The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1903-10-08
Mother NIiSSisSippi'S Voice



with us most pleasant and eomrort.
able
Mr.. Yates glanced wildly toward tho
shore. 1t was slipping away from
them. They We're In midrstream-and
the man at the window was Allen
Houston.
Retreat was impossible Graceful
c|apitulatlon was inevitable. Yates put
out his hand.
Thereafter he divided his time Ia.
tween the deck. which he paced with
his daughter. telling her lively yarns
Of his " days as Il rlyer-boat clerk
ard the oiiice. where he shared Hons.
tons preoccupation with his duties.
There Bas something familiar ab,ut
1t all-the pleasant familiarity which
takes 10 years OF Il mans shoulder
And Houston understood the work
Just as Yates had understood IL years
before. Where lie had started, Hous.
ton was starting.
Some times watching his daughter.
face. he waverei. But no. It was i'm.
possible. His own case had been ex.
ceptional. All rirer-boat clerks could
not be ml~lllonaires, aud Houston WAS
merely Of "A good. upstate family.
without social standing In the world
where Mammon Iuled.
Yet Mr.. Yates found himself watch.
ing young Houston curiously. He
wasn't half bad. this college-bred
youth. who could dispatch office duties
with ease, placate patrons who fret.
ted at the slow method OF travel. and
IN an emergency could tell the deck
hands m0le things about their anees-
try than Yates had dreamed OF Ia
bis own river life.
They had quit the bluffs, and cotton
had given way 10 cane and rice. In A
few hours they would touch at New
Orleans. The deck hands had all been
paid EFF, save for the dollar which In.
sured their aid in wing the boat TO
the dock.
The clerks duties were over, his pa.
pers In shape. and the last landing
made. AIR. Yates met him on the sa.
loon deck and remarked. Let's 10 be-
low and watch those darkies lose all
their money"
The old life had him IN It's clutches.
Down below they went Away In
the stern the engines pounded. To-
ward the bow the furnaces glowed.
Between the two. roustabouts lad
gather to gamble their earnings. Some
Of the negroes were already pennilese.
Others were flushed and excited by
their gains.
Yates watched the scene for IN hour,
laughing ut the apt remarks Of the
gamblers. Wall street Bas forgotten.
Social ambitions died within him lie
was again in Aliens place, a clerk
without Il future, without great hopes.
Suddenly he turned:
Man. they are happier than | have
dared be since | stood where you are
to-day. | am wondering whether il Is
worth while-the struggle, the knock
out blows one must give and take.
Mother Mississippi has beer talking to
me. Houston; scoldiug me In her WI
way. Edith told me once that money
was not all aud | reckon she Is
right. At any rate, you may ask her
II she stiil believes that. II she does.
| won't stand between you
An hour later the boat slipped
around the crescent, past the coal
docks and the fruit docks TO the
leyees. The rush OF the water and
the rudely melodlous voices OF the
negroes singing at their work, mingled
with n strange harmony.
In the bow OF the Valley Queen.
Edith Yates stood with her hand clasp
ed In her lovers her expectant glance
fixed on the quaint old city.
In the stern, looking backward upon
the river. whose voice .he had needed.
Henry Yates stood with folded arms.
He was wondering whether he should
ever 20 back TO the mad struggle
and the social walls he had strlyen SO
hard 10 olimb-for her sake.-Boston
IH1.Ia