Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-06-24

wrapped In flames. As soon as those in
front find themselves upon the pier they
slacken their run up to stroll, in order to
block the ambitions of those behind them
to debark in a hurry.
Mecca for Many.
The dancing pavilion seems to be the
Mecca of most of the rushers. 1t is very
warm, but climatic conditions are never
considered by dancers. The maze begins
almost at once. and one sits and wonders
how the young woman who weighs fully
160 pounds is able to cavort through four
straight waltzes without the vaguest indi-
cation of fatigue; why men who can't dance
Will dance; why it is that men six feet
three inches in height always select five
foot gnls for partners, and vice versa; why
a man who runs his partner into ten cou-
pies, one after the otner, doesn't finally
conclude that dancing isn't his particular
game and pass out, and SO on
The shootists among the young men re-
pair StralghJWay to the shooting gallery
and expend their substance in blazing away
at marks that could not be missed by a
rock neaved by little girl The young
man VINO has Dragged all the way down of
his proWeSS as an oarSman hires Skin
and has d race with the young man VINO
has doubted his prowess and gets beat by
fifty lengths in quarter of a mile dash in
the dark. The swings Immediately
seized, and the usual screams follow the
attempts of youths to project their swing
ing young women friends through the over
hanging boughs of trees. The splashing
thud OF the ShoOting-the-chuteS car strik
ing the water begins, and the young men in
the cars are seen to be making their usual
efforts to guard against the remrtest pos
sbility of their young women friends tall
ing out.
On the Green Lawns.
The young men who exchange hats with
their young women friends and who walk
around the grounds that way are, of
course, soon in evidence. The elderly wo-
men who have brought their daughters
along abardon chaperonage for the nonce
and distribute themselves on the benches
under the trees, but the sharp observer
may observe that they generally seem to
know where their daughters are, at that.
The gloomy youth VINO has come down
quite alone, ana who is generally figured
by the young women as the victim of dis
appoint lent in-IoVe case, wanderS off by
himself in the direction of the woods, and
there is considerable speculation as to
whether he purposes SUICIDE as way out
of his trouble. Inc romance is shattered
when he appears unnalurally joyous on
the trip back.
The trip back is not begun without the
usual number OF alarms about lett-be-
hints. The crowd beglus to swarm aboard
at the first warning tootS, but there are
laggards Notwithstanding the continued
frantic footing of the steamboat whistle.
When the plank is about to be cast on, the
three inevitable couples who haven heard
any of the footing come running greatness
ly down the pier, and the already moving
boat has to reverse engines i'll order TO take
them on. The elderly mothers of daughters
exhibit the greatest imaginable anxiety I'M
til it becomes quite certain that there are
no left-benindS.
Homeward Bound.
Quite a different spirit seems to animate
the RETURNING voyagers from that which
prevailed on the down trip. There is more
soulfulness as it were. The mystery of
night and the stars seems to impel many
of the youths to song. At first their musi-
cal efforts are wabby and Intellectual but
when they get into swing with that mad
denngly beautiful ballad, When l First
Took Nellie Home" they perform with all
the enthusiasm of which their lungs are
capable There have been songs ana songs,
but none of them has had such vogue
with the steamboat eXcurslon1StS or w ASH
ington as this reversion TO the initial home
taking of Nellie. The only song that APP
proximates the Nellie affair in STEAMBOAT
popularity is The Soldiers Farewell.
This is the second string to the young
mems bow and they tweak it any number
of times, over and over again. We seem
not to advance with the era in steamboat
music, for sooner is the soldiers la
ment concluded for the thirty-fourth time
than the inspiring strains of Wait TIL
the Clouds Roll BY roll out on the cool
night air.
A young man with some talent as a vio-
liniSt takes his place up in the eyes of the
boat. after some urging, and plays Schu-
bertS serenade. He is rewarded by faint
hand and then there is a universal demand
that he perform that other tender, mellow
masterpiece, The Georgia Camp Meeting"
He declines the issue, thereby contributing
enormously to the happiness of a few to
whom The Georgia Camp Meeting has
become worse than implement on pixies.
Music's Mystic Charm.
A mandolin Is fished up from some here
tofore urexplored portion of the boat and
the young woman with the four enameled
college flags on her lapel plays "Narcis-
sus' in jig time, which makes the piece
sound weirdly like The Devils Dream"
One of the funny men here Stimulates Weep
ing with great realism Asked what is all
ing him by one of his staff of gigglers he
replies that he is thinking of the tune the
old COW died on, whereupon his entire staff
of gigglers are threatened with Mysteries.
Then, as the arsenal lights indicate that
the boat is approaching the Washington
dock, the scramble for the gangway again
sets in, this time more universally and
crushingly than ever. All of the young wo-
men give sundry little twists and dabs al
their back hair to feel if it is on straight
The awakened young ones declare in cho-
rus that they do not purpose moving now
or forever: that they have entirely made I'D
their minds TO go to bed Immediately. with
out leaving the boat and that no promise
of reward in this or the life to come can
shake them in their determination They
may not put the matter explicitly as
this, it is true, but their peevish cries OBJ
Viously mean as much.
The steamboat band renders Home
Sweet Home with a barsh stimulation of
pa thos, the first people at the gangway rip
and tear off to the dock. there TO slacken
their pace to that of the snail, and it is all
over, The sleepy young ones weep dis
mally as they are dragged to the open cars
mo Slaal lr-i xNf
Took Nellie Home" seems to have quite got
into the systems of the young men who
bawled that lovely vocal classic on the
boat and they continue to hum the same
as they board the cars.
A Marvellous Escape.
From the Los Angeles Times.
''One of the strangest accidents in nv
experience" said boiler expert, occurred
q few nall 1-Ia,ill