Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1888-11-01
FAIR MAIDS IN CANOES.

:ide is running three miles an hour.
The sun is bright but there is brisk
little wind which keeps the Hudson
water dancing. The swell from a
steamer in mid-river sets the broad
boat moored off boat-house at the
foot of street In the one hundred and
Iiftes bobbing and curtsying in as
graceful fashion as such q numbering
object can.
A young fellow in white flannel
shirt. white duck knickerbockers and
white yachting cap is sliding into the
water the prettiest craft that floats. n
small decked canoe. Her polished
cedar sides shed the water like
ducks feathers as her bow goes under,
comes up again and she floats along
aide. She has no thwarts or rowlocks.
out two cushions are flung into her
bottom and on the float lie two long.
double bladed paddles.
Now. them" says the young fellow.
and a girl steps lightly in. Her feet
ire on the steering yoke under the
front hatch and one of the paddles
lie across her knees. She leans in
half-reclining posture against her
swinging back board. the young man
seats himself on the cushion behind
her, the paddles rise and fall and-hal-
To-, the spray is slapped fairly In the
rriYsl1d In hiun inf N
curling wave.
There is q small black box on the
1oat. 1t Is detect We camera for riv-
er photography. The canoeing couple
have forgotten it. No. they are COM
ing back again to take it in. The girls
shoulders and arms are drenched and
there is a water drop running off the
tip of her nose. Does she carer She
Is wearing blouse and short skirt of
dark blue jersey cloth with white
girdle round her waist and white
cord round the soft felt SLOUGH hat on
her head She has on low rubber soled
shoes in chamois leather. Five min
utes of sunshine and smooth water
will dry her off and leave not trace
of the river kisses behind. Carer 1t
would not discommode her greatly if
you flung her overheard. She has
padded her own canoe from March TO
November. and knows every mood of
the Hudson as she knows tho face of
her mother. Once again the paddles
dip on one side, then on the other.
The canoe is tossing like chip in mid
stream.
But the float is not empty. Another
white-shirted canoeist is rum ng up a
spread of canvas to take advantage OF
the wind. "All right. Mary" he says.
when the mainsail and dandy are ad-
justed. and with Mary tucked ms de
another canoe is scuddng he fore the
breeze. Mary's captain is not tn ok ed
inside. The canoe heels rs the sails
belly and. perched on the deck with
toes clnging under the opposite side.
he leans we'll out to windward. Now
and again heavy wave Duries his
shoulders in the water. Mary laughs
rs the breeze blows sitter. She is
used to the canoes frolics; besides she
sits on rubber air cushion which an
swers every purpose of life preserv-
er. The wind and the foam crisp her
hair and she trails her hands in the
water as one wave after another lifts
the stern and then lets it down with q
swash into the hollow.
The white caps are curling over the
whole stretch OF the river and the ca
noeists are coming out in force. Here
is party of four on gypsying intent.
They have two canoes. and what are
they storing in the matches and under
the deckP An IRON frying-pa and
some steel knives and forks. by my
halidom. And there goes tin pail
and some sliding cups. One girl has
her arms full of roasting ears of green
corn and the other hands out q p arcel
which smells like coffee. There re
two men and two young women, in
tennis blazers all four. and they are
going across the river to eat supper
under the Palisades. They know how
to skirt the deserted quarries and the
fishing village whose wharves are drop.
ping to pieces, and the old powder
house and the scattered negroes huts
keeping on and up to n perpetual
spring under hemlock tree and a
shelving beach where the driftwood
fire burns bright There the girls
will boil the coffee and the me n
will roast the corn. and whe tn G
tide turns and the wind goes down they
will drift New Yorkward in the twl-
light
See, now, here is new conner a6oat.
1t is shorter than the others, barely
thirteen feet long, and light in proper
ton. Its cedar sides are so thin that
you could feel the lap of every ripple IL
you were seated in its bottom. 1t is
decked fore and aft, but it would weigh
hardly TWENTY-FIVE pounds. II has only