Our hearts felt as light as feathers as the "Natchez" ploughed out into mid-stream, a thousand branches up above, swollen with the recent rains, having filled up the mighty and splendid Ohio from bank to bank, so that we seemed to be floating down a grand, heaving, fresh-water sea! Now, indeed, did we enjoy new life with a vim. I told the girls how the first French owners and explorers named the Ohio "La Belle Rivière," that is, "The Beautiful River," and it is the beautiful river, still. Our eyes were quite enchanted with the endless hills on both sides, all clothed with primeval forests up to their summits, and coming down to the water's edge. The girls were quite transported with the beautiful, endless turns and windings, and seemed to get no rest for the thousands of boats and barges, and floating things of every shape and size, rushing up and down the river day and night, whistling and screaming, and that without end. It was a perfect delight for me to be once more on this river, for nature is always fresh, fair and enchanting, but for my two daughters the whole scene was nothing but a succession of unending delights. Their feet and eyes had no rest, and their tongues were never still. It was more than I could do to answer all their questions. I was quite delighted to see how the girls and several other nice children on the boat became acquainted, and learned to love one another. And this acquaintanceship and love seemed to grow upon them all from day to day as we advanced farther south. Indeed, children are great people, and they will have ways of their own. And on, on, still flew "The Natchez," whilst our glorious river increased with innumerable branches from the right and left, till we reached the lower end of Kentucky, where the lands were more flat and uninteresting. We made a call here or there, and rushed down the stream again, until at last our glorious Ohio was swallowed up in the Mississippi, "The Father of Waters."
I don't know how it is! I suppose it is because I am a sensitive woman; but our arrival in the Mississippi river seemed to put a new soul into me that I am altogether unable to define. Like the far-travelled Queen of Sheba, there seemed no more spirit left within me. My first and grandest sensation arose, no doubt, from the fact that the reunion between my well-beloved Tom and me was almost an accomplished fact, because we were now both on the same river, and the rapid "Natchez," assisted by the mighty forces of the great rushing river, would soon bring us face to face, after several years of separation, which looked to me like half a lifetime already. Then there was the mighty "Father of Waters" himself, always majestic, solemn and grand, bearing your boat along upon his mighty bosom, like a perfect fly! And then we seemed to live our lives over again in our dear children, and the two thoughtful, contemplative girls were filled with a wonder that seemed to strike them dumb. It was a truly wondrous sight, especially for those passengers who had never been on the mighty "Father of Waters" before, nor even seen his rushing waters. Oh, the Mississippi, the Mississippi! How I thought and thought, and thought again how my dear Tom had battled on for many a day against the powerful rebel forts on this very river, to clear Uncle Sam's way from the headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico! It brought the tears to my eyes when I thought how my own tender husband had fought and bled on this very stream that the Union, one and all re-united, might be restored to the nation at large; how Tom had fought and bled, and almost died that the shackles might be knocked off the suffering slave, and freedom reign all over the land, from the Lakes to the Gulf.