The Portland daily press., 1893-07-07

| uiiiCCAt ellis Sildu6 Lie llIblo Olu uOuSt
and green meadow slopes down to the
in the summer. She is the friend of one
of the canoeists so they resolved to make
her an early Sunday morning call. Two
| great mastiffs came shifting around them
| as they approached the door. The lady
was not there, but her son, Boston ac-
| tor came out to greet them.
In the conversation he explained that
| his mothers selection of the place was
| case of love at first sight. Formerly
there were more of the giant elms, but
the original inhabitants had cut them
| down for tirewood!
They were soon in the canoe again and
padding over the smooth, black water
under the huge, high bluffs of the I'm
ages. The water was high and as they
approached the cave
Hawthorne's Cave.
they found that the top of the narrow
opening was scarcely three feet above the
surface. They bowed their heads and
glided into the cool gloominess beyond.
The narrow slit in the rock is just wide
enough for canoe; it is deep enough
for steamship. They clambered up the
dripping sides and out through the
small hole into the air above, as Haw-
thorne used to do when he was a boy
with his boat on Sebago. Only an ac-
tive body could accomplish it, as part
| of the way one might imagine ioneself
chimney-sweep, supported by both sides
of a mammoth chimney.
| 1t was nearly noon when White $
Bridge was reached. They soon found
that Outlet Brook is not navigable for
canoe or anything. Of course they could
! they desired to visit Little Sebago. They
| walked half mile to North Windham,
and induced small boy to harness his
| fathers horse and convey them and the
| canoe over the mile and half to the
| smaller lake. He was a reckless young
driver. He ratified through the quiet
village streets at smart pace. The
people were just coming from church.
The canoeists, who delight in old clothes,
felt almost as disreputable as they
looked. They realized the effect they
produced when the young driver called
to boy in dooryard, asking him to
have a ride, and the mother exclaimed,
mo he shan't co. It was the tone, not
the words, that made the two canoeists
feel that they had been addressed and
rebuked. Each wondered if the other
was thinking "Could our mothers see
us nowp'
When surrounded by the unbroken
forest on the shores of Little Sebago they
| felt better. They were in the midst of
| natures eternal Sabbath, and were in
harmony with natures worship.
1t is an ideal place for picnic dinner,
this little Sebago, and the canoeists re-
GREETED the necessity for their hasty de-
parture. But they must get down
Ditch Brook and Pleasant River and
Little Falls on the Presumpscot that af-
ternoon. They were soon on their way
through Collins Pond, which is just be-
low Little Sebago, and connected by a
brawling stream.
They had their misgivings about
Ditch Brook. They had been told it
was navigable; it is represented by quite
| a heavy line on the map, and surely the
name implies deep, still water. But
| Mud River would be more suitable
| title It is a succession of broad pools
and roaring, rushing rapids, mostly the
| latter. The light canoe could scarcely
| float in the shallow water sometimes,
| but if the big rocks could be evaded, the
| swift flight with the foam specked cur
rent was glorious. To steer the canoe
l
| paddle and inspired more demonstrative
excitement than during the forenoon on
the pillows of the great bay, but there
was none Of the horror of danger about
it, The water in the pools was never
over mans head, and the shore was
| but few feet away. For mile and a
half they struggled over the, shallow
rapids and flew down the deep ones,
sometimes wading and lifting the canoe,
sometimes frantically resisting its rush
| under the bushes on the shore of a
curve, and always in the midst Of bow
er of beauty, unsurpassed in the White
Mountains themselves. Could it be pos
sible that stage ride of an hour or two
could bring them to Names metropolis,
| or that railroads and great manufacto-
ries were even nearer. They were APP
parently sailing the virgin waters of an
unbridled flood of the primeval forests.
| But they were suddenly disenchanted
by the apparition of barbed wires
| stretching across the brook, which they
saw just IN time to save their eyes and
faces, and soon they glided forth into
beyond was mill and bridge. Pleasant
river was still half mile away. They
| carried the canoe around the dam and
were Immediately on 1.-THE rapids again.
They had progressed but a short distance
when catastrophe occurred, SO unex-
pected both in its possibilities and its
results, and so utterly annihilatory to
everything pertaining to the present situ-
| alton that the shock of the contrast was
almost permanent. Indeed they have
both since found traces of white in theil
black heads that are of recent origin.
They had dashed down long rapid
when they came to an abrupt curve. Or
the outer bank stout alders extended out
over the water The canoe was swept
under them. Its occupants leaned the
same way to escape the branches anG
the canoe capsized. One Of the aston
ishe1 canoeists reached bottom first
with his feet and as he seized the sink
ing canoe with the water flowing around
his waist, he saw his long-legged com
panion striking out for shore, with al
expression on his face as if he had beer
dropped in the middle Of the ocean anc
must swim for his life. Ills feet were
caught in the canoe.
AS he crawled up the bank (but a few
feet distant) like kitten out of water
pail, he suddenly broke into frantic
stampede down stream, the water flying