Try page 113 of the 125thn anniversary edition from the UoCalifornia Press.
In that edition it is near the illustration of "An
Old-fashioned Break-down." The paragraph begins "You look at the
graveyards, that tells the tale." The Child of Calamity is speaking.
David
On Fri, Sep 9, 2022 at 6:52 PM Scott Holmes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> An interesting selection as I have been poring over this chapter in my
> digging into the history of Cairo. This is the chapter wherein Huck and
> Jim pass Cairo. It is also the chapter that contains the restored
> material of Huck on the log raft. I have found no references to St.
> Louis or Cincinnati, however.
>
> On 9/9/22 13:23, David Foster wrote:
> > 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/
> >>
> >
> --
> /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
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