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Ancient O. Modern Romance
Majestic “Father of Waters”
By HELEN GRAY.
Writterrfor 7>he Sunny South
EFORH the days of Watt
and Stephenson, and those
other great thinking giants
Tvhos-- minds trended in the
direction of quick loco
motion, the rivers of the
earth "were of infinitely
greater Importance to man
kind than they are today.
Down to within some three
score years ago, water
craft carried on abund
antly more of the com
merce of the world. ’Tis
the shriek of the steam engine, heard in
every direction, that has caused steam
boat life, like the dew on the mountain,
to m-eit away, and rivers to become ob
solete things.
Of famous rivers that have played a
part in the history of our sphere, com
mercially and otherwise, may he men
tioned the hoary Euphrates, the Nile,
the Thames and the castled. Rhine, the
blue Danube, the Jordan and the Rubi
con; these of the old world.
LONELIEST AND LONGEST.
Of the now, we have the Orinoco and
thd Amazon, Humboldt's river, the Hud
son and the James; the Potomac and
the York; the Missouri and the Ohio;
the Cape Fear and the Mississippi, way-
wardest and loneliest, and longest stream
of all. Xo river of the new world has
been so invested with mystery and ro
mance as this, onr central stream; the
“grciat sewer” of the Mississippi valley,
poetically and appropriately yclepped by
the Indians "Great Father of Waters “
History tells us that the first white
man to look upon the earth's longest
river—longest only when considered in
connection with its main branch, the
{Missouri; for tne Amazon disputes this
claim—was Hernando De Soto. Spanish
cavalier, wbo, with his little hand of
discouraged followers, came upon the
river on an April morning in the year
1542. at a. spot near where is now the
city of Memphis.
it must ‘have presented a fair picture.
Shimmering in the sunlight, to these
searchers for gold, for at no point on
the river is the scenery nobler than on
the Chickasaw bluffs.
De Soto did not long survive his dis-
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A Typical Plantation Home on the Mississippi.
House in Which Jefferson Davis Was Married, near Natchez, Miss., the Howell Home.
Nearly Fifty Years It Has Been in the Possession of the Irvine Family.
cover.v. Tarrying but a while to build
themselves pirogurs, these fidgety adven
turers set s>ai! down stream; whore their
brave leader expired mar where the Red
river debouches into the Mississippi.
Cradled in a casile, the knightly De Soto
dies a pitiahle death, and is buried by
bis comrades beneath the waves of the
stroa m.
It is partly believed that the explorer,
Cabeoa de Vaca. whose descriptions show
decidedly a Munchausen trend, may have
glimpsed the river before De Soto did.
From its lovely source in Itasco lake,
where, ice bound, it sleeps during t'he
winter months, to the blue Mexican gulf,
the Mississippi river numbers 2.616 miles.
From the source of the Missouri to the
gulf it numbers 4.200 miles.
The first to make a long voyage on the
tortuous stream, was the Sicur de la
Salle, in days when its banks were peo
pled with Indians. Before him came
good Father Marquette, and Joliet, the
fur trader. He descended the stream
from the falls of St. Anthonj*.
Rut let us make our bow to the “Great
Father” from the sea, as did Bienville;
and Iberville, the first' to approach this
way. Of the river's three mouths we
will choose to enter through the one
known as the South Pass, which the
genius of one Captain Eads, a St. Louis-
ian of modern fame, has improved so
mightily. We gaze intently at the cu
rious embankments, called levees; and
the fine old mansions half hidden be
hind them, relics of a romantic day.
Sugar plantations, and some orange
groves occupy our attention.
Our imagination takes flight a bit as
we steam to the Crescent City along
'.he ‘‘Golden Coast,” as this part of the
dver was called when fortunes were
nothing rare. Sailing these waters in
lays of yore, did the Barataria pirates.
In 1813 smuggling and piracy were rife
in the river, and Grand Terre, the island
Home of the privateers, boasted beaiti-
i.ill ) gardens, and well-cultivated fields,
under the discipline of the brothers
Lafitte. Wonderfully clever were these
Barataria pirates, who could hoodwink
the officials of Xew Orleans, and win
favor under Jackson at Chalmette.
COOL CAPTAIN KIDD.
Another pirate sailed about here nr.
an earlier date, that cool Captain Kidd.
In the northern part of Louisiana is a
pretty landing by name L’Argcnt. mean
ing silver. Near it is Bayou If Argent,
up which, tradition says. Captain Kidd
sailed his black flag to escape an ene
my; but hitting a snag the vessel sank,
and spilled ail of the treasure, which was
silver, into the deep. A few miles from
I/Argent is “Ravenswood,” the pretty
plantation heme of Madame Yznaga,
grandmother of the duke of Manchester.
In. dos k..ig gone, profligai a of the
worst type, from all parts oL the country,
were wont to make their way to the
Mississippi. Indeed, it was even whis
pered that evil spirits guarded the big
river. But perhaps none equaled in
diabolism one “Mason,” of the year
1802, who boasted ms victims by the
hundreds. Exaggerated accounts accredit
to tins rival of the devil a thousand
followers. Their chief business was to
r‘>b and murder the boatmen as they re
turned in parting from the far south
witli the profits from their cargoes which
they had carried down in fiat boats. At
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&/>e Minister
By W. H. Boardman
Tenth of £he Outdoor Stories
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HERE is no one thing,”
said Hardy, “that lias so
impressed me in my short
experience in the woods
as lias the fact that a
man needs so little here.
Xo, that is not quite right;
It is that it is easy to
get every comfort in the
woods, because so much
has already been done by
the Almighty and 1 s ready
to our hand. Each thing
that grows here seems to
he ada,pfod to the needs of other living
things, and all for ns.
“I never happened to know a good
woodsman.” said Colonel Warren, “who
was not devout. He is liable to go a
step farther and be superstitious, for.
however long arvl minutely lie studies
nature, he finds so many tilings unac
countable that he is apt to believe in
supernatural intervention. ‘When a
man’s barkin',’ says Billy Drew, ‘he
learns what the moon kin do. In the full
o' the moon, hemlock bark ’ll fal] off
if you look at It. but when she changes,
the bark'll squeeze to the log tighter
‘n a weasel '
“I almost wish I could be supersti
tious. it is so picturesque, and it stops
a man plumplv before he gets beyond
his depth searching for reasons why. I
don’t know why whirlwinds come to tear
great swaths and make desolate windfalls
among the beaitfiful timber trees; or
why briars grow in burnt ground. I am
glad to know 'Why spruce bark cannot
usually be peeled later than July. In
thf spring the sap is feeding a soft film
between the bark nnd the wood and we
ran easily get roofing for camps. The
chemical process of changing this film
fnto a cylinder of hard fiber is an ex
tremely interesting and beautiful one. It
is tile spawning season for timber, and
the bark is again cemented to the new
ring of wood.
"I am glad to guess why hemloek,
spruce, pine and balsam do not shed their
leaves all at once, but keep a stock on
band alive through the year, to make an
everlasting cover for the rocks; and why
the broad leaves of birch, beech, maple
and ash are shed once a year and whirl in
and work together to make rich soli on
the hardwood flats and slopes; and why
witch hopple and moose maple bestir
themselves to make cover wherever too
much sunlight gets in between the hard
wood tops; and why water washes soil
to the shallows in the ponds so that lily
pads, deer grass, mosses, rushes and
weed can grow for food for deer and sup
port for the insects that trout feed on;
but facts, rather than guessed reasons,
interest the woodsman.
"Black flics come precisely when trout
are careless as they go on the rifts, about
the 1st of June. John says there wouldn’t
bo a trout left in the river in five years
if it were not for black flies. They cer
tainly keep a good many fishermen out
of the woods, and often compel a man
to go ashore and heal his wounds be
fore his basket is filled. John claims
that they like ‘fish lings' better than
decent men, nnd it is likely to be true
tlmt brutal men, who like to hurt and
kill, are most afraid of pain.
“Xotice. too, how well the punkevs
do their work when the black flies tire
and turn gray in July nnd lose their pow
er for good. The little midget thrives in
the slujde; lie can’t do good work in the
shade; lie can’t do good work In the
sunlight, or in the night, or at any time
In the year except in the spring hole
season. In the cool of the evening, when
trout are at supper, ten thoousand mil
lions of these infernal gnats, the size of
a--*i,redle point, 'lost to sight, to memory
dear,' too small to be seen before they
are felt, establish themselves about a
quarter of an inch apart all over the
body, and each one digs a hole. One bit©
does not hurt much, but the cumulative
effect is a frenzy, and lie is a stolid man
who can clean out a spring hole in the
edge of the evening when the punkevs are
defending the trout there. It used to he
an Indian torture, and it is said that a
man stripped and tied to a tree in a
punkoy hole soon loses his mind, and
dies in one evening. It seems to me be
lievable.
“Comfort means exactly the same here
as it does at home, provision for a lot of
small necessities and luxuries that we
have become accustomed to, and the good
woodsman * gets them with the least
possible amount of work. There are de
fective persons whose idea of camping
is a squalid, unrighteous and not sober
life, which they call roughing it. When
you learn how. it is always possible
to have dry clothes in your pack, a
tight roof, a good fire, the best food
and the best cooking in the world, good
society and plenty of water for bathing.
What more do you want, unless It is a
library? Xothing, I think, and books in
the running brooks servo for the pres
ent.
“There are others who over-pro vide,
but theiy err on tne sale side and are on
the right track if they are ready to learn.
They brinig a rain coat, while a rain cape
it better and weighs only a quarter as
much; they bring wading boots, when an
extra pair of stockings is better, and
the boots w;igh 5 or 10 pounds, a con
siderable straw to break the carrier’s
back; a heavy toilet case, when a pocket
comb and the few necessaries suffice and
weigh less. A man needs something like
15 pounds of personal belongings for a
few days in camp, but when he does not
know, it is better to take 50 pounds than
to be uncomfortable.
“I invited a friend to meet me in camp
last year, and as he was inexperienced
in fly fishing and I was over supplied with
tackle I told him to bring only a comb
and a tooth brush and I would do the
rest. I walked down the trail to meet
him. and observed that, in order to dis
encumber himself so as to shake hands
with me, he carefully transferred bis
comb from his right hand to his left
hand, which was also holding the tooth
brush. It was a warm day, and as we
walked in my friend took off his cap.
He was baldheaded—extremely so—and,
of course, I always knew it, but forgot
•it when X sent the facetious message,
which he had taken seriously. I was
at first mortified, for he was' interrog
ative in the matter of the comb, often
so during the first day in camp. He said
he did not own one, and had not owned
one for years, but as he knew nothing of
the woods he had provided himself with a
strong one, and was extremely anxious
to know its use in woodcraft. I at last
succeeded in convincing him that it was
desirable—even necessary—to comb out
his flies for using them, until they were
thoroughly dry. I quite enjoyed watch
ing him at work, evenings, with a tool
to which he had been long unused, for 1
disliked to admit that I had caused him
to make the error of over-providing. Still,
bringing too much is a good fault; he
might have needed a comb.”
“But,” said ‘Hardy, “the woods supply
everything. If he had needed a comb
I have no doubt John could have made
one.”
“I made one once,” said John, “out of
horn beam, worked it out careful and
polished it with scourin' rush, the kind
we use for cleanin’ knives, and it lasted
me a hull winter.”
“They come ready made here,” said
George.
“A trout's backbone is good enough for
me unless there’s comp’ny cornin', and
then I spear for a sucker.”
"I have been puzzled,” said Hardy, “to
■understand how you put in this camp the
row of wooden pins that are about an
inch thick and 6 or 8 inches long; those
that we hanig coats, hats and park bask
ets on, inside the camp and put our rods
on, outside the camp under the eaves. X
can see that no auger holes were bored
for them.”
“That,” said Colonel Warren, is one of
the most important of the small conve
niences in camp, and the easiest to pro
vide. Cut beech or maple saplings in
lengths 3 inches longer than you want
them to project. Sharpen one end to a
long, tapering wedge. Make a nice job
of this sharpening and the pins can
easily be driven 3 inches in any soft wood
log. Xeatness and good order are prime
neces.sitif« for comfortable camping, and
with plenty of these wall pins it is easy
to be tidy. You are right, my boy, in
concluding that the woods supply every
thing, that is, everything in reason.”
“You can't always tell what you 11
need,” said George, "especially when you
start in a hurry. Y’ou rerpember when
the minister was here five years ago?
"We put out the dogs on a Saturday and
he missed the only shot he had, and
come Sunday, of course he wouldn't let
any huntin’ be done. Drawin’ pay for
Sundays and all. I didn’t mind settin’
still, but I kep’ thinkin’ of one of my
dogs that hadn't come In, and ‘lowed
I'd step out in the woods apiece and
look for him. I had an idee of strikin’
the camp up Xorth Eiby way, for there
was a party there runnin’ dogs and my
dog might ‘a’ led into it. They was
no need of carryin’ lunch, for I knoweil
one of the guides there and of course
he’d ask me to stay to dinner and I'd
get a change of feed. But when the min
ister see me bucklin’ on my belt and
chain, he was all for goin’ along. I
hed calklated on goin' alone and bein’
more sure of gettin’ ast to dinner, and
perhaps a little mountain ash. and havin’
everything comfortable, but the minister
spoke about the 'virgin wilderness’ and
the 'holy temple on the Sabbath day' and
lit out. Mothin’- could stop him.
“Ws m£de the camp about I o’clock,
jest as I figured to, but the party was
gone. They'd left that mornin,’ for
the ashes was hot, and they were good
campers, for they’d burnt all the food
that was left over, so's not to attract
mice and vermin; but it made it bad for
us. The only thing I found was a little
pork grease, and I gathered a hatful of
mushrooms and fried ’em, but the minis
ter splcened again’ it; called ’em toad
stools.
“Then we struck off about 4 miles to
Indian Clearin’, where I'd heard shootin’
the day before, and perhaps my dog had
pulled in there, and perhaps whoever was
there would ask us to eat with ’em.
I never see a worse-lookin’ party than
we found. 1 They said no strange dog had
come in, and, of course, I didn’t believe
’em and began lookin’ ’round, careless-
like, but they was unpleasant and seemed
to want to get rid of us. So I looked
for the minister, to take him away, and
start for home, and there he was stand-
in’ near the cooking’ fire. His nostrils
flickered as lie smelled the coffee, and
when he looked at the patridges, all
split, and flatted out ready to briie, lie
jest drilled; but they never even ast
him if he had a meouth on him.”
“It's queer,” said John, “how many
ministers do come to these woods. I'v»
seen a good many In my time, more'n
a dozen. I reckon, and gen'lly good
ones. It’s probably the best of ’em that
comes, but I don’t know. 1 haven’t
seen one outside since I was a boy.
One September I was a few miles above
here on the river with my boat. It was
about 2 o'clock and I had stepped back
on the hardwood flat to where the colo
nel had a cache under the big maple
by the hemlock stub. There's a spring
brook there and I was cookin' a meal
of vittels, when I heard two rifle shots
in the line of my boat, and, of course,
I stepped out to see what was goin’ on.
Two men were restin’ on the bank op
posite. They said they'd seen my boat
and noticed it was fresh grounded on
the bank, apd thought they’d find the
owner of it by firin’ a couple of shots,
so’s to ask on which side the trail led
down the river.
”1 brought ’em over and didn’t ask
questions, though it was puzzlin' to lo
cate ’em. Course, I noticed they stepped
in a boat right and knew how to take
care of themselves, ’though they were
strange to this country. Their shoes
was good, but the strings bad been
broke and knotted. Their pants was tore
in a good many places, but mended good,
except a few places fixed with safety
pins, so it was pretty sure they’d come
from Indian river way, through the big
burnt ground. They were gritty and
didn't ask for help, but I could see
things wa’n’t altogether pleasant, 30 I
asked ’em to take a meal with me.
“Seemed as if I could hear their teeth
click when they accepted, so I stepped
across to the colonel's maple for some
more provisions. I dug out his bottle and
put it with a tin cup by the spring where
they was washin’ up. Then I could see
they was all right, for they took only
about an ounce apiece. You can find
out a good deal about a man by the
way he treats whiskey. They were ten
der of it and showed they took it only
when 'twas needed.
“After diijner the older man told me he
used to come to the woods when he was
young. He'd been a missionary to Tur
key or somewhere way off. most of his
life, and, since he’d come back, wanted
to see the woods again. They'd started
in to walk across, guidin’ by a map, and
of course they'd had some troubles, but
he made light of ’em. When they'd come
to wide water that they couldn’t get
round, they'd made a little raft for their
clothes a'nd packs, and swum and pushed
across. They were sandy and good, but
they had been out six days and provi
sions was low. The old man asked if
there was a camp where they could stay
over Sunday, so I told 'em all about the
colonel and his camp, and how glad he'd
be .when he come up in the spring to
hear from me that his camp had been
of use to people who loved th ewoods.
I told ’em they was all right, and would
be well fixed after about two hours’
tramp; and that’s where I made a break,
for, as it turned out, it was a good while
before they saw Wilderness camp.
“The weather had changed while we
was talkin’, nnd I’d been careless, not
noticin’. It was growing black and south
of west I could see a cloud risin’ that
looked like a bag of bluin'. I struck off
through the woods fast as I could make
It, for we had five miles to go. Tiie
ministers kep’ up well. We could hear
roarin’ and crashin’ ahead of us, and we
■hadn’t gone fur before the tops near us
begun to wnistle and moan, and I knew
it wouldn't be long bef9re they’s begin
twistin' and breakin'. We was on a ridge
and I wanted to get down where some
high rocks would shelter us. hut it was
black dark, except when it was lightnin’
which was most of the time. When I
saw a birch, about two foo through, that
had fell across a little gully, I dodged
down by it and called to the ministers to
come in and make themselves small. They
crawled in careful, without a word. The
old one was the coolest man I ever see
in these woods. When a hemlock come
CONTINUED OX LAST PAGE.
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last murders became so frequent that
an immense reward had to be offered for
the capture of the clan’s leader. lie
was betrayed by two of his confederates.
One morning, while counting out his
money, a tomahawk pierced his head,
which was then severed from the body
and carried to Washington.
The bones of the bandit lie molding
in a grave at Smyrna, Tcnn., it is said,
and his skull, to quote the words of an
other, “furnishes history for the mu
seum at Xashivlle.” Of the numerous
Islands that dot the river, Xo. 37 is
pointed out as having been one of the
chief headquarters of these vicious out
laws. It is worthy of mention that
Abraham Lincoln was a fiat boatman
on the river and that he was ever spoken
COXTINTJED OX LAST PAGE.
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