第67章 Under Fire(3)

A life-long resident who was present heard it,but it made no impression upon her.She was able to recall the fact afterward,when reminded of it;but she confessed that the words had not grated upon her ear at the time--a confession which suggests that if educated people can hear such blasphemous grammar,from such a source,and be unconscious of the deed,the crime must be tolerably common--so common that the general ear has become dulled by familiarity with it,and is no longer alert,no longer sensitive to such affronts.

No one in the world speaks blemishless grammar;no one has ever written it--NO one,either in the world or out of it (taking the Scriptures for evidence on the latter point);therefore it would not be fair to exact grammatical perfection from the peoples of the Valley;but they and all other peoples may justly be required to refrain from KNOWINGLY and PURPOSELYdebauching their grammar.

I found the river greatly changed at Island No.10.

The island which I remembered was some three miles long and a quarter of a mile wide,heavily timbered,and lay near the Kentucky shore--within two hundred yards of it,I should say.Now,however,one had to hunt for it with a spy-glass.Nothing was left of it but an insignificant little tuft,and this was no longer near the Kentucky shore;it was clear over against the opposite shore,a mile away.

In war times the island had been an important place,for it commanded the situation;and,being heavily fortified,there was no getting by it.It lay between the upper and lower divisions of the Union forces,and kept them separate,until a junction was finally effected across the Missouri neck of land;but the island being itself joined to that neck now,the wide river is without obstruction.

In this region the river passes from Kentucky into Tennessee,back into Missouri,then back into Kentucky,and thence into Tennessee again.

So a mile or two of Missouri sticks over into Tennessee.

The town of New Madrid was looking very unwell;but otherwise unchanged from its former condition and aspect.

Its blocks of frame-houses were still grouped in the same old flat plain,and environed by the same old forests.

It was as tranquil as formerly,and apparently had neither grown nor diminished in size.It was said that the recent high water had invaded it and damaged its looks.This was surprising news;for in low water the river bank is very high there (fifty feet),and in my day an overflow had always been considered an impossibility.

This present flood of 1882Will doubtless be celebrated in the river's history for several generations before a deluge of like magnitude shall be seen.It put all the unprotected low lands under water,from Cairo to the mouth;it broke down the levees in a great many places,on both sides of the river;and in some regions south,when the flood was at its highest,the Mississippi was SEVENTY MILES wide!a number of lives were lost,and the destruction of property was fearful.

The crops were destroyed,houses washed away,and shelterless men and cattle forced to take refuge on scattering elevations here and there in field and forest,and wait in peril and suffering until the boats put in commission by the national and local governments and by newspaper enterprise could come and rescue them.

The properties of multitudes of people were under water for months,and the poorer ones must have starved by the hundred if succor had not been promptly afforded.The water had been falling during a considerable time now,yet as a rule we found the banks still under water.