The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-04

mind is more in order, / shall give You
niled-ln picture Of our life at RowI.
Ger Crest, but at present must ATTEMPT
put Scanty sketch. l shall not now
describe the various recreations on
land-golf, tennis and squash-in /
which the company INDUCED, for it is
with the water my experiences chiefly
relate. In a little cove on the shelter
ed side of the point as many as a.
dozen yachts were anchored, some be-
longing to the hosts, some to the
guests, and in addition there were
numberless small craft of may odd
shapes and designs some for sailing,
some for rowing. In, ON, around, and
L may say under and over, these
yachts and various other craft, the life
of the. several house parties chiefly
conferred, and there was continual in
tercourse between the yachts and the
landing; sometimes by means of row.
boats manned by uniformed sailors
and sometimes by little sailing craft,
or by pretty motor boats, and again
even by swimming. A party of us
We're down at the bath house, built on
the deck. of an old wreck, when Miss
Frances said to me: Can you really
swim p You do not play golf, polo, ten
mis-, squash, nor do you yacht. If you
swim let me show you off,
ne 4reUldTk. rather confused me, as
3 it had not occurred to me that / lackedi
in any of the accomplishments of the
society my wealth and education places
me in. Therefore, was pleased to
think of what a powerful swimmer I
am.
Surely Ireplied, 81 swim. Let us
swim out to the yacht" Miss Frances
looked atsme as if doubtful of my sim +
cerity, so to prove it I dived off and
CHI
We boarded one yacht by it's landing
steps and maid enveloped Frances in
warm bath robe. I felt some little
pride in having our feat highly praised.
Nothing but yachting was talked of by
the party assembled on the afterdeck,
and | determined to secure boat of
some sort at once in order not at all
times to feel SO wholly out of the run
ming, as the saying is.
That afternoon quietly hurried over
to a fishing village not far up the coast
and promptly made known my wish to
an ancient mariner I found on the
wharf looking out to sea with one eye
and narrowly regarding me with the
other. When 1 made known to him my
desire to purchase a sailboat he
brought both eyes to bear on me, adj
justed his trousers band with both
hands, spat to the right, then to the
left and at last slowly remarked: well,
sir, some men be lucky. Eff you be
looking for a tried and true, regular
old style Yankee sloop as hez proved
herself at everything from Holsters to
lime, come with me-"
The craft he showed me seemed much
in need of a bath, in spite of the fact
that she was quite as wet inside as out,
but my seafaring friends assured me
that with new sails and coat of paint
she would be as handsome as a cup
defender and probably as fast. 1 was
impatient to become private yacht
owner, SO l closed a bargain, and the
ancient mariner offered to sail me back
to BoWlder Crest Cove. AS to the
boats sailing qualities I have no
knowledge, for was so franticallN
busy pumping all the way I needed
nothing except my rapidly blistering
hands. But as we entered the cove
heard much comment shouted through
megaphones by gentlemen on the an
chored yachts, such as Two to one
she sinks before she beaches!n Hill
there Noah, where are you going, over
land?" This last remark was suggest
ed by the fact that at that instant we
grounded heavily on the beach. There
was shiver, a shake. gentle signing
of old timbers, and my craft seemed to
shrink and collapse. The mariner
jumped overheard and waded ashore,
saying, Never thought she'd get here,
but the price was worth the risk"
All the guests from the cottages
gathered to inspect my purchase,
which, having been beached at high
tide we could soon walk around dry
shod, and there were many expressions
of wonder that the skipper had man
aged to fetch her so far from her an
cient resting place. 1 felt some chagrin
as learned that my purchase had long
been an object of curious interest as
the oldest and craziest craft afloat, but
before l revealed the object of it's pur-
chase I heard Frances say to me with
a meaning accent: 1T was so kind Of
you to risk your life to supply our
beach with a wreck 1t is so very pic
turesque, and we have always wanted
one, but no one before ever thought of
this PLAN"
/ saw that she had said this to pro-
tect me from ridicule and to make a
hero of me, and 1 attempted, perhaps
with some feeling, to thank her, but
she interrupted me by exclaiming: "Oh,
greater freshness than yours has been
sailed by clever womani" Then she
ran away. Now, what could she have
meant, Uncle Silas? What could she
have meant? Affectionately,
Reuben.