DANGERS AND DELIGHTS.
A few words as to certain dangers that might be expected on such a trip.
We were never annoyed by loafers, tramps, or unpleasant visitors of any
sort, with the one exception of the probable river pirates whose visit
is described. At the towns people let us alone, and those who were
interested enough to call on us were entirely unobjectionable. Of course
our numbers may have had some influence.
We never had any malaria or other febrile affection, and most of our
drug supply was superfluous. Half a dozen articles would comprise the
list for any ordinary party.
During the entire trip we never saw a snake, alligator, centipede,
scorpion or any other venomous reptile. Flies and mosquitoes left us at
the first frost, and our mosquito hats and veils were never used. The
other insect pests of the south--fleas, gnats, redbugs, ticks and
jiggers--began to show up in April, after we had left the boat and were
living on shore. We were out in the wrong season for fish, turtles and
frogs, and in fact found difficulty in procuring any fish at all,
excepting carp, for our table. But a little more activity on our part
would probably have remedied this--we did not try to fish much. So with
the shooting--we did not try very hard, and never shot more than we
could eat without waste.
It was our impression that the South fairly bristles with opportunities
for business. There is plenty of cheap land, room for hundreds of
thousands of farmers and lumbermen, dairies, general stores, supply
houses of every sort. Fruit, berries, garden truck of all sorts, nuts,
milk, butter, chickens and ducks, eggs, and many other articles might be
raised and a market found for them along the river. There is a very
short supply of nearly all these products, right where they could be
raised.
The old prejudice against a white man's working alongside a negro seems
to be dying out. We saw men of both colors working together too often
for it to be in any degree exceptional. Negro mechanics in New Orleans
get from four to seven dollars a day, and are very independent as to
their work. Many large planters rent small lots to negroes, others to
Italians, and sell on easy terms to either whenever they wish to buy. So
far has the disdain of manual work subsided that we were informed that
in one of the most prominent (white) universities many of the pupils
support themselves in part by waiting on the table, washing dishes, and
in other ways.
Assuredly it is not now looked upon as degrading to any white man in the
south, that he should work with his hands, if need be.
If there is any prejudice now against northern men who come to settle in
the south, it kept itself out of our sight. Instead, we find immigration
agents established by the state, to set before the men of the north the
advantages they can secure by coming south. Of the numerous northern men
we met and talked with, who had come south, but one spoke of
encountering prejudice--and we strongly suspect he had given good cause.
Many northern men, like the writer, have married southern girls, and
thus the lines of separation between the sections are becoming confused
and indistinct.
One Indiana man, who had come south, expressed what may be taken for
the usual view, as we received it: "Any northern man who has $3,000 is a
fool if he does not bring it down here and make his fortune in ten years
out of it." And this is the man for whom there are such abundant
openings here--the one who has a small capital and good business sense.
* * * * *
The River--that great, wonderful river. We descended its current at the
time the water was at the lowest; but the impression of its giant power
grew on us daily; the resistless sweep of the current, the huge boils
rising from the depths, the whirlpools; but above all the cutting away
of the banks. We soon discovered that levees are not meant as restraints
of this erosion--the river flows how and where it will--but to protect
against the flood waters. From Alton to the gulf there is scarcely a
stone to be seen, and the current flounders about through the soft
alluvium, like a whale in blankets. When the cutting approaches the
levees new ones are constructed further back; and the intervening
country is handed over to its fluvial master.
The commerce of the river systems is a thing of the past, but a shadow
of what it was about wartime. The railways carry the freights now. But
how is it more people do not travel by water? Years ago we went by
steamer from Cincinnati to Louisville, and thoroughly enjoyed the
trip--the quiet, absence of rattle and smoke, the lovely panorama
floating by, the music, the well-served meals, and the leisurely,
cultured folk who were really taking time to travel pleasantly, instead
of the hustle of limited expresses. Surely, the only reason more people
do not enjoy this mode of travel is that they do not know of it.
But when one floats on the bosom of the great river there grows up a
certain fascination for it. We saw one cabin boat in which an elderly
man was said to have lived for years, alone. A man of wealth, who could
have utilized Pullmans had he chosen. One can readily comprehend this;
for long will it be ere the beating of the waves against the side of the
boat ceases from our dreams. A little cabin boat that one could manage,
dogs for the only companions, guns and rods, and the long, quiet sojourn
where the coal and other trusts matter not a whit--and where could
hermit find such a delightful retreat!
Then for the elderly man who has outlived his family and the period of
active participation in the world's warfare. What a home for a group of
such men, who could be company for each other.