I RETURN TO MY MUTTOtfS.

221

that the dynamite that laid him out was not of as good quality as it

had been supposed to be.

The pavements along the river front were bad: the sidewalks

were rather out of repair ; there was a rich abundance of mud. All
this was familiar and satisfying; but the ancient
armies of drays, and struggling throngs of men,
and mountains of freight, were gone; and

Sabbath reigned in
their stead. The im-
memorial mile of
cheap foul doggeries
remained, but busi-
ness was dull with
them ; the multitudes
of poison-swilling
Irishmen had depart-
ed, and in their places
were a few scattering
handfuls of ragged
negroes, some drink-
ing, some drunk, some
nodding, others a-
sleep. St. Louis is a
great and prosperous
and advancing city;

but the river-edge of it seems dead past resurrection.

Mississippi steamboating was born about 1812; at the end of

thirty .years, it had grown to mighty proportions; and in lass than

THE \VOOD-YABD MAH.