Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-02-02
The Yankee Skipper and the Fundy Tides

1t seems, according to the old story
tellers, that years ago the captain of a
New England coaster determined to dis
cover the exact location of down East"
At every port he visited, from Cape Cod
to BoOthbav, the inhabitants all denied
that they lived there, and, when asked
where s'Down East" was, only pointed
mysteriOuSly up the coast. Finally, when
the skipper of the Dancing Polly" re-
ceived cargo of goods for Grand Pre-,
he was highly pleased, thinking that at
last "DOwn East would be found, for,
in those days, Nova Scotia was consid-
cred 1.-The jumping-Off place"
One fine spring morning, the schooner
got under way, and sailed merrily up
through the maze of islands that skirt
the coast of Maine. Fair westerly winds
favored them, and on the second day
they entered the famous Bay of Fundy,
or Fond de Ia Bale, as the French call it.
The skipper had never heard Of the
great tide there; and when, the follow
ing morning, the mouth Of the MinaS
Channel appeared on the right shore, he
bore away for it, wing and wing, and he
was soon under the shadows of the
Acadian hills.
The rich green fields and the villages
alOngshOre seemed to give a friendly
greeting; and captain and crew decided
that "Down East" was a very pleasant
region.
But luck is tickle; and as they were
bowling along, up the basin proper, they
felt a sudden jar, then heard a scraping
sound; and moment later ''The Dane
ing Polly" was aground, under full sail.
The small-boat was put out with a
kedge, and the sails were braced this way
and that, but all to no purpose, the boat
was aground hard and fast, the tide was
going out, and the skipper and "crew"
would have to wait until the high tide
came to float them off. 1t was quite late
in the day, and ere long the captain, and
the cook, the great Newfoundland dog,
and a yellow black cat, who consti-
tuted the "crew' all went to bed.
Early the next morning, the captain
was awakened by the dog; and when he
crawled out of his berth, he found
the floor of the cabin so aslant that
he had to scramble on all fOurS to
reach the ladder. The schooner was ev-
identity heeled over. But the captain had
expected this, and made his way on deck
as best he could.
Was he dreaming? He certainly
thought so; and then, having some doubts
he reached over and gently touched the
yellow and black cats tail. An answer
ing wall assured him that he was awake,
and that he and ''The Dancing Polly"
were really somewhere high up in mid
air.
The bewildered skipper crept to the
rail, his astOnishmeut all the while in
creaSing. The broad stream of the day
before had vanished. Not drop of
water was in sight, but far below him
could be seen vast basin of mud, in
which pigs were roofing and grunting
For soma time the skipper stood and
looked; then, noticing the cook stand
ing by and, like himself, lost in wonder,
he said:
"Wal, John, 1 reckon we've reached
here at last"
"Reached where?" exclaimed the cook.
"Down East" replied the old man,
solemnly.
at looks more like up East and on a
powerful high perch, moreover" retorted
the cook; "and I'm for striking inShore."
The two men started forward, and they
soon found that the schooner was rest
ing on a great ledge of rock like tower
that rose out of the mud. Lowering a
rope over the side, they let themselves
down upon the rock, and even then were
several feet from the muddy surface.
The great pedestal upon which they
stood was covered with olive-hued and
black weeds, which concealed innumera-
BILE star fishes, sea-urchins and shells, and
it gradually dawned upon them that
''The Dancing Polly had not been trans
ported inland, but that the water had
gone seaward and left them.
How to get down was the next ques-
ton, and after a debate about leaving
the dog and cat, the two men finally
managed to slide, slip, and scramble to
the plain below, and through mud waist
deep floundered to the shore, where they
were received with roars of laughter by
a group of fine-looking Acadians, who
had been watching their descent and
their difficult progress.
Then and there, the Yankee naviga-
tor first heard of the Fundy tides; and
several hours later, from the deck of the
little craft, he saw the bore" come in:
first small stream, growing rapidly
wider and deeper until the entire basin
was filled with the surging waters that
rose higher and higher, until finally "The
Dancing Polly lloated free, and once
more sailed away in the direction of
Grand Pre.-FFom al Legend Of Aca-
did," in st. Nicholas for FeJrUayy
ONE reason for the increased atten-