The Portland daily press., 1900-07-10
The Ben0faCtr0SS
OF the WyandOtS
She Cured Their sunburns
and Secured Their
Gratitude.


themselves seriously as a boat crew.
They liked better than anything else in
the world to get out on the broad sweep
of the Mississippi and at the word Of
their leader to bend to the oars with
slow, rhythmical movement of the body.
1t seemed like something apart from the
rest of the world-the dull rest Of it.
When they asked the crews of three
western universities to row against them,
1t was done more in the spirit of hospi-
tally than anything else and because
the town was desperately dull and every
one wanted little excitement. It was
really the girls who thought of inviting
the university crews, and no one really
supposed they would accept. 1t was an
experiment merely, made because a
number Of young persons did not quite
know what to do with themselves. But
all three universities accepted the invi-
tation Of Wyandot college.
Then the town was in pleasant fer
ment. The girls all ordered new gowns,
houses were cleaned By enterprising
homekeepers with the expectation Of
many guests, for all the visiting fellows
were to be entertained. Quite inciden-
tally the Wyandots trained daily on the
river and lived at the clubhouse on the
campus and ate things which did not
taste good. The girls sometimes remem-
bered the crew to say:
Don't you get left too far behind.
You mustn't disgrace US, you know"
The girls had known the members of the
Wyandot crew all their lives, and it is
difficult to appreciate a person who has
been known forever.
Only little Hattie Meredith really be-
lieved in the Wyandots. Hattie was a
pale girl who did not dance because she
was not strong enough and who read too
much and was too much alone. But ma
fure, who amuses herself with incongru-
tiles, placed in this frail body a mind of
most adventurous cast. When other girls
were dreaming about party gowns or
moonlight walks-with the right COM
panion-Hattie was wondering how it
would seem to be sailing to the north,
past pineclad islands and through lonely,
icebOund seas to find the utmost solitude
at the crown of the world, or she was
imagining a tiger hunt from the back of
an elephant or how it would seem to
stand on a pass Of the Rockies and watch
the sun follow the wind from the under
part of the earth and swing with glorious
nonchalance up to its highest place.
Hattie, who could hardly bring herself
to speak to strangers at all and who had
really never discovered her curious mind
to anybody, who was indeed as shy as
a dove, had for her secret motto, "Bra-
vado, bravado, and always more brava-
do" But she told no one. This joke
of natures was unapplauded because IN
known.
bo1 hon, So
two years past to go across the common,
walk over the railroad tracks and watch
bid her go home and rest. When she
shot along through the pale water and
the momentum Of those bodies became
intense, then something went "Biz, biz,
biz!' in Hattie's brain, and she knew a
moment of intoxication. She was elate.
She liked life unutterably. Then, wea-
ried with her excitement, her body would
bid her go home and rest. When she
heard that the university crews were
coming, she said to herself, "Our boys
must be the victors." But she never
thought of saying it to any one else. Be-
sides, no one would have cared much
about what Hattie Meredith said or
thought. No one took much notice Of her
at any time.
AS the days went on she observed the
growing power of the Wyandots, but she
noticed, too, that they showed signs of
the strain. Her cousin, who knew ev-
erything, said they were suffering from
Sunburn.
''They can't sleep nights" said he.
''Iheyre going almost crazy. They keep
putting on salye, but it doesn't seem to
do any good Actually, some of them
are bleeding. If the weather doesn' t
cloud up, they'll break down before the
race comes off, and, though they're not
expecting too much, they don't want to
make funk of it,"
''Not sleepingp cried Hattie with anx-
Iety, mot sleeping! My sakes, they
can't win that way! What do you mean
by using salye? It keeps the pores all
open and soft, ana Of course their skin
blisters. What they need is cornstarch.' .
"Never heard of cornstarch being used
Ror burns, Hattie. Guess that's a girls
recipe"
eyes" confessed Hattie, cit is.
Haven't you ever noticed how quickly
the girls noses get we'll after we have
been on a boating picnic? The boys
noses get worse and worse and peel off, -
That's So" confessed the cousin.
''Well, cornstarch or no cornstarch, the
boys are as near crazy as you can make
'em They don't know what you say
to 'em. I'd as soon go to lunatic asy-
lum as up to the campus"
That night IL bags Of cornstarch, each
one containing a quart, was sent to the
clubhouse with a modest note of explana-
ton, and the next day Hattie Meredith,
walking along the banks Of the river,
had the satisfaction of seeing the Wyan-
dots stop in their practice every now and
then to whip their arms and necks with
the long white bags.
"What have you heard from the
campus" she asked her cousin day or
two later.
1.-THE fellows are sleeping like tops.
They can actually understand a question
put to them in plain English now. Some