MISSOURI
~RCUiANßUM
P~x-SIAvE STORŒS
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“1 steaniboated six years on de Mis~iss1ppi bètween St. Paul

and New Orleans. I got ~l a day and board, and we sure would pack dem sacks and sing dem songs. De old mate would holler a~ us:

‘Give me a song boyst . And den we would start out. It ‘peared like de work went ahead easier when we was sin~in‘. It would take us four weeks to make de rounds be2ore we got back to St . is. We hauled potatoes, sheep, wheat, corn, cattle, horses, and cotton. There was 45 or~is altogether. I never got hit but one time on de boat. De mate with knvcks on hit at another feller for ‘cause he was• loafin‘ and hit me and knocked me and my load in de river. I couldn‘t swim but dey fished me back in de boat and rolled me over and over to run dat water out of me. I run on de ‘Bald Eagle‘ and de ‘Spread ‘ . My xna~a got after me to quit and when I got

. ~	hit she got uneasy about me, but I would hear dat whistle blowin‘ my feet‘d begin to itch and I ‘could not help but go down to de old boat again. De ola mate had my name ‘doubled up‘. It was Bob Rob.

.	“Den I weht to wheelin‘ iron ore at Sulphur Springs. All day

~	long I worked with 16 men loading barges with wheel bariows. Every ‚

i•	U.iné you took a löad it had 800 pouïids, and I‘se telling you all~

:	dat‘s ßome iron. This iron ore c8xtle from dat big ~i1ï down In Pilot

snob. We had straps over our shoulders and de~ sa.ved our hands and

arms ~ It took about a day a.nd a h&1t‘ to load a barge and we got paid
I
by ~ tou. I ~ ~at ior about a year.
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