Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-11-17
The Ladies' Sculls.
BY WALTER A. ROSE.

Mu-kQuogt, WHICH Idu TIC HOuOi VI
being my birthplace, is a pretty little
village that nestles upon the shores of
one of the numerous inlets which are to
be found on the Long Island coast, upon
the Sound side.
1t is a very conservative place even to
this day, for its Inhabitants are confined
to two classes only, and the line of de-
marcation is very tightly drawn. There
are the gentry, who own fine houses
and broad demesnes that have been
handed down from father to son for
many generations and there are the
fishermen and their families who have
also inherited their calling The store
keepers and others were regarded as
hybrids, and were only tolerated, not
recognized, by either of the hereditary
clans.
Nv childhood / spent at Muskquoge,
very much as other children spend
theirs when their homes are contingent
to an arm of the sea. was perpetual
source of anxiety to my brother, as
had an unfortunate habit of being
brought home half-drowned about twice
a wear. and of great annoyance to the
minister, whose orchard l used to per-
SlcItflIlN uDOll III tiiC ahtuihhs
boyhood was spent at distant boarding
school, with the exception of home visits
during the holidays. My early man.
hood was wasted at college, wasted in
an educational sense, Imean, for during
my career at y | managed to be-
come tolerably proficient in several
accomplishments, such as rowing, box
ing, smoking and raising Cain-not that
from which saccharine matter Is ex-
pressed, but kind which must have
had an acidity about it, for it made the
president of the college very bitter
against me, and finally resulted in my
expulsion from Y-'s classic shades.
NV father died during my collegiate
career. and, when i returned under a
cloud to Muskquoge, it was with. the
determination to reform and aid my
mother, whose only child i was, in the
management of her estate.
Muskquoge was noted for miles around
for being the possessor OF more attrac-
tive girls than any place in that section
of Long Island, and the fame was not
undeseryed, for certainly almost every
eligible girl i'm our clan was not only
decidedly ''nice," but many Of them
had more substantial attractions than
handsome faces.
Nv maternal ancestor, peace to her
names, having welded young herself,
and won a prize i'm the lottery of life,
was very naturally an ardent believer in
the efficacy of early marriages. She
thought young people ought to settle
down, and upheld her hands in holy
horror when anyone limited that young
men should ssee little of life'' before
they assumed the most responsible posi-
tion i'm it.
So the good old lady set her dear heart
upon my taking a bride, and from our
neiehbor's doye-cots she selected such
a number of beauties to whom she
affirmed she would like to see me
welded before she died, that, if had
espoused them all, / should have cast
Brigham Young into the shade as a
Twas instinctively very fond of the
society of young ladies, and, as was
not Satyri in features, or an Abernethy
i'm manners, and was possessed OF 1alr
income and excellent expectations, they
did not look upon me with disfavor. As
a general thing, / am conceited enough
to believe that 1 was favorite with the
fair sex i'm Muskquoge.
The love of boating which had been
engrafted in me during early boyhooG
terminated while 1 was at college, ano
I confess was incipiently insane upon
the subject of aquatics when returned
10 Muskouoge. The adoloscenti of that
village became inoculated with the
heating disease when gave them glow
ing accounts of intercollegiate regattas
Of victories hardly lost and dearly won
and the oft-repeated story OF my victor.
over Roahr of H, when won TN
champion sculls, was soon good dea
more familiar i'm the mouths Of the youti
of Muskuuoge than all the household
words that had been handed down q
them through many generations.
We started rowing club, OF which
was installed president by acclamation
the liberal-minded fathers of some
our associates became honorary mem
hers and sent i'm liberal subscriptions
and the Young ladies Of the village pre-
sented us with a silken banner, upol
which was tastefully embroidered lar
gonaut." surmounted by worked scrol
Containing, i'm gold letters, the motto o
our club. 1sOr et amour" A deputatioI
from the club visited New York an
purchased a tolerably expensive outfii
Including a secondhand eight-oare'
barge, built by Searle on the Thames
and Knocked about for three seasons o.
the .'Harpies" on the Harlem, two is, SIX
cared racing sculls, nearly new, coupi
of cedar-built pair-oared wherries, am
no less than five twenty-fOur-foot work
ing-boats just out of the hands OF tn
builder. Three of these last were pur
chased by private members Tor incl
individual use.
There was not an active member o
our club who was not well-skilled II
the use of an oar-what boys bred o.
the seaside would not ber But tn
boats my companions had been used :
pulling were very different craft to Tn
gossamer affairs purchased BY the clup
I was king for awhile, for l was
college oar, and knew all the mysterie