Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1886-01-14

fair one. bat the problem was soon
solved BY the mother Of the young
lady (who probably had noticed the
sly glances Of my friend) addressing
friend A. The ice being broken. we
we're soon engaged in an animated
conversation. which continued until
We reached Washington. whssc{ re,
luctantly said good by. It is not often
that have the pleasure of making
the acquaintance of ladies whilst trals
cling. but if all prove as agreeable and
entertaining as those whom / have oc.
casionally ehanced to meet with from
Virginia. the remsmbrancs cannot be
otherwise than pleasant. After spend.
ing few days in Washington. / was
compelled to resort to the Thompson
as . means of reaching old St. M.ry's
in time to eat my Xmas dinner. Gen.
orally, the teachings of experience are
retained, but I regret to say, owing,
perhaps, to the very agreeable com.
Pany l met with on my way up the
river, l failed to provide anything to
eat on my way down, so had to de-
pend altogether upon the caterer for
the boat. But. alasl vain illusion,
and shall I add, "what fools we NOR
tails be?" Now, imagine hungry man, ,
who had hurriedly eaten his break
fast, in order to catch an early boat,
and whose appetite had been whetted
up by an occasional sniff of salt water,
awaiting the sound Of the dinner bell,
and you can very readily guess the
state of my feelings. Now, picture
to yourself again dinner table, with
six hungry men seated around it, said
table covered with an article the tex
ture of which reminded me very much
Of the something that I removed from
my bed few nights before, differing,
however. in other respects, being like
Jacobs coat Of many colors. have
no doubt that it was originally white
but at the time that I mention, it was
anything else. at first thou ght that
a painter had been wiping his brushe.
on it, but upon closer inspection, was
convinced that it presented unmistak
able signs Of having been in contact
for at least several weeks with the
scraps of vegetables, both in and out
Of season, but OF all the extracts tha,
could have been procured from said
cloth, grease would have predominat.
ed. In short. time, q waiter ap.
preached to take our orders. Hi:
first question was, twill you take
SOUP" which I declined, but if NAV
judge from a sample that I saw served
to my neighbor, I an sure I did not
miss anything very appetizing, as l
am satisfied that the cloth that was
before us would have made equally as
good. The next in order was the
dinner, which would have been toler-
ably fair. if it had been properly
served. But such dishes may I never
see the like again-they were like the
butter, not gilt edged, but CRIME edged,
the dirt from the fingers ofthe waiter
being not ONLY smearsd on the dishes
but extending to the food in them.
Even the slices of bread showed the
imprint of the gentle clasp. This was
a little more than I could stomach, so
I, in company with some others. left
the cable in disgust, it is needless to say
with food untouched. In the course O.
q few hours, We reached Rock Point
Having ascertained that there would
be delay Of few minutes, / cor
cluded to pay the store visit in order
to lay in a supply for the comforts O.
the inner man. had proceeded VI
. the shore but short distance when
was hailed by the bar-keepsr Of tn
Thompson, who requested me to "tsl
Mr.. Whiting to send him two cigars
such as Mr.. Fenwick smokes-one fo
me and one for Mr.. Settles" ! il
ferred from this that his (ths barkseE
er's) were kept only for customer
Unfortunately, however, tha store va
closed and I returned to the boat Wit
hopes forlorn as to my prospect fc
something to eat. After leaving Roc
Point, nothing ofintersst occurred &
fore reaching Briton's Bay. I omitte
to mention, however, that soon aft'
leaving Washington We ascsrtaine
that We had a bride and groom c
board. and as they were destined
remain on the boat all night. / vi
much pleased to see that room No.
had been assigned to them. HaviI
previously described the comforts
this room, I will add that in additi'
to the article Of furniture herstofo
mentioned, it contained one cha
which AN sure was q pleasant sig
20 +hs 1rnnrn faar that I ha