TWAIN-L Archives

Mark Twain Forum

TWAIN-L@YORKU.CA

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Condense Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Sender:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 9 Sep 2022 16:23:32 -0400
Reply-To:
Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask]>
Message-ID:
Subject:
MIME-Version:
1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding:
quoted-printable
In-Reply-To:
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
From:
David Foster <[log in to unmask]>
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (89 lines)
Try Huck Finn, chapter16 - the comparison of a St. Louis and a Cincinnati
graveyard.

On Fri, Sep 9, 2022 at 2:34 PM Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> He was not entirely joking.  Charles Dickens reports drinking
> Mississippi River water while in St. Louis.  This event with Twain also
> occurred in St. Louis in April of 1882, at the outset of his return to
> the Mississippi.  Thank you, Taylor, for the reference. It also serves
> to indicate that the muddy nature of the Mississippi River derives from
> the Missouri River, often referred to as "The Big Muddy",  an appelation
> mistakenly applied to the Mississippi on occasion.
>
> On 9/9/22 10:04, Taylor Roberts wrote:
> >  From LOM ch 22 (surely a joke!):
> >
> > 'What is a person to do here when he wants a drink of water?—drink this
> > slush?'
> >
> >
> > 'Can't you drink it?'
> >
> >
> > 'I could if I had some other water to wash it with.'
> >
> >
> > Here was a thing which had not changed; a score of years had not affected
> > this water's mulatto complexion in the least; a score of centuries would
> > succeed no better, perhaps. It comes out of the turbulent, bank-caving
> > Missouri, and every tumblerful of it holds nearly an acre of land in
> > solution. I got this fact from the bishop of the diocese. If you will let
> > your glass stand half an hour, you can separate the land from the water
> as
> > easy as Genesis; and then you will find them both good: the one good to
> > eat, the other good to drink. The land is very nourishing, the water is
> > thoroughly wholesome. The one appeases hunger; the other, thirst. But the
> > natives do not take them separately, but together, as nature mixed them.
> > When they find an inch of mud in the bottom of a glass, they stir it up,
> > and then take the draught as they would gruel. It is difficult for a
> > stranger to get used to this batter, but once used to it he will prefer
> it
> > to water. This is really the case. It is good for steamboating, and good
> to
> > drink; but it is worthless for all other purposes, except baptizing.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Sep 9, 2022 at 12:47 PM Dave Davis<[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> I think no one in their right mind would fill a glass with it -- except
> for
> >> demonstration purposes -- below Minneapolis/St. Paul. (I've seen it
> there
> >> -- it is still mostly clear.
> >>
> >> On Fri, Sep 9, 2022 at 12:44 PM Scott Holmes<[log in to unmask]>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> I suspect I could search this out in his autobiography but Twain-L may
> >>> be quicker - Did he ever mention drinking Mississippi River water?  If
> >>> so, when might this have occurred?  This is certainly not something
> >>> anyone would choose to do today but in the eighteenth (pre-industrial)
> >>> century this was considered as quite healthful.
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> /Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/
> >>>
> --
> /Unaffiliated Geographer and Twain aficionado/
>


-- 

[image: AUseal_sig.jpg]

David Foster

Professor of Political Science

Department of History and Political Science

Andrews Hall 122

(w) 419-289-5626

[log in to unmask]

ATOM RSS1 RSS2