Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-07-30
IN THE FLOOD.

bay Ous of Louisiana. west of the
! Mississippi, cannot be said to have
a thorough knowledge Of America,
even If they have Visited every
other STATE and territory. 1t Is
country level as prairle,yet cover.
ed with mighty forests, whose in
terlOoking live oaks and expresses
make grand arcadeS Of eternal
solitude and silence.
TIE roads IN this land are few
and shOrt-the Ouly means Of com.
munlcatlOn being the deep, canal
like bayOus that are usually cur
reniless and stagnate in the shsd
Ows OF the bordering trees.
The plantations along these
bayOus ale famed for their sugar
aud cotton, and they wOuld be the
most valuable In the world were II
not for the great sums of money
expended by the planters in build
log levees. or heavy artificial banks,
to keep Ihe bayOus from overflow
ing in time of hlgh water, which
usually comes when the Ice is
melting 10 the upper vaIleysof the
Missouri and Mississippi.
But though the prtcautiOn taken
to shut out the floods is great, it Is
not always effective. Heavy falls
of snow in the winter to the North
means heavy floods when spring
comes to the plains Of the South.
The foods in the sprlug of 1888
will be long remembered as the
most severe that ever swept over
the plantations bordering the
bayOus. Rich plantations were
ruined, forests leveIed, embank.
ment swept away, homes borne of
to the sea, herds drowned and
scores of human beings perlshed
in the food or of hunger.
The plantations of Judge Riel
and Mr. Gordon were on opposite
sides of the Bayou Rouge, about
81 miles sonth of the point where
the Red river enters the Missis-
sippl.
These gentlemen, though neigh.
bOrs, were not neighbOrly. They
had a quarrel when young men
at cOllege-s foolish, causeess
quarrel, and though twenty five
years had passed since, they had
never spoken. Both had married
IN the meantime, but their families
held no intercourse.
Judge Riel had two sons, one
twenty.three aud the other a year
or two Younger; ..and Mr.. Gordon
had TWO daughters, aged respec.
lively nineteen and seventeen.
Florence and Jennie Gordon were
pretty, accomplished girls, and,
though they loved their parents
anu their quaint, solitary home, 1t
was bat natural that they should
now and then yearn to know some.
thing of the great world outsiKe
the water giTdled plantation.
They often saw the sons OF their
neigbbOr-Of their fathers enemy,
as they thought Judge RIel, row
ing past 10 their graceful boat,
and they always acknowledged
the salute OF the handsome Young
men, but beyond this no courtesy
was interchanged.
what news, John? asked Hrs
| Gordon, as her husband came into
the house about midnight with a
dim lamp in his hand and his
rubber garments shining with
water like a recently polished
stove.
1T is still raining as ifit had not
been at 1t week. replied Mr..
Gordon, with something like a
sigh.
And the leveei' asked Florence,
who. with her sister Jennie, had
been waiting up for the report OF
which home and perhaps life de
pended.
Every man on the place Ii
patrolIlng and watching to proven
a break said Mr.. Gordon, throw
ing of his coat and running bis
fingers nervousIy through bl
damp, brown hair.
And the water is still rising
said Mrs. Gordon; still rising