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                          THE RIVER'S CHILDREN

                       AN IDYL OF THE MISSISSIPPI

                         By RUTH McENERY STUART

AUTHOR OF "SONNY," "HOLLY AND PIZEN," "MORIAH'S MOURNING," "NAPOLEON
JACKSON," ETC.


    With Pictures by
    Barry C. Edwards

    NEW YORK
    THE CENTURY CO.
    1904

    Copyright, 1904, by
    THE CENTURY CO.

    Copyright, 1903, by
    PHELPS PUBLISHING CO.

    _Published October, 1904_

    THE DE VINNE PRESS




[Illustration: "Upon the brow of the levee"]




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


Upon the brow of the levee

Gangs of men, reinforcing suspicious danger points with pickax and spade

Sipped iced orange syrup or claret sangaree

The brave, unthinking fellow, after embracing his beloved, dashed to the
front

Her arms were about his knees




THE RIVER'S CHILDREN

AN IDYL OF THE MISSISSIPPI




PART FIRST


The Mississippi was flaunting itself in the face of opposition along its
southern banks. It had carried much before it in its downward path ere
it reached New Orleans. A plantation here, a low-lying settlement there,
a cotton-field in bloom under its brim, had challenged its waters and
been taken in, and there was desolation in its wake.

In certain weak places above and below the city, gangs of men--<DW64>s
mostly--worked day and night