coal that I
grabbed out of a bucket; I let it fly, and it caught him on the
side of the head and brought him to his knees. By this time the
passengers were getting up to see what was the matter; the pilot
and first steward soon put a stop to the fight. I told my story
to the boss, and he took sides with me. He told the officers of
the boat that I was the best boy to work that he had; so they
discharged the second steward at Cincinnati, and you can bet I was
glad. I remained on the _Wacousta_ for some time, and thought
myself a good steamboat man. I knew it all, for I had been there.

The next boat I shipped on was the _Walnut Hills_, at $7 per month.
You could hear her "scape" (whistle) for a distance of twenty miles
on a clear day or night. I would get up early in the morning and
make some "five-cent pieces" (there were no nickels in those days)
by blacking boots.

PUT ASHORE FOR FIGHTING.

I quit the _Walnut Hills_ after three months, and shipped with
Captain Patterson on the _Cicero_, bound for Nashville. The first trip
up the Cumberland River the boat was full of passengers, and I had a
fight with the pantryman. The Captain said I should go ashore.
They brought me up to the office, and the clerk was told to pay me
my wages, which amounted to the large sum of one dollar and fifty
cents. I was told to get my baggage; but as two blue cotton shirts
and what I had on my back was all I possessed, it did not take me
long to pack. My trunk was a piece of brown paper with a pin lock.
They landed me at a point where the bank was about one hundred feet
high, and so steep that a goat could not climb it. They commenced
to pull in the plank, when the steward yelled out to the Captain,
"that he could not get along without that boy," and asked him to
let me go as far as Nashville. I was told to come aboard, which
I did, and I remained on that boat for one year, during which time
I learned to play "seven-up," and to "steal card," so that I could
cheat the boys, and I felt as if I was fixed for life. I quit the
_Cicero_, and shipped with Captain Mason on the steamer _Tiago_.
Bill Campbell, afterward the first captain of the _Robert E. Lee_,
was a cabin boy on the same boat. He is now a captain in the
Vicksburg Packet Line. During the time I was on the _Tiago_ the
Mexican War broke out.

WAR WITH MEXICO.

"Lands intersected by a narrow frith
Abhor each other. Mountains interposed
Make enemies of n