Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-05-03
LETTER FROM NEW ORLEANS.
and Reflections by an Unoom-
 mercial TrSVoIcr.
Especial Cores; 5undcnce.

"eEC4SA ANsfolcEs
 Especial Corres; undoncs.l
 NEw ORLEANS, April 29.-I am not e lazy man by any InaEnor of means and in my heart believo that severe toll is tho Erandest and most glorious invention that man has bsen guilty of. but when sec gang of negro Inoust%bouts going through their ltttlo act of unloading freight from e Mississippi steamboat I am apt to think that totl-at least of this calibcr-is neither grand nor glorious and most assur- etlly has no dignity about it. The poet, [ philosopher or whoever the mischief lie SIas who was guilty of the perpetration of that aphorism which says that there Is Q dignity in labor ought to try his hand at coal or sand for ten hours a day or take a turn with the negroes in unload ing freight on to the leyee. I'd like to see the paneGSrio he'd write about labor after a week of it. Do you know it struck me yesterday, as was watching tho men at their horrible, man killing work, with my hands comfortably stuck in my pockets and n largo cigar in my mouth, that the famous authorities on economics who write such big, unroadable books con corning the relation that is supposed to exist between capital and labor ought to take-as the most vital part of the equip ment necessary for their wOrk-a course in the earning of their own living by hard la Dor before they commenced S spoil good paper by writing upon it conccrninga O sub ject of which they practically and actually knew nothing.
 But this is off the point. I must tell you of what saw. was standing on the levee in Algiers smoking the aforesaid large cigar and thinking how nicely things were going with mo generally when saw a steamboat approaching from up the riv- CT. In Jitfy she was alongside the leyec. her gangplGnk was thrown out, and the roustabouts were scooting off the freight for dear life Scooting is the only word that describes it. never saw anything in the toll line to equal it. Boxes and bales and barrels seemed to move of themselves. A man would pick mp something that ordinarily ought tO take thre or four men to lift and by some means or another hus- tle it ashore. The boss was n white man who stood near the gangplank swearing and bowling at the top of his voice He was big rcd faced, double listed and coarse looking. He held a stick with which he prodded any negro who showed tho least sign of tagging.
 From Algiers you can look away over the Mississippi and sec tho spires and col umns of New Orleans. They seem to rise from out n great, calm flow of water For a moment you feel that they tell of a city that is submerged. Tho land hercabouts Is lower than the level of the river, and tho people havo to fight its cncroachings by the building of lcveeS, or dikes, as they would call them in Holland It is a strange river, this Mississippi. Beneath its calm is a fcrOciOuS rCStlcSSncSs Ever Is 1t changing its channel; ever is it seek ing new way to lay waste the land. Tho people of New Orleans fear it, and there is a belief among them that some day it will sweep themselves and their city to utter destruction.
 Once l saw it roaring and secthing through n crcvassc it had burst in tho leveo some miles below New Orleans. It had thrown of its mask of calm and was thun- dcring out over southern Louisiana. The crevassc WAS three-quartcrs of mile wide, and in n few days steamers were able to sail overland to points 200 miles away from the rivers usual course. Tho roads were thrOngrd with people who were fly ing for their lives to the higher land, laden with what little belongings they could easily Cslrry. During this time had an odd adventure. l had como on n steamer through the crcvaSsc from New Orleans to n place Callrd Bayou Sale, whore was
 
 mine The plantation was on high ground and so had c',s'opcd the surrounding inun- tiatiun- believe il was either on tho day pr the day after my arrival thcrc that set out for a walk, with the idea in my head of generally noting the damage tho river had done IL was rather late in the afternoon and my friend warned me to be sure to gd hack before sundOwn, as tho water was rising quickly all tho time and it was well to look out. l walked un for an hour or SO not thinking much of what he had S"'d. till suddenly I noticed it getting
 hen l turned back and hurried
 ~0ad fast as I could but .,..,rncr it was thas l missed my way or not don't know h this day. All that know is that when turned round q bend of tho road 1 ft'and my way barred ny great stretch .of water Surely this was tho way came, I thought The water must have risen and covered it in my ab- sence! I didn't stop long to consider, howevcE but got back along the road only to find myself barred again by another stretch of water. Things werc getting ecrtens l looked around me and could see nothing but great black shadows of cypress trees rc0ecting ill calm black water Fhat knew was stretching over and swal- lowing up everything. A hideous fear SclZcu mo, ana q sweat broke out all over me. My nerve was gone utterly. These frightful shadows had affected my imagi- nation. Shadows in water have always pro duccd in mo n strange sort of fear. would have to die here, I thought. would be isolated and slowly drowned! By this timc il was dark, and stood thinking and Shivcring when l hoard he bark of a dog At onoc tho fit of Cowardicc left me, and was a man again Tho bark camc from away off on rnT right. Going in that di- rection which lTuuc mo right straight off tho r,Eld ;:i'd ,, .' hat seemed to be the 1urr0ws Ut Il El:. .'.!I!r field, saw Q light, and in a Il.'s..ulI or sO l was knock ing on the door uf a hut. A nCgrcSS opened it, with lamp in Ev7 hand. Behind her stood two negroes. One of them held pistol full at my head; tho other was hold ing two big, fierce looking dogs that waro straining and tugginG to get At mo. How ever, they let mo in after a short parloy They had to be cautious, they said, because of robbers. They fed mo on corn bread and bacon Snd coffee, and the next day one of them pilotcd me to my friends plantation. T. C. BARTHOLOMEW.