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The Works of Mark Twain: An Index of all Project Gutenberg Editions cover

The Works of Mark Twain: An Index of all Project Gutenberg Editions

Chapter 68: LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI
By Mark Twain
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An organized reference that compiles and indexes an author's body of work, listing short fiction, novels, essays, lectures, letters, and autobiographical pieces with their volumes, chapter headings, and illustration notes. Entries are arranged by edition and genre and provide brief content breakdowns, chapter lists, and navigational cues for each item. Appendices collect correspondence and supplementary materials, while cross-references and illustration lists help readers locate specific passages, chapters, or editions within the broader collected writings.

LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
The Mississippi is Well worth Reading about.—It is Remarkable.—
Instead of Widening towards its Mouth, it grows Narrower.—It Empties
four hundred and six million Tons of Mud.—It was First Seen in 1542.
—It is Older than some Pages in European History.—De Soto has
the Pull.—Older than the Atlantic Coast.—Some Half-breeds chip
in.—La Salle Thinks he will Take a Hand.

CHAPTER II.
La Salle again Appears, and so does a Cat-fish.—Buffaloes also.
—Some Indian Paintings are Seen on the Rocks.—“The Father of
Waters “does not Flow into the Pacific.—More History and Indians.
—Some Curious Performances—not Early English.—Natchez, or
the Site of it, is Approached.
CHAPTER III.
A little History.—Early Commerce.—Coal Fleets and Timber Rafts.
—We start on a Voyage.—I seek Information.—Some Music.—The
Trouble begins.—Tall Talk.—The Child of Calamity.—Ground
and lofty Tumbling.—The Wash-up.—Business and Statistics.—
Mysterious Band.—Thunder and Lightning.—The Captain speaks.
—Allbright weeps.—The Mystery settled.—Chaff.—I am Discovered.
—Some Art-work proposed.—I give an Account of Myself.—Released.
CHAPTER IV.
The Boys' Ambition.—Village Scenes.—Steamboat Pictures.
—A Heavy Swell.—A Runaway.
CHAPTER V.
A Traveller.—A Lively Talker.—A Wild-cat Victim
CHAPTER VI.
Besieging the Pilot.—Taken along.—Spoiling a Nap.—Fishing for a
Plantation.—“Points” on the River.—A Gorgeous Pilot-house.
CHAPTER VII.
River Inspectors.—Cottonwoods and Plum Point.—Hat-Island Crossing.
—Touch and Go.—It is a Go.—A Lightning Pilot
CHAPTER VIII.
A Heavy-loaded Big Gun.—Sharp Sights in Darkness.—Abandoned to
his Fate.—Scraping the Banks.—Learn him or Kill him.
CHAPTER IX.
Shake the Reef.—Reason Dethroned.—The Face of the Water.
—A Bewitching Scene.-Romance and Beauty.
CHAPTER X.
Putting on Airs.—Taken down a bit.—Learn it as it is.—The River
Rising.
CHAPTER XI.
In thg Tract Business.—Effects of the Rise.—Plantations gone.
—A Measureless Sea.—A Somnambulist Pilot.—Supernatural Piloting.
—Nobody there.—All Saved.
CHAPTER XII.
Low Water.—Yawl sounding.—Buoys and Lanterns.—Cubs and
Soundings.—The Boat Sunk.—Seeking the Wrecked.
CHAPTER XIII.
A Pilot's Memory.—Wages soaring.—A Universal Grasp.—Skill and
Nerve.—Testing a “Cub.”—“Back her for Life.”—A Good Lesson.
CHAPTER XIV.
Pilots and Captains.—High-priced Pilots.—Pilots in Demand.
—A Whistler.—A cheap Trade.—Two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar Speed.
CHAPTER XV.
New Pilots undermining the Pilots' Association.—Crutches and Wages.
—Putting on Airs.—The Captains Weaken.—The Association Laughs.
—The Secret Sign.—An Admirable System.—Rough on Outsiders.
—A Tight Monopoly.—No Loophole.—The Railroads and the War.
CHAPTER XVI.
All Aboard.—A Glorious Start.—Loaded to Win.—Bands and Bugles.
—Boats and Boats.—Racers and Racing.
CHAPTER XVII.
Cut-offs.—Ditching and Shooting.—Mississippi Changes.—A Wild
Night.—Swearing and Guessing.—Stephen in Debt.—He Confuses
his Creditors.—He makes a New Deal.—Will Pay them Alphabetically.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Sharp Schooling.—Shadows.—I am Inspected.—Where did you get
them Shoes?—Pull her Down.—I want to kill Brown.—I try to run
her.- I am Complimented.
CHAPTER XIX.
A Question of Veracity.—A Little Unpleasantness.—I have an
Audience with the Captain.—Mr. Brown Retires.
CHAPTER XX.
I become a Passenger.—We hear the News.—A Thunderous Crash.
—They Stand to their Posts.—In the Blazing Sun.—A Grewsome
Spectacle.—His Hour has Struck.
CHAPTER XXI.
I get my License.—The War Begins.—I become a Jack-of-all-trades.
CHAPTER XXII.
I try the Alias Business.—Region of Goatees—Boots begin to Appear.
—The River Man is Missing.—The Young Man is Discouraged.—
Specimen Water.—A Fine Quality of Smoke.—A Supreme Mistake.
—We Inspect the Town.—Desolation Way-traffic.—A Wood-yard.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Old French Settlements.—We start for Memphis.—Young Ladies and
Russia-leather Bags.
CHAPTER XXIV.
I receive some Information.—Alligator Boats.—Alligator Talk.
—She was a Rattler to go.—I am Found Out.
CHAPTER XXV.
The Devil's Oven and Table.—A Bombshell falls.—No Whitewash.
—Thirty Years on the River.-Mississippi Uniforms.—Accidents and
Casualties.—Two hundred Wrecks.—A Loss to Literature.—Sunday-
Schools and Brick Masons.
CHAPTER XXVI.
War Talk.—I Tilt over Backwards.—Fifteen Shot-holes.—A Plain
Story.—Wars and Feuds.—Darnell versus Watson.—A Gang and
a Woodpile.—Western Grammar.—River Changes.—New Madrid.
—Floods and Falls.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Tourists and their Note-books.—Captain Hall.—Mrs. Trollope's
Emotions.—Hon. Charles Augustus Murray's Sentiment.—Captain
Marryat's Sensations.—Alexander Mackay's Feelings.
—Mr. Parkman Reports
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Swinging down the River.—Named for Me.—Plum Point again.
—Lights and Snag Boats.—Infinite Changes.—A Lawless River.
—Changes and Jetties.—Uncle Mumford Testifies.—Pegging the
River.—What the Government does.—The Commission.—Men and
Theories.—“Had them Bad.”—Jews and Prices.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Murel's Gang.—A Consummate Villain.—Getting Rid of Witnesses.
—Stewart turns Traitor.—I Start a Rebellion.—I get a New Suit
of Clothes.—We Cover our Tracks.—Pluck and Capacity.—A Good
Samaritan City.—The Old and the New.
CHAPTER XXX.
A Melancholy Picture.—On the Move.—River Gossip.—She Went By
a-Sparklin'.—Amenities of Life.—A World of Misinformation.—
Eloquence of Silence.—Striking a Snag.—Photographically Exact.
—Plank Side-walks.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Mutinous Language.—The Dead-house.—Cast-iron German and Flexible
English.—A Dying Man's Confession.—I am Bound and Gagged.
—I get Myself Free.—I Begin my Search.—The Man with one Thumb.
—Red Paint and White Paper.—He Dropped on his Knees.—Fright
and Gratitude.—I Fled through the Woods.—A Grisly Spectacle.
—Shout, Man, Shout.—A look of Surprise and Triumph.—The Muffled
Gurgle of a Mocking Laugh.—How strangely Things happen.
—The Hidden Money.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Ritter's Narrative.—A Question of Money.—Napoleon.—Somebody
is Serious.—Where the Prettiest Girl used to Live.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A Question of Division.—A Place where there was no License.—The
Calhoun Land Company.—A Cotton-planter's Estimate.—Halifax
and Watermelons.—Jewelled-up Bar-keepers.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
An Austere Man.—A Mosquito Policy.—Facts dressed in Tights.
—A  swelled Left Ear.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Signs and Scars.—Cannon-thunder Rages.—Cave-dwellers.
—A Continual Sunday.—A ton of Iron and no Glass.—The Ardent
is Saved.—Mule Meat—A National Cemetery.—A Dog and a Shell.
—Railroads and Wealth.—Wharfage Economy.—Vicksburg versus The
“Gold Dust.”—A Narrative in Anticipation.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The Professor Spins a Yarn.—An Enthusiast in Cattle.—He makes a
Proposition.—Loading Beeves at Acapulco.—He was n't Raised to it.
—He is Roped In.—His Dull Eyes Lit Up.—Four Aces, you Ass!
—He does n't Care for the Gores.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
A Terrible Disaster.—The “Gold Dust” explodes her Boilers.
—The End of a Good Man.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Mr. Dickens has a Word.—Best Dwellings and their Furniture.—Albums
and Music.—Pantelettes and Conch-shells.—Sugar-candy Rabbits
and Photographs.—Horse-hair Sofas and Snuffers.—Rag Carpets
and Bridal Chambers.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Rowdies and Beauty.—Ice as Jewelry.—Ice Manufacture.—More
Statistics.—Some Drummers.—Oleomargarine versus Butter.
—Olive Oil versus Cotton Seed.—The Answer was not Caught.
—A Terrific Episode.—A Sulphurous Canopy.—The Demons of War.
—The Terrible Gauntlet.
CHAPTER XL.
In Flowers, like a Bride.—A White-washed Castle.—A Southern
Prospectus.—Pretty Pictures.—An Alligator's Meal.
CHAPTER XLI.
The Approaches to New Orleans.—A Stirring Street.—Sanitary
Improvements.—Journalistic Achievements.—Cisterns and Wells.
CHAPTER XLII.
Beautiful Grave-yards.—Chameleons and Panaceas.—Inhumation and
Infection.—Mortality and Epidemics.—The Cost of Funerals.
CHAPTER XLIII.
I meet an Acquaintance.—Coffins and Swell Houses.—Mrs. O'Flaherty
goes One Better.—Epidemics and Embamming.—Six hundred for a
Good Case.—Joyful High Spirits.
CHAPTER XLIV.
French and Spanish Parts of the City.—Mr. Cable and the Ancient
Quarter.—Cabbages and Bouquets.—Cows and Children.—The Shell
Road. The West End.—A Good Square Meal.—The Pompano.—The Broom-
Brigade.—Historical Painting.—Southern Speech.—Lagniappe.
CHAPTER XLV.
“Waw” Talk.—Cock-Fighting.—Too Much to Bear.—Fine Writing.
—Mule Racing.
CHAPTER XLVI.
Mardi-Gras.—The Mystic Crewe.—Rex and Relics.—Sir Walter Scott.
—A World Set Back.—Titles and Decorations.—A Change.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Uncle Remus.—The Children Disappointed.—We Read Aloud.
—Mr. Cable and Jean au Poquelin.—Involuntary Trespass.—The Gilded
Age.—An Impossible Combination.—The Owner Materializes and Protests.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Tight Curls and Springy Steps.—Steam-plows.—“No. I.” Sugar.
—A Frankenstein Laugh.—Spiritual Postage.—A Place where there are
no Butchers or Plumbers.—Idiotic Spasms.
CHAPTER XLIX.
Pilot-Farmers.—Working on Shares.—Consequences.—Men who Stick
to their Posts.—He saw what he would do.—A Day after the Fair.
CHAPTER L.
A Patriarch.—Leaves from a Diary.—A Tongue-stopper.—The Ancient
Mariner.—Pilloried in Print.—Petrified Truth.
CHAPTER LI.
A Fresh “Cub” at the Wheel.—A Valley Storm.—Some Remarks on
Construction.—Sock and Buskin.—The Man who never played
Hamlet.—I got Thirsty.—Sunday Statistics.
CHAPTER LII.
I Collar an Idea.—A Graduate of Harvard.—A Penitent Thief.
—His Story in the Pulpit.—Something Symmetrical.—A Literary Artist.
—A Model Epistle.—Pumps again Working.—The “Nub” of the Note.
CHAPTER LIII.
A Masterly Retreat.—A Town at Rest.—Boyhood's Pranks.—Friends
of my Youth.—The Refuge for Imbeciles.—I am Presented with
my Measure.
CHAPTER LIV.
A Special Judgment.—Celestial Interest.—A Night of Agony.
—Another Bad Attack.—I become Convalescent.—I address a
Sunday-school.—A Model Boy.
CHAPTER LV.
A second Generation.—A hundred thousand Tons of Saddles.—A Dark
and Dreadful Secret.—A Large Family.—A Golden-haired Darling.
—The Mysterious Cross.—My Idol is Broken.—A Bad Season of
Chills and Fever.—An Interesting Cave.
CHAPTER LVI.
Perverted History—A Guilty Conscience.—A Supposititious Case.
—A Habit to be Cultivated.—I Drop my Burden.—Difference in Time.
CHAPTER LVII.
A Model Town.—A Town that Comes up to Blow in the Summer.
—The Scare-crow Dean.—Spouting Smoke and Flame.—An Atmosphere
that tastes good.—The Sunset Land.
CHAPTER LVIII.
An Independent Race.—Twenty-four-hour Towns.—Enchanting Scenery.
—The Home of the Plow.—Black Hawk.—Fluctuating Securities.
—A Contrast.—Electric Lights.
CHAPTER LIX.
Indian Traditions and Rattlesnakes.—A Three-ton Word.—Chimney
Rock.—The Panorama Man.—A Good Jump.—The Undying Head.
—Peboan and Seegwun.
CHAPTER LX.
The Head of Navigation.—From Roses to Snow.—Climatic Vaccination.
—A Long Ride.—Bones of Poverty.—The Pioneer of Civilization.
—Jug of Empire.—Siamese Twins.—The Sugar-bush.—He Wins his Bride.
—The Mystery about the Blanket.—A City that is always a Novelty.
—Home again.
APPENDIX.
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