Year: 1864

n ALL OF III pnIDDll9DII Il


We were going TO New Orleans, an


at Cairo we took aboard party that


was not happy TO see, not bit of it.


don't like snags walking about on tw


legs. The party consisted of mai


about thirty or thirty five years old, will


his wife and young baby, and his moth


er. The young man was what call {


hard character. He wore a gray Goa


and pants, and purple velvet vest, with 1


massive gold, or it might be gold plated
chain across the breast. His long black
hair was curled and shiny, and smell


like BARRIERS shop. He had red fluffy
face, and his eyes were black and wick
ed. He had been what many people call
good -looking-good, ] do not think he
could have been with such mother
She was tall and stately woman-quite
as tall as her son, and about half a GEN.
tury old. She wore a false front and,
her forehead was shaved to make ii look
more expansive and intellectual. can't
answer for her age very accurately, for
she was made up altogether in the most
elaborate fashion, and was dressed even
on the steamboat, in the richest moire
antique and the costliest lace. There is
not sin of the civilized world that was
not written on that woman's face. /
have seen great many women, with
little enough that was womanly about
them, but never saw one who seemed
to me so bad as this gamblers mother.


The fac: is they were party Of gam
blers. The poor little wife was trained
stool-pigeon, and even the pretty little
baby was dressed to attract attention and
lead TO acquaintance. The wife was
pretty, but struck me as strange COM
pound. She seemed loving and gentle,
as l dare say she might have been un-
der the circumstances. She was dressed
too well, and wore too much jewelry.-
This | afterwards found was not her
fault. She was made TO play her part
in attracting her husbands victims, The
coquetry of her appearance did not cor
respond with the expression of her face.
There was sad look in il that made me
pity her. They had come from Canada,
they said, and were going to New Or
leans. kept my eyes on them and so,
! found, did the experienced chamber
maid, who had been on the river too long
not to know such customers at first sight.


Among our fellow-passengers was
a gentleman who called himself Mr..
Browne, who seemed to be either an ac
tor travelling incog, or a gentleman who
intended to adopt the dramatic profession.
We got acquainted over a sherry cobbler,
became intimate with our noses in our
two first mint juleps, and when we had
little private party in our corner, be
amused us by initiating those on board
or others we happened to know, very |
cleverly. Among the rsst, he took off
the roue-looking gambler, Rodden, as he
called himself, and the stately mother
He had made up his mind about them
pretty much as had made up mine.


Among the other occupants Of the
great cabin, where society gets about as
we'll mingled as you find it in this world,
was young man, Mr.. John Green, a
master carpenter from Chicago, going to
Memphis. He was simple, honest, and
as verdant as his name. He got ac-
quainted with everybody, ard told of his
means, intentions, and prospects, as if he
thought everybody as innocent as himself.
Rodden made set at Greene as soon as
he heard that he had money, but not by
making the first advances. The old lady
talked with him in the most motherly
way about bis home, his prospects, and
sweethearts. The young wife, who seem
ed at times to scorn everything about her,
smiled on him sweetly, and gave him
her baby to hold. Whoever she may
haye feared or hated, she loved the baby.
1t was, believe, the bond that held her
to the gambler and bis mother, and made
her do their Internal bidding. But for
the baby, she might have jumped into the
river to escape a tyranny that hour by
hour became more apparent TO me, as I
watched the drama playing before me.


Rodden, of course, had made up his
mind to plunder the young carpenter, and
it had to be done before we got to Mem
phis. They had played in a little fami-
ly party at whist and euchre for candies |
and sherry cobblers, or champagne.- I
Greene generally won, and was confident
in his luck and not little proud of his |
skill. He was fascinated also with the $
pretty woman, who could wind him round