Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1898-03-18

of the solitary little girl in black. But,
still, as everybody else was happy, he,
too, must make merry, and as the great
boat, with its fluttering flags and living
passengers, pushed off and swung about
with its head toward the island the
blond young man shouted out:
Il say, old duffer, what's your
name?''
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 pulled 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 a 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 a 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
a 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 gigglel All
/