The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-05-17
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Mud- -slinginp


 Soe soihs 10 do with a muddy river?
 avery now and then someone who lives aoout St. Louis tells me how beautiful the Mississippi is and it seems like a yarn to me for I lived at vicksburg for a. year, It's mighty and heap of other ehlngs' but it isn't lovely river.
 
 some people say Mississippi river water IS clear and that the Missouri river fur nishes the mud. This may be true, but having lived in St. Louis I know that 1t takes a knacl to drink Mississippi river water, as you feel that something is needed to wash it down; many prefer to eat 1t with fork A pile of mud is often found in glass of Mississippi river water left standing overnight I once wrote. Bricks are easily made by cutting the water up into chunks of the right size and fellow wrote to ask if was really serious or was I just Joshing?
 l wrote him back that I was 8 serious man and a preacher and to prove it I said: Yes, the Mississippi is muddy though muddy is no name for it; the water is so thick that often it cracks in working it's way round a sharp bend Even in very wet seasons the water in the Mississippi is comparatively dry. People who fall in seldom drown; they are more likely to break leg in trying to swim out''
 But those who know 1t before it gets married to the Missouri say that the Mis- sissippi is a beautiful, clear stream, whereas the Missouri is the color of boarding house coffee, only more so; be- low where these two come together the water Is still muddy and continues so to the Gulf of Mexico which proves con clusively that 1t Is the Mississippi that runs into the Missouri, and not the other way, as the books all say
 But we'll drink or rather eat toast to the Mississippi in its own water, a river that rises early way up nigh unto Canada, tumbles out of Its bed frequently on its way down, takes a sidestep when with the landscape, dabbles in real estate all the way along, goes into politics whenever 1t gets a chance, picks up state lines and makes off with them, prear- ranges the geography of the country and behaves all the time with the caprice Of a woman. Such is the Mississippi river to those who know her best
 
 The Mississippi river is full of romance. M
 roic adventures, but if you want to read book of interest get Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi" Mark used to be a. river pilot. When living at Vicks- burg friend of mine a telegraph opera tor, told us of refusing to send letter telegram to New Orleans signed by man na med Samuel Clemens unless he would prepay, but when he scratched out Sam uel Clemens and wrote Mark Twain he let her go collect
 Some years back I made a trip through Canada, but little thought of the connec- tion between 1t and Louisiana. Now as look at the Mississippi am reminded that Canada was the gateway of the ex- ploration of the southwest. The Missis- sippi valley. once the home of a mys- terious race, was opened to the wonder ing eyes of the European world by the heroic French-Canadian pioneers This were pioneers of the Catholic church as well as of political empire. It has been truthfully said, they hung the lilies Of France upon the cross and bore 1t down the long riverways into the wilderness z, Talon, the French governor, hearing of the great river" sent two missionaries, Marquette and Joliet, to seek for it.. From the farthest French outposts seven days after launching their boats on the waters of the Wisconsin, they entered a new river, wide and glorious. It was June r, now known as Mississippi Day.
 The Mississippi began to take it's place in the history when Count Frontenac was appointed governor of New France Que bee was the capital. Marquette was dead, but Cavalier de la Sale was on the scene arriving about 1867. He believed that
 
 France might be found way to China. He heard of the great river. Did it flow to China or the Gulf of Mexico? He longed to follow it to the sea. Frontenac gave him letters to the court of France, and armed with authority he followed the Mississippi to the sea. A short distance above the mouth of the river he placed a column, carrying the arms of France and in loud voice he cried:
 NIn the name of the most high, mighty, invincible and glorious Prince Louis the Great by the grace of God, King Of | France and Navarro, Fourteenth by name, on this, sth day of April, 1882. in the virtue of the commission of his | majesty, which I hold in my hand, have | taken and do now take possession of this country of Louisiana" France owned l an empire in the west The Atlantic, | the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, were a part of its boundaries. But today the ''fleur de and we bought Louisiana from Napoleon 1 for $15O00,0O0
 l Travellers who have sailed down the Mississippi say there is a point where the two banks of the river seem to come quite together, blocking further progress. As the boat proceeds, however, the open