The Penn's Grove record., 1905-05-05
HOPE CREEK
A Dismal Country. A Rip Van
Winkle Arrived.

W1nkIG hrrlFeU.
l promised in my last article to the RE
CORD, that | would give the dark side OF
pessimistic view, and perhaps the truer
view OF Hope Creek.
OF all the barren, a~bominable, God
forsaken places for mankind to live, ou1
camp is the worst, and the lonely shores
of far off Labrador, or the dense jungles
of darkest Africa, are as Paradise or the
Garden of Eden, compared with it. You
are isolated from all civilization and civ
ilizing% influences, ard, if you should stay
here continuously for twelve months,
you would degenerate into a nonenity OF
deteriorate into a savage, and would then
be below par, classified on a savage
standard basis. We are three to four
miles from the mainland, and can only
see real trees at that distance, and the
only vegetation is a tough, hard marsh
grass. The animal life consists of a few,
half starved, lean, lank, hairy, ill-kept
muskrats. The surroundings are horri-
BILE. If you step off your cabin deck,
you will go into mud up to your knees,
and you will have a hard time getting
clear of the filth and corruption, and
when the weather becomes warm the ali
is poisonous from stagnant water stand
ing in pools on the marsh. l forgot to
state that there is another important
factor in the animal kingdom, and that
is the mosquito, for when the weather
becomes warm, they breed by the mil
lions, and so thick and fast, that they
form a cloud and you cannot see the sun,
and they have been known to make it so
cloudy that the nets put out to dry on
the poles, would not dry because of the
mosquitoes obstructing the suns rays
from the net.
FISHIN PROFITS FAIR.
Fishing has been remarkably good, and
the week when it blew SO hard, most OF
the fishermen only fshed 3 days out OF
the whole week, and then cashed 500 to
$3.50 for the week as there was a run OF
shad on. One man on Wednesday CASH
ed owe 500 and we were fortunate
enough on Thursday to cash $40 for the
n day. There are about rs boats fish
ing from this camp, about 20 more than
usual.
RIP A wINKLE RETURNS.
An event occurred last week of which
it will be well to speak of. About 3
o'clock in the afternoon, a strange look
ing object was seen out in the bay, and
it was approaching the creek slowly. A
crowd quickly gathered and we went
down to the point, that extends the
fatherest out into the bay. There was a
great deal of wagering and speculation,
as to what the strange object was. Some
said it was a huge bird for it had great
white Tapping things, that looked like
wings. Others said it was a sea-serpent
and advised us to flee to salty, while
others, holder than the rest, advised us
to await its approach, which advice we
took.
1t was now very near to us and the
part that rested OH the water, looked not
unlike our boats of the present day, but
what was those two tall Tapping things,
was the general query, and as it got quite
close to us, we saw a man sitting in the
stern guiding the boat and another man
sitting zeal the front part of the boat,
for such We now called it.
1t had now been run ashore and we all
gathered around the strange looking OBJ
ject and speaking to the man in the stern
as the captain, as he proved to be, asked
him where he hailed from? What waG
it he was in and who he was himself?
He seemed surprised at our questioning
and curiosity In looking over the boat,
and he said everything looks different,
and asked if to-day was not Thursday,
and we told him it was Friday, 81, 1905.
"Whatl" he exclaimed, "you are mis-.
taken. This is 1904, myself and compan.
ion started away yesterday to go fishing,
and it being stormy, We sailed to a
strange looking island and slept there