The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-09-14
A YACHTMAN'S ROMANCE.

Inc London season was over, and q
considerable number of its late celebri-
ties were collected in various pleasant
spots closely contiguous to the waters of
the Solent. Blighted beings had repaired
to Cowes, and shattered hearts to Ryde.
Gentlemen who were, in proper parlance,
about done up" were enjoying them
selves with an hilarity that might have
betokened the zenith of worldly pros
perity and commercial success Ia differ
ent crafts belonging to the pleasure feet
which covers the English Channel with
animation during the months of July,
August and September. OF all social
phenomena there is none probably more
curious than that thus stated by dis
tinguished novelist: "How is it that
men who in their palmy days I have
seen baggard. careworn and detected by
the simple fact that they are utterly
and irretrievably ruined, suddenly be-
come the most light-hearted and jolliest
of mankind?" The explanation probably
is reaction-reaction from the suspense
of anxiety to the certainty Of despair.
Or possibly the philanthropists who pro-
pose to themselves the extinction of
impecuniosity at a modest profit of
eighty per cent. might consider that the
true raison d'etre was to be found in the
fact that these volatile human wrecks
are blest with expectations in the back
ground, and usually have reversionary
interest more or less available.
The scene is Ryde Pier, and the hour
about y p. NJ. A pretty spot, and by
no means an unfavorable hour for visi-
ting it. Like Melrose, Ryde Pier and
the view which it presents may be visi-
ted with signal propriety by the pale
moonlight or IN the pale twilight. The
eternal promenade ON the pier-head, the
perpetual accompaniment of brilliant
music and interminable scandal, the
ceaseless tide of demonstrative Irritation
these things are pleasant enough per
sc, but they have, no doubt, q tendency
to become monotonous. 1t is very
different thing Ryde Pier after dinner
You can secure society without crowd
and company without effect. You may
mediate Solus, or SoLasS cum Sola, you may
firt. And the prospect is not without
its charm. There in the Solent is the
squadron of dainty craft, their sails
furled, still and motionless at anchor,
the lamp fixed to their mastheads re-
hecting itself with quivering motion
in the tide below and the whole effect
being that of a marine Illumination. A
little further on, and you see the line of
light on the mainland, and distinctly
trace the terraces of Southsea and Ports
mouth. If you turn round you will see
full in your face the little town of Ryde,
alive with gas and the windows of the
Victoria Yacht Club all aglow. Then,
,Drnhah 10 anhanoa ha ami of
the moment, the strains of music steal
upon you and were it not that you are
seasonably reminded ofcontingent rheu-
matte pains, you might be tempted to
lapse into poetic reverie.
Mr.. Jim Lawlesse, to address him at
once by his familiar title, was scarcely a
gentleman of poetic temperament, yet
from the prolonged intentness OF his
gaze upon the waters as he lounged
across the railing of the pier, and the
fact that he had suffered his cigar to be-
come extinguished in his hand, he might,
for all one could have told to the con-
trary, been meditating sonnet to his
mistresss eyebrow, or be speculating
deeply on the philosophy of the uncon-
ditioned. Of that little yacht yonder-
the one nearest the shore, with its tiny
light twinkling from amid its rigging
the Sea Fdl was her name-Mr. Jim
Lawlesse was temporary proprietor.
Jims friends were in the habit of saying
that, having made the land too hot for
him, he had taken to the waters and
there may have Been reasons which
rendered st. James streetsa slightly too
public place for our hero. So Mr.. Law
lesse had accepted an invitation from an
old college friend to go on yachting
trip in the Sea Fan. But the Sea Fans
owner had been called away, and Mr..
Lawlesse was the man in possession pro
tenn. A boat containing gentleman
and two ladies pulled to the pier, and
Mr.. Lawlesse's attention was aroused.
The party had come from the Petrel,
about a mile out, and consisted of the
proprietor of the PetreI Sir Hedworth
Dare, and his two daughters, who stood
to each other in the relation OF step-sis-
ters. as Sir Hedworth had married twice,
Edith and Kate. When Mr.. Lawlesse
went up to the two as they landed 1t
was pretty obvious that Sir Hedworth
Dare would have been quite as well
please had that gentleman not chosen
to present himself; for the Baronet re-