a quart or so, when business is good."

Curious people were those natives of Arkansas, ten or twenty years
ago. Schools were rare, and children grew up with little or no
education. If there was a "barbarous civilization" anywhere in the
United States, it was in Arkansas. In 1860, a man was hung at
Napoleon for reading _The Tribune_. It is an open question whether the
character of the paper or the man's ability to read was the reason for
inflicting the death penalty.

The current of the Mississippi causes islands to be destroyed in some
localities and formed in others. A large object settling at the
bottom of the stream creates an eddy, in which the floating sand is
deposited. Under favorable circumstances an island will form in such
an eddy, sometimes of considerable extent.

About the year 1820, a steamboat, laden with lead, was sunk in
mid-channel several miles below St. Louis. An island formed over this
steamer, and a growth of cotton-wood trees soon covered it. These
trees grew to a goodly size, and were cut for fuel. The island was
cleared, and for several successive years produced fine crops of corn.
About 1855, there was a change in the channel of the river, and the
island disappeared. After much search the location of the sunken
steamer was ascertained. By means of a diving-bell, its cargo of lead,
which had been lying thirty-five years under earth and under water,
was brought to light. The entire cargo was raised, together with a
portion of the engines. The lead was uninjured, but the engines were
utterly worthless after their long burial.

The numerous bends of the Mississippi are of service in rendering the
river navigable. If the channel were a straight line from Cairo to New
Orleans, the current would be so strong that no boat could stem it.
In several instances, where "cut-offs" have been made, the current
at their outlets is so greatly increased that the opposite banks are
washed away. New bends are thus formed that may, in time, be as large
as those overcome. Distances have been shortened by "cut-offs," but
the Mississippi displays a decided unwillingness to have its length
curtailed.

From St. Louis to the Red River the current of the Mississippi is
about three miles an hour. It does not flow in a steady, unbroken
volume. The surface is constantly ruffled by eddies and little
whirlpools, caused by the inequalities of the bottom of the river, and
the reflection of the current from the opposite ban