The Houseboat Book: The Log of a Cruise from Chicago to New OrleansWaugh, W. F. (William Francis)
General
The Houseboat Book: The Log of a Cruise from Chicago to New Orleans
Waugh, W. F. (William Francis)
Illinois -- Description and travel; Mississippi River -- Description and travel
The most promising indication is that this seems fully comprehended in
the South, and the immigrant is welcomed.
It is well to be cautious about accepting as literally true the
statements made to strangers. People will exaggerate; and the temptation
to fill up a more or less gullible "tenderfoot" is often irresistible.
Thus, we are told that connections between white men and negro women are
quite common; in fact, almost a matter of course. And these connections
are defended, as exalting the white woman to such a pinnacle that the
seduction of one would be followed by lynching the seducer; while there
is no wrong done the negro woman, because she has no moral sense in such
matters, to be injured. Instead of feeling that she is "lost," she
brags of her "conquest."
But several facts lead us to doubt the literal truth of these
statements. We note that the same tales are told in illustration that we
heard when here five years ago. No new material seems to have appeared
in that time. Then again, the mulatto is exceedingly rare; the negroes
met on the streets and in the fields being pure black. These and similar
facts lead us to receive the above accounts with a very large grain of
salt.
CHAPTER XXVI.
FROM WINTER TO SUMMER IN A DAY.
March 11. 1904.--We left Chicago at 6 p. m. The ground was covered with
snow, the winds cutting through our clothes, and winter still held his
own relentlessly. By the time we reached Cairo the change was evident;
and next evening at the same hour we were well down in Mississippi, and
our clothes oppressively warm. Trees were in full leaf, and numerous
cold frames showed that trucking was in full operation. Rain set in and
followed us to Memphis, but then the sky cleared. We found full summer
at New Orleans, the grass in the parks green, the foliage that of
midsummer. At Baton Rouge the violets were about over, but the roses
were enough to discourage one from ever again trying to raise them in
Chicago.
Why do people suffer from the winter north when they need not do so?
Many shiver and pine for the warm days, during this month of blustering
cold, when everyone has had enough winter and longs for spring, while
all they have to do is to jump on a train and in 24 hours they are in
this delightful clime. When need compels, we must take our medicine
without a grumble; but to many all that keeps them north in March is
inertia and thoughtlessness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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