter he answered. "We'll 20
back by rail
L WON'T l replied testify. I have river
passage and purpose using it, ut the same
time opening my wallet to look at my tick ct
1T was missing, and what was worse, |
hadn't money enough to pay my way home
Hal saw my dilemma. I'll tell you what
I'll do, Dick, he said. If you'll return with
me by rail, I'll pay your way was COM
PEELED perforcc to surrender, and by rail we
returned.
w ell, the next day the papers recorded
terrible steamboat explosion on the Mis-
sissippi mt the very place where Hal and [
had felt so strangely, and it was the very
boat on which we were to have taken
passage! Hardly Il passenger escaped death
in its most dreadful form.
~ handed the paper to Hal L knew it.
would happen,' he said. L dreamed it in
all it's details, and knowing YOU would
only laugh at me if told you my dream
crept out of bed and stole your ticket while
you slept. Here it is and he handed me
the ticket"
AS my friend concluded his story our
boat touched the Vicksburg wharf, and we
walked up the steep street to the main
thoroughfarc. Nearly 20 years have filed
by since then, but the city is no larger now
than it was in that far day, and it's appear
ance has undergone no perceptible change
In the meantime cities have sprung into
existence all over the north and south.
INF IN, II;
and hardly IL town between the two sea-
boards that hasn't felt the touch of progress
Why, then, has Vicksburg stood still
through all these years? l think the reason
can he traced to the fact that it's shipping
facilities have been in large measure
ruined by the recession Of the river. Once
it had one Of the best ports on the Father
of Waters Today it has no port ut all for
steamboats, of heavy draft mean none
within distance of less than three miles.
Vicksburg is II lovely if not a lively city.
however. 1t is embowered in semtropic
foliage-the matchess magnolia being con-
spicuous by reason Of it's glossy leaves and
Its great sweet, radiant blossoms. Flowers
are everywherc-in the garden plots of the
poor, i'll the lawns of the rich. trailing down
from terraces and reaching up to the Chin
ney tops of almost every home. And. oh
such fiowersl
The most salient feature of Vicksburp in
point of architecture is its courthouse. 1t
is large, strkingly elegant edifce and
stands many feet above the sidewalk OH a
plateau that occupies square. 1t seems
to defy the destructive touch of time, for it.
stood there when the thunder guns of the
Federals were bombarding the city, and
marks of the flying bombs can be seen in
places upon its walls, but it is as substan-
tial building today as it was in the year
that 1T was built and bids fair to grace the
green plateau for Il century to come.
strolled out toward the Federal ceme-
terry. The road fora part Of the way wound
between high banks of earth, and in these
banks were the caves which the people of
Vicksburg dug during the red, terrific siege
of their city way back in 1868, and in which
they resided, maintaining life the while by
feeding OH mule meat. These caves are the
haunts of tramps today and are Uttered
with whisky bottles, sardine cans and other
emblems of tramphood.
said that the Vicksburg Of 20 years ago
is the Vicksburg OF today, that it has
known no change in the sweep forward of
the years, but, alas it has known the uni
yersal change that comes to every commu-
nifty on our swinging star, for the Young
men met i'll that far time are men of mid
die years today, and many of the elderly
people VINO welcomed me with kindly
handclasp then have passed beyond the
uncontinented sea into the unknown and
unknowable sphere.
have met many representative citizens
while here, lawyers, journalists, poets and
others, and am rather staggered to find
that many of them are pronounced Theos-
ophists. hardly looked for any members
of that mystic cult in community bearing
the staid, conservative, orthodox reputation
of Vicksburg, but here they are, and they
represent much of the brains, scholarship