The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-27
ONE ON SIN.
Uncle Wash Tells an Adj
venture the Former City
Collector Kept Quiet.

To the Editor Of 1.-THE Jersey city News":-
In the columns of your paper some time
ago / saw an article about Mr.. Simeon
III. NTH and his trip to my place here at
Lake Mont. But, although he gave to your
| columns quite a chapter of interesting
items he withheld an interesting incident.
Our postoffice is situated a half mile
south of our residence, lamps showing
plainly at night between the two. And
Mr.. Smith had learned by the third or
| fourth day the way to the Office, the way
| TO Lake Clinch. $50 yards west of the
| house. and also to Lake Reedy, east OF
the house three-fourths of a mile. and the
one the party did most of their fishing in.
A plain road led down to their best land
ing in a direct line from the east side of a
~four-acre grove just across a lane east of
the dwelling.
But. on the third or fourth day, / don't
| remember Just which. Mr.. Sim. sailed
out by himself for the office some minutes
before four o'clock. AT about half the
distance he discovered one of our so
called ''gaphers,'' correctly. a highland
turtle, much resembling the Northern
terrapin or tortoise. 1t was a new sight
to Mr.. Smith, and to use his own words
II took after him and chased him to the
mouth Of his hole, jumped onto him and
picked him up. and said, I'll take you
along. But when l looked out for the
road didn't know just which way it was
and I failed to find it, and then I threw
him down and said, You can co."
This brought Mr.. Smith to a distance
of several PAGES from the road down east
toward Reedy Lake, when he should have
gone west to find the road. On he paced
further and further away in the woods
toward Reedy Lake, where he had been
| fishing two or three times. And, instead
of returning in twenty minutes. as he
should have done, he was gone for about
one hour and twenty minutes or more, by
his watch, and he had been travelling at
a speed of at least five miles per hour,
city speed. But his speed in this length
of time would have figured at least six
or seven miles unnecessary tramping.
Somewhat after five o'clock we heard
| successive calls of a whistle which fairly
shook us up, out southeast, back Of our
southeast lot.
Listen, said Mr.. Albert, isn't that
Sims whistler
ST guess So" said I.
III bet he's lost" exclaimed Mr. Al.
ST expect he is" said I.
So out we sailed from the front porch
and FASTENED into the east grove across
the lane. while Mr.. Al. responded vigor-
ously from his whistle. At a distance of
| about 200 yards out. southeast, Sim stood
in the big road blowing tiptoe blasts on
his whistle, with his nose high in air, ex-
pressing the most huge surprise in his
| looks that he had found Al. and Uncle
Wash so far from home. But as he APP
| preached we called OUT
why, what in the world. Sim. and
where rave you been all this time? You
certainly have been lost?"
And then he up and told. or tried to tell,
where he had been. saying that he had
been to some lake at a distance down that
way, pointing toward al Reedy, and
had run ON to an old shackway down
there a turn or two. and determined the
last time to sleep in it in case he had to
lie out.
Now, this was truly laughab1e to me
and his brother AL, for the lax he had
run on to was Reedy, just where he had
been fishing for a day or two previous,
and the intended lodging, a little cabin
$50 yards from his boat landing. Well,
the truth was too patent hat Mr.. Smith
had been racing round and round in an
area of half a mile square. all the while
veering to the left, as nineteen lost men
out of twenty will do, from some cause
not well understood. But as the left side
of most men especially the right handed)
is always weakes and the left leg a mite
the shortest. it is the difference in the
length of steps likely that turns the
| traveller to the left.
The day after he was lost, he and his
| brother Albert and I were coming up the
open avenue from the boat landing on
Reedy, and when alongside a four acre
| grove, about half the distance to our
dwelling. Mr.. Sim exclaimed:
Why. | was right along here the other
evening
sfBut why them said we to him, did
you not keep the road on up to the
house?'
"Oh, I thought I had gone on way past
your place up toward Bartow's-" So the
reader can see plainly enough that Mr..
Smith thought that he had been travel
ing all the while in a straight line and
was getting a long way from home.
But Mr.. Smith has great reason to re-
joice, for he is only about the sixteenth
man who has been lost in these sand
hills in the past quarter OF a century, and
that from one hour up to five days and
nights. and not all Yankees either, by
large odds | now nave on han about
| fifteen cases in manuscript, never pub
Iished. But Mr.. Sim. had better sing
low about this or | viii tell about his
getting knocked out of his boat into
Stratty Greek, on that memorable trip
he didn't tell all about by considerable.
UNCLE WASH.
--O