The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-12
ALONG TIE RIVER FRONT
Picturesque Signs, on the Banks
of the Potomac.
of the Whnrycs-Depnr-
ture of emily Festaoned Excursion
Boats on Their Daily Trips-7iIe
= Agricultural Garden Along the
shore-Cruisins in "a Police Boat.

The river front of Washington on a
bright summer morning does not offer, even
along its busiest wharves, that distract
| ing scene of hustle and confusion which is
seen upon the waterways of a big COM
merc!al city. But if there is less of man,
there is more of nature, and the Potomac
1 has q matchless fascination to those devo-
tees who live many a day and night upon
its broad and beautiful expanse. By these
| is not meant the ordinary excursion pas
sengers upon one of the large steamboats,
that ply in their regular course up and
down the lower part Of the river, to the
accompaniment of brass bands and loud
whistles, and song and mirth and great
rejoicing although such trips are very
| plessurable. At all events they form the
| sol. means by which most of the folk in
this city derive their impressions OF the
| beauty of the Potomac, but as the 1xcur-
| sion boats only ply from the piers adj
| jacant to the foot of Seventh Street to
points down stream, it follows that the
beautiful stretch between these piers and
| the Aqueduct Bridge is an unknown guam
| tity to the average excursionist
But if, on a fine morning at this time OF
year, one chances to be too early for his
| excursion boat. or, better still, is able to
| take his own time through having craft
- his own, he will find plenty OF sights
| along the wharves to amuse him while
! he waits. II an excursionist, and conse-
quently in the neighbornood of the pas
senger piers, which. as before intimated.
are all together, he may watch the pleas
ure-seekers getting exeitedly off the cars
and making for their respective boats. The
| juvenile members, if it be a family party,
disembark first and fairly dance with
! Impotence, as they tug at the
skirts of the older members. the
rear of the domestic procession is
tttingiy brought up by the comniissariat
in the shape of an enormous basket, heavily
laden and carried by two staid and elderly
members of the group. BY the time this
last important adjunct has fairly started,
the boat gives a most appalling sound
something between screech and whine,
and the Juveniles are clearly distracted at
the notion that they are late. as they urge
the main body in frantic accents to hurry
up and come along"
Then come party of young people, -
: whose conversation, never ceasing, is
marvel Of innoeuousness, and an old gem
tIeman with newspaper and telescope
the first of which he cannot read because
ne left his glasses at home, and the second
of which he cannot see through because
len sis missing. And now the boat COM
mences to fill up rapidly with passengers
who come in shoals and tumble over the
earlier arrivals who have planted them
/ selves in chairs and camp stools on the
steamers deck. Then the whistle blows
second time with increased vehemence
and kideousness, and there is a perfect
babel of confusion generally among the
people third roar and scheech and
whine. and they are of while a belated
party gazes patheticalfy from the wharf
at the boat just moving out, as they finger
| their useless tickets
The wharves appear to exert wonder
full attraction over boys and dogs. both OF
the unkempt and uneared-for description
| Whenever a boat lands, or whenever
! boat leaves these inseparable deniZens OF
| the river front congregate, and seem to
| concentrate all their faculties in watching
/ the maneuvres going on about them
A small schooner laden with watermel-
ons arrives at a wharf and ro" OF bare
! footed and dirty urchins who have been sit
/ ting at the edge of the pier awaiting her
coming, Chamber on deck like monkeys and
gaze. with bated breath. down the hatch
ways while a peculiarly disreputabie look
! ing mongrei PAGES up and down the wharf
| as If exasperated at his inability to join
| them Very often the boys bring the dogs
( to the wharf for the purpose OF giving
them a bath by the unceremonious method
{
/ our again by the nose.
At the ice wharves the schooners from
s.aine with their enormous cargoes, some
| times as much as $500 tons, are unloaded
! nv sending the blocks of ice from the decks
| down an inclined plane to the storehouse,
| where they are either stored or put IN
wagons for immediate disposal. Under
! meath the inclined plane, which is in the
1 nature of a ladder with very close rungs,
| so that the ice in sliding along Is planed
! smooth on its under surface, stand num-
! her of poor little folk OF both colOrs and
! sexes who eagerly gather up the stray par
/ ticles of the precious material and put
| them in receptacles to carry home.
Unloading Farm Produce.
At certain piers, those Of the Norfolk
boats, for instance. are TO be seen, at Ger
! tain hours of the day. numbers of burly
men. mostly colored. who wait around in
/ the prospect of securing Job of unload ng
I a steamer OF the various market goods
| which are shipped by the farmers and
producers along the river to ' .r!ous COM
mission merchants and wholesale dealers
| in this city. Some Of the wealinier OF
| these merchants have their own piers and
| boats, but the majority receive their sup
| plies from the passenger boats or schoon-
/
/ rious customers. To see the rousg atouts
unloading one Of these beats IS interesting.
| The celebrity and carelessness OF railway
porters are as nothing TO the lightning
] like rapidly with which all manner %
vegetables, fruits, etc, loose OF in bar
| rels, are lifted from the vessSrs hold and
sorted and bundled into the dealers
wagons; waiting to receive them.
Adjacent to the excursion piers is seen
! Inc notice fronting Water Street (Which
Is the boundary of the city in this direc-
| toni "Harbor Master concerning whose
| duties there is probably little knowledge
generally among the people of Washington.
| Nevertheless evildoers on the river have
| good Tor bad) reasons TO remember the po-
lice patrol boat. appropriately named Wig
! liant" whose captain and crew of four po-
| lice officers keep a sharp lookout for all
/ trouble upon the District waters.
| trip in the police boat, while not usu-
ally attended by any exciting incidents. is
| sufficiently out OF the way Of ordinary riv-
| er experiences to be rather plquant to the
novice So suppose that being, generally
| speaking, strangers TO the river immedi-
ately around Washington and desiring to
become better acquainted with the entire
| water front of our beautiful city, we deter
mine 10 take a trip in the Vigilant.
After obtaining the needful permission
| from the Harbor Master himself and intro
| duced by that parsonage TO the genial off,
Ger commanding the boat. We step fine
morning on the deck o. the neat little tug
and await events. On one side OF the pier
Of the Harbor Masters boat Is an elegantly
| constructed dock in which rests a neat lit
| tie launch.
| This craft belongs to the Secretary Of