Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-09-27
THE VACABOND CLUB.
Well Started on It's Long River
Journey.
1RIBUL1AIoyS ARE MET WITH
The Beauties of An Iowa River
Camping in the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
on Sand Burrs-llI Luck as Fisher
men.

Camp Above Palo, Sept. 2O.-(Spe-
cial Correspondence 1.-The club is
well started on it's journey, after much
tribulation. Finding one boat INSULT
clent after starting we succeeded in
| getting second, and are now in pos
session of formidable flotilla, armed
and ready for effective service.
The first day and the first night out
of port were occasions to be recalled
| not without deep emotions. We have
tried to forget them, but they still
haunt us like bad dream. There were
shallows-such shallows-to cross;
there was partly ruined dam to let
the boats over; there were delays of
every imaginable sort, and an extrava-
CANT expenditure of lurid vocables set
off with ranks of exclamation points
stretching out into infinity.
Perhaps the most embarrassing sit
uation we were called upon to face at
the very outset, our boats grounded
just below the bridge at Waterloo and
we were compelled, regardless of our
own feelings, to step out into the wat
er and tow them. / hope / am not
Guily VI SAdSSCl WlSu ody lidL
every third man, woman and child in
the city stood on the bridge and on
the banks, and for all | know on the
house tops. to watch the operation.
Bishop bore it with remarkable calm
ness, but Easton said things under his
| breath. The secretary will not dwell
| upon his own feelings on this trying
occasion.
The days long tale of woe ended in
dismal desolation. We landed little
| before dark on a sandy shore and
| pitched our tent under some lofty
trees. Easton thought the place was
quite picturesque enough to suggest
the fondest and most sweetly melan-
choly recollections of loved ones left
behind-by this time several miles
away. We didn't notice that the spot
we selected for the tent was thrifty
bed of sand burs. Easton and Bishop
are such unobserving fellows, and
had SO much on my mind that it was
unreasonable to suppose | would think
of such things.
We got the tent up before it was
quite dark, but supper was still to be
prepared. About this time it occurred
to our minds that we had forgotten to
secure a lantern before starting. East
on ought to have thought of it. That
was an entirely satisfactory meal. We
found the provision box, and cropping
aimlessly among it's dark repositories
drew forth an array of articles worthy
of a Chinese bill of fare. 1t was a per.
4 feet chaos of digestibles, heaped in
dim and wild confusion. We satisfied
ourselves as to quantity, but it requir.
4 ed very great quantity We aston.
ished ourselves. We never knew be.
! fore what manner of men we were,
| how fearfully and wonderfully we were
! made.
We got everything into the tent the
best we could in the dark. for there
We're premonitions of rain. We ex-
pected it would rain, and had been tell
/ ing each other SO all day; we would
have been disappointed if it had not
rained, it would have seemed ominous
i preternatural.
And it did rain. We spread our
blankets on the sand-burs and lay
down to rest. 1t was not difficult to
find the sand-burs. They were like the
conscience of bad man; the more we
tried to get away from them the more
we were made to realize their pres
ence. Bishop wanted to know what
4 sand-burs were for. / tried to explain
to him that by the process of natural
4 selection the burs had assumed theil
present form as best facilitating the
distribution of the seeds. l told him i,
was a very remarkable and beautiful
illustration of one of the grandest
laws of nature. but 1t didn't seem tc
afford him much comfort.
AS i have said, it rained. 1t rained
that night and the next day, so tina,
we did not break camp. We sat among
the sand-burs and groaned. Now ane
then the rain stopped for little time
and we started out with fishing-roC
and gun, but the moment we got as fal
from the tent as it seemed safe to ven
ture, the windows of heaven opened
again, and we returned straightway--
men not to be tritled with.
That night the weather cleared, ane
the following morning we went on oul
way rejoicing The Cedar River is tbs
most beautiful stream in. Iowa. 1t is
4 much clearer than most tributaries O
the Mississippi and rolls it's entire
length over drifts of yellow sand
4 Broad belts of woodland original!
closed it in on either side, with onl!
here and there gap, but these art
fast disappearing, and with them mucl
of the rivers quiet majesty and beauty
1t shares the fate of nearly all ou
American riyers-it has lost the pic
turesQueness of primitive nature ant
not yet acquired that of an ancien
civilization grown gray upon its banks
Its waters are less pure than in forme
times on account of the refuse from
many large towns constantly bein!
poured into them. But impoverished
and outraged as it has been by MAJ
it is still delightful stream. AS w
floated quietly down the swift cul
, rent, pulling largely at the oars or lol
! ing luxuriantly among the bundles o
, baggage, and felt the easy gliding 0
the boat, soft and still as the passing
of time, and breathed in with ever;
breath a sense of perfect wild-bir'
freedom and physical nearness to ma
!, ture, we felt ourselves repaid ten-fol'
for all our past discomforts.
One evening we tished. 1t was
i still, cold night, but the water wa
warm Little ghostly columns OF mis-
climbed IN from the river and wan