Produced by David Edwards, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE RIVER'S CHILDREN AN IDYL OF THE MISSISSIPPI By RUTH McENERY STUART AUTHOR OF "SONNY," "HOLLY AND PIZEN," "MORIAH'S MOURNING," "NAPOLEON JACKSON," ETC. With Pictures by Barry C. Edwards NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1904 Copyright, 1904, by THE CENTURY CO. Copyright, 1903, by PHELPS PUBLISHING CO. _Published October, 1904_ THE DE VINNE PRESS [Illustration: "Upon the brow of the levee"] LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Upon the brow of the levee Gangs of men, reinforcing suspicious danger points with pickax and spade Sipped iced orange syrup or claret sangaree The brave, unthinking fellow, after embracing his beloved, dashed to the front Her arms were about his knees THE RIVER'S CHILDREN AN IDYL OF THE MISSISSIPPI PART FIRST The Mississippi was flaunting itself in the face of opposition along its southern banks. It had carried much before it in its downward path ere it reached New Orleans. A plantation here, a low-lying settlement there, a cotton-field in bloom under its brim, had challenged its waters and been taken in, and there was desolation in its wake. In certain weak places above and below the city, gangs of men--negroes mostly--worked day and night, reinforcing suspicious danger-points with pickax and spade. At one place an imminent crevasse threatened life and property to such a degree that the workers were conscripted and held to their posts by promises of high wages, abetted by periodical passage along the line of a bucket and gourd dipper. [Illustration: "Gangs of men, reinforcing suspicious danger points with pickax and spade"] There was apparently nothing worse than mirth and song in the bucket. Concocted to appeal to the festive instinct of the dark laborers as much as to steady their hands and sustain courage, it was colored a fine pink and floated ice lumps and bits of lemon when served. Yet there was a quality in it which warmed as it went, and spurred pickax and spade to do their best--spurred their wielders often to jest and song, too, for there was scarcely a secure place even along the brimming bank where one might not, by listening, catch the sound of laughter or of rhythmic voices: "Sing, nigger, sing! Sing yo' hymn! De river, she's a-boomin'--she's a-comin _che-bim_! Swim, nigger, swim! "Sing, nigger, sing! Sing yo' rhyme! De waters is a-floodin'--dey's a-roarin' on time! Climb, squirrel, climb!"