Evening star., 1927-07-17

ness and determined to give him a.
| scare, the men showed off and left the
negro and his cow on the levee Sew
eral hours later, after completing the
rescue itinerary, the men returned to
| the levee, to find the darky chewing
on straw and Mary munchIng her
cud, complacently.
| Were gonna give you one more
chance to be rescued" announced one
| Of the crew.
"AhTI wait fo' de cattle boat" came
the grim reply.
THE boat put out again and the
captain. on reaching his home
dock, reported the incident to relief
officials.
| There was a hurried conference
over the telephone with the relief d.
rector. There was no cattle boat
available until tomorrow morning, it
seemed, and by that time the water
might reach the top OF the levee
and
"oh, the devil! Go get 'em bothm
came the order.
| Thus did Mary. a gentle Mississippi
COW, become ward of the Red Cross,
just like her devoted master. And
she boasts Of being the only COW for
which special rescue expedition was
L
The Coast Guardsmen who per.
formed such valiant work in the lower
valley will have many stories to tell
their children and grandchildren when
the Mississippi flood is but a memory.
Most of these stories are known only
to the small circle Of men Immediately
concerned, but some OF them have fl
tered out into the open.
These men do their work quietly
and efficiently and, in such times as
this emergency, heroically. They seek
no praise and desire no reward, but
sometimes reward comes unsolicited
and in unexpected ways. The case of
the guardsmen who rescued a family
in the "Cajun" country Of Louisiana
Is a fair example.
This single group Of refugees, con.
sisting Of father and mother and a
large family Of children. ranging into
their teens, had been saved from al.
most certain death as the waters from
a new crevasse swirled madly about
their little home. The father was
Acadian vocabulary to express. He
racked his brain to think Of some way
In which to show his gratitude. Final.
ly he said:
Boys. have no money. no goods.
no nothing. / am full of thanks. NV
wife, my boys. my girls" Here he
paused, as his eyes focused fondly
upon his two attractive, dark.eyed
daughters at his side-''Ah, I know IT!
Girls, step up and give to the young
men a kissr
but nevertheless fervently. comnlied
with the suggestion, the youthful he.
roes blushed to the roots OF their
halr, and found themselves musine
upon the pleasantness of this hero
business. They showed off, still show.
| ing their embarra ssment, and re.
sumed their rescue work with a win.
Inere were no more osculatory re-
wards In store for them, however.
| ** ~
| HE flooding out of three quarters
| OF million people by Americas
most disastrous flood was a serious
matter, and its grave aspects and
complications will be hard to blot out
ior many months to come. The
tragedy would have been even more
depressing had it not been for the
fact that the valley residents were
accustomed to floods and were han
PLY invested with the faculty OF
adjusting themselves to conditions
tnat would have wrecked the morale
OF others not acquainted with the
ways Of the Mississippi.
| Th1s seeming Indifference to tho
rising water bewildered relief an.
thorfties, at first, and stern measures
were resorted to in evacuating
threatened farms and villages. The
natives" had been through several
| Hoods, and they thought they knew
all about the big river and its habits.
This was the greatest flood in mem.
0rY. h0WaVaF and fhay
pared for the ravages it was to
embark upon. Consequently, the
waters trapped many of them in the
attics or second stories of homes that
previous floods had barely reached.
This apathy toward floods in gen.
eral and this one in particular
greatly hampered the rescue pro-
gram. and but for the sturdy efforts
of relief outfits would have resulted
in much larger loss of life.
Even with the mark of the waters
upon them, some Of the. inhabitants
talked of other things than flood. and
appeared to resent any one bringing
up so threadbare topic for discus
sion.
/. Capt. L. A. Pick, Army engineer
assigned to assist Secretary Hoover
in reconstruction phases Of the prob
lem, found this to be true in Nc
Gehee, Ark, at least. He and the
writer were standing on a street
corner of that city shortly after the
water had receded from the main
streets and were endeavoring to en-
gage some citizens in conversation on
the inevitable subject--the food.
While they were succeeding indiffer.
emily we'll, a group of young girls
CHANGED to pass by and hear what
was being said.
Water, water, water" one of them
burst out, disgustedly. "All hear is
water.'
Capt. Pick later recounted the
happening to Secretary Hoover, with
the remark:
Il guess it's about true. These
folks are about fed up on water"
The serious problems of the flood
are not popular basis for conversa-
ton among those most affected by
the water. The weighty questions OF
why levee broke and how the river
is going to be controlled are for the
Government engineers to decide.
The lighter phases of the catas-
trophe, the little tales Of refugee
camps, are source of keen amuse-
ment, however, not only among the
lief officials.
Those just recited are typical OF
scores being exchanged among flood
authorities, now that the crux of the
emergency is over. They are the sill
yer lining to the dark cloud that blan.
keted the Mississippi Valley this
Spring and Summer.
1t is this sense of humor. this ability
to smile under the worst of circum,
stances, that has helped to bring the
valley through the whole disaster with
unbroken spirit and with determina-
ton to look forward to a brighter
future.
Many have marveled at this spirit,
but to Secretary Hoover 1t occasioned