"Two Ways of Viewing The River"

In the passage “Two Ways of Viewing The River”, an autobiographical book enlightening his experiences as a river boat pilot along the Mississippi, Samuel Clemens, illustrates in vivid detail both his fresh first days along the majestic river and the unforeseeable future where his vision of this familiar waterway would be “lost forever”.
Grace, beauty, and poetry are words used by the author to describe his early days leading his steamboat along the shores of a river flourishing with animated scenery. He tells of colors so spectacular, so explosive the reflection seemed to be seared into his soul. Where the curves of the river seemed to dance in long drawn out gestures. Clemens explains how a solitary tree with one leafy branch, waves in the breeze like a trustworthy friend encouraging him to follow along the vast pathway of water. He tells of a simple buoyant log that appeared to have some sort of mysterious purpose as it drifts, persuading the water around it to come alive in sparkling forms and silhouettes. It is quite apparent that early in his days of piloting the steamship along the Mississippi river the author found himself captivated by the infinite scene, which he found so new and mystifying. That idealism would fade however, and with it the intense colors that had once illuminated his odyssey.
Practical, sensible, realistic. These are words that would now define the author’s inspection of the topography ahead of him. Gone is the magical joy he felt by just gazing at the bubbling water, now only interpreted as a warning of a changing channel. The warmth of the intense sunshine went unnoticed, other than the quick notion that it would mean wind the next day. The dance of the sand and soil along the shoreline has stopped and seems wearisome as he fixes his gaze upon it, checking to see if it is shoaling up, creating a potential hazard to his ship. In the distance the dark shadow of the forest seems almost invisible, other than a recognizable landmark he has accustomed himself to, noting as a marker for the purpose of navigation,
As the author looks at the familiar tree standing unsteady on the shore with its single weak branch, he does not see the same branch that in another time was like a welcoming beacon. Inviting him to come and share in its vast splendor, Nor was it the same tree that at one time, stood tall and would guide him to follow in the wonder of what lay ahead in the passageway, Today, this is just a tree, on its last legs and soon to be extinct, Lost forever are its grace, its beauty, and its poetry.