The Republican journal., 1895-10-03
Deer Isle Sailors.

Deer Isle Sailors.
A SOMEWHAT PATRONIzING TRIBUTE TO
THEIR CLEvERNEss AND ABILITY.
The International yacht races have been
SO prominently before the public for the
last month that perhaps few words
about the place where the hardy seamen
live who made up the crew of the Defen-
der may not be uninteresting. spent my
short vacation at Deer Isle, large island
lying at the mouth of the Penobscot Bay,
from which island all the crew were
drawn. The island is thinly peopled by
hardy tribe of farmers who are also
fishermen, and can drive a plough or
/ steer vessel with equal ease. They are
| distinctly Yankee. Their build, tall and
lean but muscular, and their talk, with
the slow and rather soft drawl, both bear
testimony to their descent And their
nerve is great. The first evening of nv
stay, after it had become SO dark that
outlines of things were nearly indistin-
guishable, as | was sitting in front of the
house near the road | heard pelting of
horses hoofs along the road at tremen-
dous rate. supposed it was runaway,
but there seemed to be so many horses in
it that it could only be four horse stage
or perhaps whole circus. In half
minute the rout swept by, and proved to
be three ordinary buggies racing along at
top speed in a road hardly wide enough
for two to pass safely. AS they went past
our house, two of the buggies were side
by side, tipping, lurching, now one wheel
in the air, now gayly bounding over
boulder by the roadside, and all the time
almost grazing each others wheels. In
each buggy was youth of the island ac-
companied by comely maiden, and all
parties were enjoying the fun to the ut
most. Even the raw boned horses SEEM
ed to enter into the spirit of the occasion,
and the way the rear horse was laying out
to pass the forward ones was caution.
though how his driver could have steered
him by the others was a mystery, unless
they had fairly jumped over the others.
which feat both horses and driver seem
ed fully prepared to attempt. The same
trait appeared in their boat sailing The
crack boat of the place was rakish-
looking sloop and the amount of sail that
she carried with no apparent justification
therefor might give our friends the Scotch
yacht designers food for close study
Even the little children are sailors almost
as soon as they can walk. A small boy of
eight informed me that his brother had
gone to sea on Banks fisherman at the
age of thirteen and his father had prom
ised to take him on his next voyage. As
this information was given just as the
youngster had landed from wletched
raft of tlimsy structure which he and his
younger sister had been navigating with
long poles in water several times their
DEPTH it seemed not improbable that they
would be safer on fishing vessel than
they We're at home.
The cleveress and ingenuity Of the
people is also marked. AS | was walking
! along the road one evening, / heard the
tones of violin coming OUT of the open
ed window of a small cottage. 1t was
really very pleasant tone, superior to
many of the street 1iddles we hear in Bos-
ton. | was struck by hearing it in such
an out of the way place and stopped. |
suppose my apparent interest was OBJ
served by native who was passing, for
he stopped and asked me if | did not
think it sounded we'll. told him it did,
and he said the instrument was made Of
an old cigar box by one Of the boys and
had only ordinary thread OF cotton strings.
But it does not need these pieces of
circumstantial evidence to prove the
GicfcIu Cos dli,l ftUllI VI tilcoc IoldulClS W
any one who has seen their appearance.
They are evidently set of people whose
struggles to wrest subsistence from adj
verse natural conditions has made them
hardy, quick and self-reliant to high
degree. Boston Transcript.
In Time of Peace Prepare for War
Those simple creatures, the women Of
the Bath w. c. L. IT,, declare, by resolu-
ton, for peace, and therefore are grieved
to have the young men drilled in military
tactics at the schools and colleges. Non
sense, dears! We never should have
peace anywhere, We're we not prepared
to fight for it. In visit to the State Col
lege at Orono, whose campus had much
the appearance of military parade
ground, with uniformed squads marching
and countermarching, and handling the
musket like veritable soldiers, the writer
came to a conclusion quite the reverse of
that voiced in the resolution referred to.
The military drill is far preferable to
foot ball or base ball as recreation, be-
sides being in the line of physical cul-
ture and possible usefulness. But, by the
way, what has this to do with ''Chrstian
l q