The San Francisco call., 1896-10-11

"Now," said an earnest feminine voice
with an accent The owner of the voice
cast q glance over her port shoulder,
moved along on the thwart of the boat
amid ships so as to shift ballast, then,
having her boat trimmed" she bent her
back and "gave way" with a vim. Some
boat lengths ahead was a boat which was
breeding along under the impulse i'm
parted to it by pair of bending oars, the
handles of which we're firmly grasped by
the shapely hands OF alady well known in
San Francisco society. This boat was
leaving behind, in its wake, train of bub-
bIes which danced in the sunshine. Under
its keel bubbled the water musically.
The wielder of the oars pulled like ma
ior," only she feathered her oars like an
old salt.
The ladies have a new fad. They are
learning to row on Stow Lake, at Golden
Gate Park. They have started gently
with small biceps and wholesome fear of
callous places and blisters on their hands
They have progressed in skill aquatic and
have developed :heir muscles. They know
sail aboard" port and 'starboard"
and when to Feather high" and when to
''feather low." Some have acquired a
nautical squint. which they use only when
they are boating on the lake, but then it
is very fetching. They can breathe easier,
row harder, stick to it longer, make their
boat go more steadily and faster, get less
blisters, pull more strokes without hitting
their rowing partners, make straighter
wake without rudder and run up along
side of the boat-landing more neatly than
they could when the summer opened.
The trick is catching. Ladies go to the
lake without knowing a thing about a
boat. They step in gingerly. with sundry
small screams or CALCULATIONS, and the
subject of their remarks is, in the main,
that they did not know that the boats
would tip SO easily. They take the oars
lean away forward and poke their hands
a|ay down the bottom of the boat and
point the blades of their oars well sky
ward. They splash the water, roll The
boat, rub the skin off the inside of their
soft, white fingers, "catch crabs'' and
learn-possibly because they see that their
friends have learned-to row boat.
Handsome horses draw family carriages
up the somewhat steep slope to the height
upon which the Stow Lake boathouse
stands. The ladies bring their children,
sometimes the children's nurses. and. with
hampers filled with lunch. which thew
spread later in tue pine grove lust west of
the boathouse, they have come prenared
to stay the better part of the oay Tbey
get ahoat as soon as possible and yery soon
are showing how they can row, with ever
growing satisfaction. When they become
rolerably proficient and meet a friend
who may be social rival they NAV try
little bout with the oars after the fashion
already described.
Not only the ladies are learning to row
and are making fad of it. They are ri
vailed in the fidelity with which they de-
vote themselves to this branch Of muscle
developing athletics by at least score of
Chinese women. Often the Chinese women
come to the lake without an escort. They
are there every day and go out rowing
every day. They do not ask any instruc-
ton in rowing. such as Louis Ohnimus,
the keeper of the boathouse, imparts to
the Caucasian ladies. Their idea appears
t1be to get afloat and then laugh as much
a possible. Whether they can row or are
tYSaily ignorant concerning boats, they
laugh pretty constantly from the time
they first take the oars in hand until their
sport is over.
Inc habit has SO grown upon while
ladies that it is absolutely safe to predict.
that they will appear on certain days,
whenever the weather is fair. Their faces