Up the River; or, Yachting on the Mississippi Read online

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  "The little steamer rushed madly into the opening."Page 293.]

  THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES

  UP THE RIVER

  OR

  YACHTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI

  BY

  OLIVER OPTIC

  AUTHOR OF "YOUNG AMERICA ABROAD" "THE ARMY AND NAVY SERIES" "THEWOODVILLE SERIES" "THE STARRY FLAG SERIES" "THE BOAT CLUBSTORIES" "THE LAKE SHORE SERIES" "THE UPWARD ANDONWARD SERIES" "THE YACHT CLUB SERIES""THE RIVERDALE STORIES" ETC.

  _WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS_

  BOSTONLEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERSNEW YORK CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM1882

  COPYRIGHT,1881,BY WILLIAM T. ADAMS.

  BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY,NO. 4 PEARL STREET.

  TO MY YOUNG FRIEND

  MINNIE ETHEL ADAMS,

  This Book

  IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.

  THE GREAT WESTERN SERIES.

  GOING WEST; OR, THE PERILS OF A POOR BOY.

  OUT WEST; OR, ROUGHING IT ON THE GREAT LAKES.

  LAKE BREEZES; OR, THE CRUISE OF THE SYLVANIA.

  GOING SOUTH; OR, YACHTING ON THE ATLANTIC COAST.

  DOWN SOUTH; OR, YACHT ADVENTURES IN FLORIDA.

  UP THE RIVER; OR, YACHTING ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

  LEE AND SHEPARD, Publishers, Boston.

  PREFACE.

  UP THE RIVER is the sixth and last of "The Great Western Series." Theevents of the story occur on the coast of Florida, in the Gulf ofMexico, and on the Mississippi River. The volume and the series closewith the return of the hero, by a route not often taken by tourists, tohis home in Michigan. His voyaging on the ocean, the Great Lakes, andthe Father of Waters, is finished for the present; but the writerbelieves that his principal character has grown wiser and better sincehe was first introduced to the reader. He has made mistakes ofjudgment, but whatever of example and inspiration he may impart to thereader will be that of a true and noble boy, with no vices to disfigurehis character, and no low aims to lead him from "the straight andnarrow path" of duty.

  The author has a copy of his first book before him as he writes. On thetitle-page is this line: "A Tale of the Mississippi and theSouth-West." The preface, dated 1852, contains this passage: "In thesummer of 1848, the author of the following tale was a passenger onboard of a steamboat from New Orleans to Cincinnati. During thepassage--one of the most prolonged and uncomfortable in the annals ofwestern river navigation--the plot of this story was arranged. Many ofits incidents, and all of its descriptions of steamboat life will berecognized by the voyager on the Mississippi." Since that time theauthor has travelled on the upper waters of the great river.

  His last book, by a coincidence at the present time, also relates tothe Mississippi. Nearly a generation has passed away between the firstand the last; and the latter is the writer's seventy-fifth book. Theauthor has endeavored to make his works correct in facts anddescriptions, as well as in moral tendency; and in the preparation ofthem he has travelled over fifty thousand miles by sea and land.

  To his young friends,--some of the earlier of whom are now middle-agedmen and women, with boys and girls of their own, reading the same bookstheir fathers and mothers read a quarter of a century ago,--to hisyoung friends the author again returns his sincere and hearty thanksfor the favor they have bestowed upon his numerous volumes.

  DORCHESTER, MASS.,June 1, 1881.