I have
lived here always, and"--with a good Italian smile--"it is evident,
signore, that I am still alive."
Less than a week later I read in a newspaper that this man's house,
which was known as Casa Bianca, together with his vineyards and his
precious wine cellars, tunneled into the mountain side, had been
obliterated by a stream of lava.
Precisely as he went about his affairs when destruction threatened, so
do the planters along the Mississippi. But there is this difference:
against Vesuvius no precaution can avail; whereas, in the case of a
Mississippi flood, foresight may save life and property. For instance,
many planters build mounds large enough to accommodate their barns, and
all their live stock. Likewise, when floods are coming, they construct
false floors in their houses, elevating their furniture above high-water
mark, so that, if the whole house is not carried away, they may return
to something less than utter ruin. It is the custom, also, to place
ladders against trees, in the branches of which provisions are kept in
time of danger, and to have skiffs, containing food and water, ready on
the galleries of the houses.
CHAPTER XLVIII
OLD RIVER DAYS
Among the honored citizens of Vicksburg, at the time of our visit, were
a number of old steamboat men who knew the river in its golden days;
among them, Captain "Mose" Smith, Captain Tom Young, Captain W.
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