TOPICS IN THE TROPICS (Part Seven)

The Cortland News, Friday, May 18, 1883.

TOPICS IN THE TROPICS.

Letter from D. Eugene Smith, Cortland, April 16, 1883.

THE MISSISSIPPI—THE OHIO—THE JOURNEY CONCLUDED.

   It was a peculiar experience to “land in the water" at New Orleans, but such was the reception which we had. The river was within seven inches of the highest water mark; the levees were covered, and we stepped from the steamer on raised planks covered with waterproof. Thence we were driven through dusty streets to the hotel. New Orleans has never recovered from the war. I think the effect of the city disappoints the traveler.

   There is probably no more monotonous journey in the civilized world than that from New Orleans to Cairo, a distance of nearly a thousand miles. Shortly after leaving the former city, the plantations begin to be less attractive, and finally they disappear altogether, and miles of low wooded banks are all that greet the tourist's eye. The only clearings seen are those where a city or town is built upon an occasional bluff. Baton Rouge, a town about as attractive as Homer, with a capitol that is a perfect Irish bull of architecture, is the first city met with. Then come Vicksburg and Memphis, the latter a very attractive town, but in bad repute on account of yellow fever.

   The change from July weather in New Orleans to April in Cincinnati is at the rate of a week per day as we sail northward. Every morning the foliage on the banks is less advanced, until finally the cold April days are reached, and the trees are as bare as in winter.

   The Ohio river is more attractive. As one nears Cincinnati it looks not unlike the Hudson. But coming up just after the floods the banks presented a scene of devastation truly pitiable. Farm houses in ruins; grain strewn along the fields; roofs and fences lodged in tree tops; and corn-stalks hanging from the branches of all the trees along the flats—these all told of the terrors of high water.

   From Cincinnati it is a short journey home. One takes a sleeping car and in twenty-four hours is in Elmira.

   In three weeks, or thereabouts, I have come from the hot, intolerable days of Aspinwall [Colon, Panama State, United States of Columbia—CC editor], to the snow banks of Cortland. A light silk suit was too warm on the Caribbean; summer flannels were necessary on the Gulf; a fall suit came into good service at New Orleans; winter flannels had to be unpacked at Cairo; and a heavy overcoat was a comfort after leaving Cincinnati.

   My journey has been a pleasant one. It has been tedious often, but always unique and filled with pleasant experiences. It has been prolonged through three months, and extended over eight thousand miles. It has taken me into seven different governments, and thirteen of the American States. It will always be a pleasure to review it, although it is a journey which I would scarcely care to repeat.

D. E. S.