Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1896-02-14

a hOme;-all these and more are the
drawbacks to this country. With
out hope, ambition and health life is
net worth the living. We breathe
all these III the air up north, while
the climate in this section DESTROYS
them. This Is not All opinion formed
10y observation alone hut by inquiry
and from results conspicuous.
We find our hOuse-bOata yerit.ble
little home, and being we'll built
warm and dry. It serves us well.
This Bohemian sort Of an existence,
the do as you please atmosphere
which prevades everything, the
changing scenery, makes the trip
refreshing one for any business man.
The different towns, many with their
historical events, attract
the traveller. Here YOU can trace
some III the Autobiography Of Gen.
Grant. In 1859 he was iii the harness
business with his father at Galena.
Ill. He fought his first battle at
Belmont, and then at Columbus.
which was occupied by the Confeder-;
ate troops during the engagement.
These places are on the river Just
below Cairo. III. After other pro-
motions in 1861 he was made Bril-
gader- General, and took command
of the department at Cairo. While
writing this article we are passing
Miliken's Bend. where Grant landed
his troops for operations around
Vicksbure. which place he and Sher-
man besieged seven weeks. and took
sc. 900 prisoners, winning one Of the
most important victories Of the war.
The river along bet Mississippi
and Arkansas, also Louisiana. is
very crooked: it's banks low and In
most cases heavily wooded; the
swift current rushing into the short
bends, washes away large punches
and chunks of earth, with the
growth of trees thereon. These float
do wn the river and form numerous
bars, and cause a large quantity of
floating snags. The government
keeps large steam snag boats em-
ployed clearing the channel Of this
rubbish. The plantations back Of
the levees seem like smal II villages;
the planter having his home and
quarters surrounded by that of his
negro help. The buildings are very
inferior In the early morning we
hear their bells, calling the help to
work. One plantation at Sunny
Side, Ark, in owned by New York
syndicate, and is cultivated entirely
by convict labor. The negro is docile
and obedient. and ia almost the only
kind OF help employed. They as a
whole are not very intelligent or
energetic, are ia irly good wOrkmen,
working from sunrise to sunset, and
boarding themselves, they rarely
seek d higher aim in life than aliving;
all their ambitions. If shown, are
Immediately squelched. His emotion
al nature is easily sti, red, and he en-
joys above ALL else big meetings, a
dance or a horse race. His greatest
weakness is Il lack Of firmness. which,
under the present reign, will never
stiffen without a great deal of help
from some unforeseen source. The
argument of the SOutherner, that
the negro was better off as slave,
is undoubtedly true. II he had no
future prospects of lettering his
present condition, for then his life
and that of his wife and children
were of some value, and If one of
them died it was like the death Of a
valuable horse to us now; while at
present the men are killed on the
least provocati0n, leaving, in manv
instances, a large family without a
supporter. Being no differently
educated. they live in filth and
and diseases take them of
by hundreds. But when you take
into consideration their antecedents,
the condition intellectually within a
generation, and their suppressed
condition at present, it is a wonder
that they manage to exist at all:
Many of them are quite intellectual
and numbers Of them are devoting
their time and energy to the enlight-
eminent of their race. The time will
come, as sure as the earth revolves
around the. sun, when these poor
people will stand upon the same
footing, enjoy the same rights, bene-
fits and privileges, that are enjoyed
by other classes and nations who
make America their home.
The hunting is good; the woods
abound in quail; the lakes and
streams with ducks and geese; the
deer and bearirequent all the bottom
lands, where there are nut grOwths.
They are not easily killed, unless the
h,,nter has q r,nrk If Trained deer