In Some Places Bedding And Furniture Had Been Brought Over
To The High Ground, And The Women Were Sitting, Guarding Their
Little Property.
That village, amid the waters, was a sad sight to
see; but I heard no complaints.
There was no tearing of hair and no
gnashing of teeth; no bitter tears or moans of sorrow. The men who
were not at work in the boats stood loafing about in clusters,
looking at the still rising river, but each seemed to be personally
indifferent to the matter. When the house of an American is carried
down the river, he builds himself another, as he would get himself a
new coat when his old coat became unserviceable. But he never
laments or moans for such a loss. Surely there is no other people
so passive under personal misfortune!
Going from Louisville up to St. Louis, I crossed the Ohio River and
passed through parts of Indiana and of Illinois, and, striking the
Mississippi opposite St. Louis, crossed that river also, and then
entered the State of Missouri. The Ohio was, as I have said,
flooded, and we went over it at night. The boat had been moored at
some unaccustomed place. There was no light. The road was deep in
mud up to the axle-tree, and was crowded with wagons and carts,
which in the darkness of the night seemed to have stuck there. But
the man drove his four horses through it all, and into the ferry-
boat, over its side.
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