The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-09-11
Written for the PREss.]
MACKEY'S ISLAM D.
A Summer Evening In casco
Bay.
BY ADAM NEWBEGIN.

reaching eighty at noon, but with breez
enough to keep the air comfortable. To cele
brate the occasion she devised rowing mar
w winch was to start for Mackey's Island a
nve In the afternoon, and she was kin,
enough TO give me an invitation, which | ac
cepted as great tribute, since her party wa
composed entirely of young people, with til,
exception OF the little widow, who acted al
chaperone, and myself. 1. is very pleasan
for an old fellow to find that he is not con
sioered too old for young party, andsI TAX,
certain pleasure in watching the amuse
ments OF the young people in order to com
pare them with those of my youth. can re-
member playing Copenhagen by moonlight
under the willows at Cushing's Island, but
think the daughters of the girls who then
participated have outgrown that rural game.
The young men of my day were somewha,
familiar with rowing, and probably as handy
with sailboat as those of to-day, but doubt
II they would all have been prepared for a
fye-mile row, like the young men whom
found at the wharf on my arrival. These
college boys are generally practiced oars
men, and some of them experts. | found ou1
party consisted of twenty-four, and four
boats awaiting them Butterfly gave each of
us the number of our boat, so that we took
our places without confusion and found our
selves assorted very agreeably. doubt if
any Of the gentlemen were even asked if they
could row, but it did not make any difference
for most Of the girls could have taken their
places, not to mention that they could also
swim well, and some could sail boat.
think like this phase of the women's
rights movement as much as | do the out
growing OF Copenhagen, for although l am
conservative like all old chappies this gain
OF womankind in physical dexterity seems to
me to give them strength and force without
detracting from their feminine delicacy.
When see young woman dive in deep wa
Ter and swim under boat feel that there
Is no danger of children drowning helplessly
In her sight, as / have known to happen SO
often in the good old days when girls did not
learn to swim.
You take the stroke, Mr.. Newbegin," said
the young man in my boat, with hearty cour
tesy' He was slender fellow, but pru-
IDENTIFY declined, and felt rewarded for nv
modesty when saw him take I'D a long. reg
uiar stroke, and when, to my questioning, he
d owned that he had trained in his college
racing shell.
Have you ever been on Mackeys Island ?"
= asked, willing to give him some valuable
information in regard to it. / am not quite
sure whether he was ayerse to historic lore.
or whether he thought had better save nv
wind, but he answered in dreamy sort of a
way, i think the other boats are gaining on
u.s. We had been the last in turn to get off,
and our boat was the heaviest-rowing of the
the four, so saw the propriety of keeping
quietly atwork and leaving the chat to the
girls.
We arrived close upon the others, pulled
around the little point which juts out 10 the
southeast where thenew proprietor PROPOSES
to build wharf next year. and landed on
the beach in the cove beyond it. where the
Doats were quickly run Tap above the coming
tloe' and the party tookrtheir picnic baskets
and started for tn preading oaks on the
grassy bank at the other point of the cove
Only one Of the party was stranger to me.
ana ne proved to be the son of Portland
lnen whom had much liked thirty years
r'syne, a man who had gone abroad and won
wealth and honors; and here was his son,
grown to the age of my old friend as | first
knew him, as gay and genial as that young
man whom Ihad so long ago known, fine
singer and guitar-player, as we soon found,
and had never seen him. should hardly
have been more pleased and surprised if
had met the father grown young again-for
think he would have grown young again in
such a time and at such a place. / found
the young man was graduate of Cambridge
University and had learned to row in the
University racing-boats; and remarked to
myself, Mr.. Newbegin, you appear to be
the only green hand, despite your years."
Mr.. Atkins the new tenant of the island,
with his boys, met us at the shore, welcomed
us heartily as friends Of the proprietor, and
piloted us to an admirable spring in deep
and shady nook on the shore near our camp
ing ground Although the island is the near
est to the city of any'in the bay, it is least
visited by Portland people, and in conse-
quence it has been often selected by men of
sporting proclivities for cock fights and 9TH
er objectionable games. Such parties are
likely to be discouraged in the future, but
quieter people will find it the more agreeable
for its privacy.
We spread our table cloths on the grass
beneath the oaks, and found that the baskets
furnished an admirable supper for compa-
ny grown very hungry under the influence of
the fresh air and exercise. We did not for
get to send up liberal contribution of the
delicacies to Mrs Atkins as tribute to her
suzerainty, with the hope in our minds that
she might wish us to come oftener
The sun was setting in golden glow be-
hind the White Hills when we had got the
feast cleared away, and had seated ourselves
around the trees. l had been thoughtful
enough to bring cigars, which / started to
produce from a young lady's basket where l
had deposited them as we were on the city
wharf. As passed them around the young
gentlemen smiled, and found that they had
anticipated me by hunting them up for
themselves, and l was again reminded of old
times as joined in the laugh.
Lighting the cigar is always suggestive of
solid conversation, and felt that my senior
ity required that should start it, since the
young people would naturally be somewhat
bashful in beginning.
'Mackey's Island was one of the earliest
settled in Casco Bay" l began.
"Mr Newbegin,' said Butterfly, deferen-
TALLY, what had we better sing?''
looked around and beheld two guitars
and two banjos, which were being tuned in
unison, and as l am particularly fond of sing
Ing to string accompaniment l cheerfully
suggested one of my favorite songs.
Many old songs were sung and many new
ones, grave and gay. The young Cambridge
man made us laugh with some of his quaint
college ditties, and the chorus, MANY a
stormy wind shall blow reminded us that
some of the party were to GO abroad in few
days and that it would be long time before
we should thus meet again. While we sang
twilight died out and the round full moon
rose over Diamond Island and flooded the
bay with light, filled our unfamiliar sur
roundings with mysterious shadows, and
tipped with silver the ripples that Tapped the
rocks at our feet. And so they sang on, and
the moon climbed up the sky leisurely, as if
nobody was in hurry. Then there was a
lul in the singing.
"Did you know" l commenced, thinking
it necessary to keep things moving, that this
island is properly called Mackworth S
Island, and that it owes its present corrup-
ton Of that name to the fact that Scotch
man named Mackey once lived on it?'