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Show M A TAL1E 0F EA:RLY days- wl'l -rk of 1S03: a Story of Louisiana Pur- flil inn Time. TJy C. A. Stephens Illus-ml Illus-ml U'.iled by II. Burgess. Published by A. J0B- b. Uiun.-i? & Company, New York. ;gm? Jn the duys of which this 3 lory tells, It S&Silt W0M pulom of the settlers along the llfiSfc. Ohio, to build a boat and float on it down jgSBy the rlvor lo New Orleans, their produce. mr4 ll tries, and whatovor they wished to sell. 'jHv nc crew compilsed the strong young jHt-, ,,,c'i of the ecltlcnn ul The round trip InBccupIcd months, sometimes u year or jHBfA101'0- 3uch a trip this book describes. It rtFJr cs 'l llvclv picture of the settlement, THfJP1'-3 ways, and Its products. It Bhows who jRp fre the ones who hnd things to sell, and iBri" 2.0VV ln(? rarE was mado up and handled, 'H7- "he building of the boat Is part of tho Wmj story, its launching, tho rascality which ,TOp JJMrly stopped the venture, the perils of K ffl l,lti unU3Ual things that happened -such curious things were always hap-penlng'-tho Involved family tics, the recognitions, rec-ognitions, tho perils from Indians and rrom the treacherous river, all arc vividly portrayed. It was a time when there was a donblo uncertainty, too. as between tho Spanish and the French mastcrv of Louisiana, Louis-iana, and there were reports that the bpanlards had undertaken to forbid Amor-can Amor-can trndo at Now Orleans, had fortified the lower river against the passage of boats from up tho river. Unwittingly this boat pn3scd the fori, and got to New Orleans, Or-leans, with Its carjjo and its curios, one of them being a pet bear and the other a number of bones of a mastodon, which a trench doctor bought. The life and tnde at Now Orleans are pictured In a graphic manner and sonio exciting scenes aro given. AVhilo this party was at New Orleans, Or-leans, word came of the sale of Louisiana to the United States by Napoleon, nnd this boat. "The Ark." was the first lo carry the news to St. Louis; and it carried as a 'passenger, Liout. Charles Grloby, who carried car-ried a dispatch to Capt. Amos Stoddard, tho first American Governor of St. Louis. The horse power motor by which tho boat avus driven up stream, the shifts, tho tie-ups. all arc well described,, nnd also aho tricks along the volago and the ono nt SL Louis before landing. The detour to St. Louis and other delays mado the absence of the boat and her crew so much longer than was expected, that It was like receiving back the dead when all got home. It Is a very well told story, bringing the times and the traffic to mind in a vivid manner |