ffred's
nearly-forgotten treasuresBehold that Senator expound the Constitution! Behold that Judge upon the Bench! For some part of his composition he is indebted to the sty. So much for the transmigration of bodies, of which there can be no doubt, and the flesh of pig becomes beatified in transparent corporation.
Up the River, by Frederick W. Shelton, is the predecessor and companion piece to Frederic S. Cozzens' The Sparrowgrass Papers. Shelton and Cozzens were good friends, and fellow contributors to The Knickerbocker magazine. Shelton was also good friends with Lewis Gaylord Clark, editor of The Knickerbocker, and contributed "Gentle Dove: an Indian Legend" in The Knickerbocker Gallery. While I was not overly impressed by the latter piece, there is a certain quality to Up the River that hooked me right in. Hence, this transcription.
My primary source was this scan of the 1853 edition, backed up by this scan. In preparing this edition, I have standardized the use of quotation marks, although I made no attempt to standardize capitalization of names. Also, as is my usual practice, I omitted the engravings.
So here it is: the master HTML version, the home-brew Kindle version, and the actual Amazon publication.
As the author paraphrases from Twelfth Night: 'Because they are pious, do they think there shall be no more cakes and ale?'
September 11, 2020