Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-11
BIG MUDDY "REMINISCENCES

THE bathing beach is all right. and q
good thing. and my boys go down there
nearly every day for SWIM said the
reminiscent MANY on his front stoop the
other evening. but 1 don't mind saying
quietly-seeins that my boys aren't In ear
shot-that when I was a boy I wouldn't
nave looked upon the bathing beach as the
real thing at all, had there been one in my
neighborhoYd. 1 think I'd have looked upon
1t as trifie too much on the order of a
cut-and-dried institution, with it's bath
rooms and its towels and it's guards out on
the floats to see that the youngsters don't
get out too far, and its general air of order
ana all that. Probably. however, the boy
nature has changed some since 1 was in
knee pants. The whole fun of goin' in
swimmin' when l was a youngster consist
ca In the secrecy. the ingenious surrepti-
tiousnesS thereof, thus to put it. The river
that moved by the little old town in the
west that l was born and raised in was.
anu sun u.s. suppose. for that matter. one
Oh the biggest, we'll as one of the most
.teacherous, streams on the whole map of
the world For a big river it could surely
traVel sWlfter and develop more huge ed
oleS' ana furnish more bottomleSs holes,
ana curl around more sand bars that were
notninS but QuickSandS, and lick I'D more
Urn l"ood and drown more foolish folks
tna0Ventured on its evil bosom, than any
fo y. WAFER ever ne3rd OF before or
since; II is the Missouri river-the Big
Muddy refer to- in fact
ven none of us kids that belonged to
i L sort of people-the youngsters that
Heiu 10 go TO school and Sunday school
ana an that-were permitted to go near
.ie missouri river. That was the first
lung that was drummed into us from the
.,,ne mat we were old enough to under
s..iiu any th1ng-that we were not even to
get within a hundred feet of one of the
piuiIs overlooking the Missouri river, much
itss venture down to the verge of the
o.,es'h. Inc tough kids, of course We're
oApecteu 10 fool around the river, and to
20 t swimming in it and to get drowned in
~, out us boys that Wore shirt waists with
me- niue sailor collars and knee pants
anu p t shoes were told by our par
80 !IoLh the very outset of our careers
that IL meant the licking of our lives If
we were ever heard of as being anywhere
near the river. There was a nice creek
ny me water OF which was clear as crystal
GU ABOUT nVe feet deep and forty feet
"iue, near the town. in which we were
~ .oie tnat we could swim if we wanted to-
IN lact' the fathers or big brothers of most
~ ' .ooh US out to the 'crick' every once
IN d Whlie during the summer vacations
anu put US through our swimming strokes
N ~ we were to keep away from the Rig
death. 'ea' almost TO
In consequence of all of which oe
course. the Big Muddy yallerv and
oi,sacherous and dangerous as it was and
tIa E VIII be, was just where we nice lit
tie boys wanted to swim We conIdn.t
see the 'crick' for swimming nnrnoses III
cause we were permitted to go there: the
ciich crystal waters had no attractive
boo s ior US, because the 'crick' wasn't ia
go near the 'crick' when they wanted I1 70
s tha they adverted contemptuousIy to
lhe 'crick as being the place whore
s nnainilaa little baby boys swan; and +
suppose you must have noticed the mag
neiism that tough boys-boys of Tho IS,
waist boys. S A''ie SHIT
no, 90 mat we did go swimming in the big
Muddy, anyhow. We'd start ont rirt'i
after breakfast on hot summer davs Iii
tns our fond mothers that we were hound
LOT the cr1ek, and we'd walk about as far
III me direction of the 'crick' as our fond
mothers could see us from our gates and
.nen wed make sharp turn for the .Eig
Ihuauy. wed peel off our two garments
ana be breastng those devilisb currents
py clock In the morning. and we'd stav
IN the water, or slip around in the mud ~,
the banks for three or four hours hefora
we thlnk of putting our two garments on
again Our backs would broil and neal ot
oui'e' put "hen our affectonate mothers
"ouiu see our peeling backs we had tho
'crck to fail back on of course We w,ouIG
PICK up pieces of dry drift wood on the
shore and light EN- and smoke 'em and
gAIact pretty wicked feeling out of thai:
Inc tough boys would be chewing tobacco
Whiie we Were doing this of course and
Trying TO get us into that game too and
occasionally. they'd succeed. and one n,
the other of US nice little shirt waist boys
ud go home with CHASTITY face and tel,
MS NAV that he had the cramps from eat
ING green peaches or something Once in
while one of us would be discovered In
the act of swimming in the Missouri nv
one OF our paws. and the whaling that one
Oh US I'd get in the woodshed for swim
ming In the Big Muddy was a CANTON
Out the whalings never kept us away from
the river at that. We all got so EXPERT at
the swimming game from that dangerous
practice that we could swim out to the mid
ole or the river. catch big drifting log he
stride 1t and ride down stream as far az
we liked on the swift current with our two
little garments held aloft in one hand and
our caps on our heads. But it makes me
shudder when think of the chances I took
as a little bit of shaver, swimming in
that dangerous, vast river. | wouldn't
swim in 1t now. as man, for big money
an Ia curl up into a spasm if | ever
thought one of my boys 'ud take the
chances l did in that rver-but vet. some
now or another, there's sort of a glow
mingled with a queer old feeling of regret
and longing, creeps up around nv neck
when ] get to thinking of how us kids
went a-swimmin in the Big Muddy way
back yonder in the fog Of years"