Two Ways of Seeing a River (1883)

This passage is excerpted from Mark galluss 1883 book manner on the Mississippi, in which he shares his experiences as a river steamboat pilot and explores the many an(prenominal) exhibitts of the great river. As you read, consider his masterful use of language as he reflects on his changing relationship with the river.Now when I had know the language of this water and had come to know every trifling throw that bordered the great river as familiarly as I k spick-and-span the earn of the alphabet, I had made a valuable acquisition. But I had muzzy something, too. I had lost something which could never be restored to me while I lived. altogether the grace, the saucer, the poetry, had g one out of the majestic river I still kept in mind a certain wonderful sunset which I witnessed when steamboating was new to me.A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood in the oculus distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a solitary enter came floating, black and co nspicuous in one place a long, slanting ready lay sparkling upon the water in a nonher the scratch was broken by boiling, tumbling rings that were as many-tinted as an opal where the ruby-red ruddiness was faintest was a smooth spot that was covered with graceful circles and give out lines, ever so delicately traced the shore on our left was obtusely wooded, and the somber shadow that fell from this forest was broken in one place by a long, ruffled trail that shone akin coin and high above the forest wall a clean-stemmed deathlike channelise waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unobstructed splendor that was flowing from the sun.There were graceful curves, reflected images, woody heights, squeezable distances, and over the whole cyclorama, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enriching it every passing minute of arc with new marvels of coloring. I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The world was new t o me and I had never seen anything like this at home. But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the rivers face another day came when I ceased altogether to note them. Then, if that sunset scene had been repeated, I should have looked upon it without rapture and should have commented upon it inwardly after this personal mannerThis sun means that we re sack to have wind tomorrow that floating log means that the river is rising, small thanks to it that slanting mark on the water refers to a bluff reef which is going to bolt down somebodys steamboat one of these nights, if it keeps on stretching out like that those tumbling boils show a dissolving bar and a changing channel there the lines and circles in the slick water over distant are a warning that that troublesome place is shoaling up hazardously that silver streak in the shadow of the forest is the break from a new snag and he has located himself in the very better(p) place he could have found to fish for steamboats that tall dead tree, with a single living.Two Ways of Seeing a River ranch, is not going to last long, and then how is a body ever going to get through this blind place at night without the hospitable old landmark? No, the romance and beauty were all gone from the river. in all the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could fork out toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat. Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beautys cheek mean to a doctor but a break that ripples above some ruinous disease? Are not all her visible charms sown thick(p) with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesnt he simply view her professionally and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself?And doesnt he sometimes wonder whether he has gained clo sely or lost most by learning his trade? 1. What is Twains competition here? What is his offer? What are his reasons? How does he construct his essay to help the reader be persuaded by his claim? How does he draw connections between the ideas in the firstborn two paragraphs and those in the third? 2. What is the purpose of Twains argument? To explore? Inform? Convince? Meditate or pray? Something else? 3. Twain is known for his beautiful, rich use of language. Find the phrases or images that are the most powerful to you. What tools of stylish language are he using? How do they help make his argument persuasive?