Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1903-05-29
ROCKVILLE MARYLAND. FRIDAY MORNING, MAY %. 1903
BY Leo Crane


beauties out upon the waters of mild
lagoon. The roadways were of shells
that had been pounded into powder Of
the whitest. Old fashioned cottages
lined the streets, their porches fes-
tooned with climbing roses whose
sweet scent welded the lavish per-
fume Of wandering hOneysuckle and
set forth to meet the fresh smell of the
bay.
Upon the shore was little shipyard
all covered with chips and darkened
driftwood. Rotting ways bathed their
feet in the greenish water, and about
them played the children they had Civ.
en- birth. myriad Of small boats upon
the sleeping waves. One Of these be-
longed to a higher caste than the 9TH
ers. There was clean coat upon 1t,
and proudly 1t rode to well made
moorlng. When the breeze would
swing II slowly, the old man seated
upon last stretch of the ways could
read Its name.
"Maryv he commented slowly, re-
moving the pine from his mouth and
putting out a cloud Of grayish smoke.
Then. turning to man close by, he
asked;
"D'ye spose why tits named MaryY
"He's sweet on Mary Harte" said
the other without displaying n bit OF
interest in anything save the chip he
was whiting.
"Ohw remarked the old one, grinning
to himself and sticking the pipe back
into his mouth, proving a bit OF senti-
ment could not lure him from the hab-
It, "Yere he comes now"
Hes got his oars along" said the
other, looking across the quiet space
of water "D'ye s'pose he's goin' out?"
Reckon 80, but faint lookin' much
out there on the bay. Gittin' a pesky
fog up, I'm thinkin'." And the old man
grunted at the foolshness of 1t. "Why
onct? O. late he's out on that stream
most o. his time"
"SpOse he wants to git married." sug-
gested the companion, cutting a large
section of the chip with contemptu-
GUS flourish OF the knife. Hes an
other one o. these DANCED fules. But
these youngsters won't listen to no rea-
son. There's that Teller breakin' his
back summer an winter, sunshine an
bad weather, come better or worse, all
SOS he can scrape enough together to
buy peck o. trouble"
~ can't understand It." said the old
man, smoking UP on his pipe.
well, can see through It in q way"
admitted the whittier meditatively,
"'cause when | was young an neces-
sarily foolish I had the same thing in
mind fer quite n spell, But Hank JOr-
dan-ye know Hank--well. he gotter
ahead o. me an married the woman.
Then | says to myself, I'll see what's
I'm this game, says I. So, by ling, Hank
starts In to make a Twin fer a family
o. two, me havin' a quiet, peaceable
time all the while, but fore he was
through he was wOrkin' like a plow
horse In muddy furrow, tryin' to
swim with six kids store bills on his
back. The on'y things had to owe fer
durin' that same spare q time was my |
terbaeker an one shirt, cause, yeknow,
I'm not hard on clothes. But Hank |
Jordan bought enough clothes to cover |
"A regiment, an while they'd be showIn' |
'em in the street Hank'd be sIttin' In |
the back yard, with bit o. chalk an |
board, tryin' to fgger out how to |
stave off the rent. | never could see |
the sense o II. In the las nine years |
I've on'y had the chilblaiHs an the |
quinsy, but Hank Jordan had every |
thing from humps to milk rash-not |
him, ye know, but them as he was
mainly responsible fer"
The man across the way tossed a
pair Of oyster tongs down into the
clean boat and whistled for ragged |
looking dog playing about the towns |
edge. Then. with It beside bin at the |
tiller. he ran up the small sail and
steered out into the mist OF the river
marshes. An hours run brought him |
over the lodges, where with sounding |
splash the stone anchor was dropped, |
aud down. down. down. went the hun
cry tongs for the first clutch. Down |
on the sandy lodges he hoped 10 find
his happiness and wrench II from the |
bottom. There was q scissorslike mo |
ton OF the long arms, q twisting, tear
ing, sucking grapple OF the teeth; then |
up. up, up, came the swaying poles, the |
water trickling back over the hands
that hauled. and with noisy clatter
the catch Of grlmy things was dumped
into the bont's bottom, and 10 OH
through The long day, sometimes star
ing stupldly out over the gray shifting
desert NJ passing steamer slowly
piodding up the channel or eylng In
silent wonder a yacht sweeping silent
~ ana swiftly by MS little craft.
~ was ID the AFTERNOON. The boat
was hair nlled with muddy shells
Lemine see, hegs," said the man.
Whats the date terdayf The lOthf
30 IL ~, Iaint agoin' 10 bH very long
now, hegs" lie slowly counted
NUMBER OF deep scratches upon the