Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1897-10-30
passengers, pushed ON and swung abouu

Jonah. And the word came up like
the growl of grizzly bear as the old
man leaned heavily to his oars
The name and the manner, too, of
the old man seemed to dampen the spir-
its of the handsome blond boy who sat
by the side of the plain little girl in
black, and he said no more, but sitting
himself over to one side he drew out
bunch of nasty cigarettes, and, without
even asking anybody's leave, lighted
one and puffed away, as if he had been
smoking ever since his mother had left
off his long clothes.
The old man pulled hard and steadily.
The pretty girls from up in the Sierra
Nevada mountains glanced out from
under their bonnets and all took in the
sunlight and the sea and were silent
with joy and admiration. The young
men counted the many huge battleships
that bore the flag of England, and they
marveled at the size of the mighty iron
ram that had almost destroyed the navy
| of Peru and had made Chile the great
est naval power in the Pacific.
Twenty-four bands of martial music
loaded the delicious air with melody.
1t was stirring scene.
But long before the clumsy big whale
boat, with its one pair of oars in feeble
old hands, could make the landing the
ladder was drawn up and the cere-
monies were we'll under way.
| In this state Of affairs all that could
be done was to pass on around toward
the Golden Gate and get as near to the
music and the speakers as possible.
This the old man did, and, casting an
| Choir, was soon nodding in his seat, for
the sun was hot, and, then, his work had
been long and hard for one SO old and
worn.
The big boat swung about, pointing
toward the Golden Gate, which opens
into the Pacific ocean some five miles
distant: This brought the rope by which
the anchor hung close under the arm of
the blond young man with the ciga-
rettes, where it creaked and squeaked
continuously. The music ceased, and
then the speaking began, but the party
in the boat could not hear what was
said, and some of the less thoughtful
began to grow restless and mischievous
A freckle faced boy with small eyes
and sunburned nose tried to tickle the
sleeping old Jonah on the neck with a
wooden toothpick, but could not quite
reach. This inspired the blond young
man, and, sticking his burning cigarette
on the point of his penknife, he leaned
over, and, in the midst Of giggles from
the whole party, with one exception,
perhaps, he held it close under the old
mans nose.
Fortunately it did not harm him,
and, after coughing slightly from the
smoke, old Jonah again doubled up like
pocketknife and soon was sound asleep
as before. But the spirit of mischief was
now abroad, and the handsome blond
boy, with his penknife in his hand,
turned his attention to the creaking,
squeaking rope that held the anchor.
At first he only cut it little, just for
fun. And how they all did giggle! All
but one, and that one put out little
brown hand feebly from under black
shawl and laid it reproachfully on the
blond boys arm.
This only angered him, and, setting
his teeth, he severed the rope and let
the great boat swing loose and drift as
it liked.
The giggles burst into laughter,
laughter loud and furious, as the old
mans head bobbed up and down under
the action of the swiftly moving boat,
and his hands, from force of habit,
held stoutly to the oars.
81 hear the music again, but it seems
good way off, said the eldest of the
girls suddesly. She half arose, and,
looking in the direction in which the
boat was drifting, cried: "And the
Golden Gate is close byl And the great
ocean! Look! Here is the open ocean
Wake up, Jonah! Wake up, Jonah!'
Blanched faces and silence! No one
moved or spoke. But down from over
the side of the boat little white ciga-
rette slid, and falling into the water
with scarcely audible ''sizz" was soon
left behind and lost sight of. The old
sailor opened his eyes slowly as his
name was called. Slowly he looked
from one terrified face to the other, and
slowly but certainly took in the situa-
ton. He did not say one word or look
right or left. He only held tightly to
his oars and kept in the midst Of the
now roaring current, straight for the
open sea.
Let me explain how the Golden Gate,
through which SO many tons of gold
have passed, is at certain times swift
as the swiftest river, and at such times
| you cannot land at all. You must pass
right ON and out, as if shot from gun.
| And this is the reason: A great river
flows into this bay and floods it full as
the tide sets in, so that when the tide
sets out it goes with fearful force and
swiftness through the narrow, rock
bound Golden Gate.
Indeed so swift and swirling are the
| waters here at such times that the
| Spanish settlers have long held that the
| traditional maelstrom off Norway has
counterpart at the Golden Gate. FIRE.
| mont, who named this the Golden Gate
two years before gold was discovered in
California, tells us of some young Off
GERS of our navy who persisted here with
their boat and left not even so much as
a plank to tell of their fate, and so
their names for years and years were
carried forward. They were even pro-
NOTED in their order. But they were
never heard from any more.
| "Why don't Won land2 Why don't