The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-08-30
A FERRY-BoAT FIvE-o'CLoCK.

u
IJp at 4 O'Clock on a cool August morn
ing. with the new-old moon high in the
east. and Jupiter-"mighty moon-lit Jupi-
ter''-high in the west. Facing the rising
sun flies the first interurban car to Jeffer-
gonville 1t speeds past cornfields big In
ear. meadows of tall Joe Pye, purple iron
weed and yellow primroses. White butter
flies hover in the white morning-glory pas
lures on the fences, and yellow butterflies
sip the roadside banks of goldenrod and
oid-fashioned .'butter-and-eggs One-half
the world knows rot when the other half
gets up, and il is pleasant to note the
gypsy camp under the trees the far
common, still wrapped in slumber. From
cottages along the way only a few break
fast fires send up smoke-spires against the
pink and golden glory of the sunrse-sky
a few workingmen. with picks and dinner
baskets are waiting at the little stations,
a few country wagons are on the road.
and one lone policeman sits wide awake
I'm chair on a street corner. Though bats
are still abroad. cows are up and brows-
Ing in the fields pigeons and sparrows are
on the wing, ice wagons and newsboys are
out IN Jeffersonville. and prim. slim, gray
haired woman is sweeping her doorstep
with her morning paper tucked under her
arm.
Along the cool river-front still fingers the
quiet and the peace of night. Mist wraps
the long green island across the stream.
end the suns broad dancing path of glim-
mer on the water, from the island 10 the
Indiana shore, is of misty gold and silver,
edged with faintest crimson. High in the
air on the great unch-backed iron bridge,
girls and men foot il featly over the river
To their days labor in Louisville. and one
solitary man. with the inevitable morning
pipe. meditates dozingly on the bench be-
fore the yet unopened door of the ferry
dock. Early on the beach is the old black
drift-gatherer. getting wood for her break
fast use, and she climbs the bank. leaning
on her cane. "toting'' the big clothes
basket of sticks on her head. Across the
broad river of crisped and twinkling pink
and golden waves-"earth has not anything
10 show more fair"-the ferry comes puff
fng. and prompt young man wheels
down the Jeffersonville Ievee TO throw
open door and windows of the wharf-to
sell tickets and morning papers before the
"W. w. Hite' bumps gracefully at the
dock landing
Market wagons IN numbers. laden with
all beautiful fruits and vegetables. rumble
on the early ferry and up the hill. for on
Tuesdays. Thursdays and Saturdays the
ferry company runs a half-past 4-o'clock
morning boat to accommodate Jefferson
Vile grocerymen. Hereby hangs a rather
curious tale OF commercial entangle-
ment between Indiana and Kentucky, per-
haps elsewhere unparalleled. Clark coun-
" farmers will not sell their products to
Jeffersonville groceries. but cross the
river for better prices In Louisville. On
market mornings. then. the Jacksonville
grocers must needs HE on this early ferry
10 Louisville and buy back the fruits and
vegetables which the farmers carted past
their doors the night before Now and
then. however. hckle prices leave the
Clark county farmer in the rear. finan-
ciaIIy. One story goes that a Jefferson
willie butcher one day tried TO buy nine
cattle on their way TO Louisville past his
chop. but his price was not high enough,
and the herd was driven on. In Louisville.
the next morning. the butcher encountered
the same nine cattle he had seen. and. as
beef had dropped the day before, he