Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-28
IN THE PLANK PARADE
Visitors Expressions at First
Sight of the Ocean.
THEY ARE SELDOM SUBLIME
Meeting of Old Friends on the Board
walk.
VANDERBILT AND HIS COACH
The Large Fat Man With the Over
sized Bun" Who Wanted Ride
Coach Was Full, Too.
Special cerrespoparncs Of rhe star.


ATLANTIC CITY. N. j., July u. 1906.
Folks come down here to see the sea. and
then turn their backs upon it. That is.
most OF them do. A few there are who
seek out the lonely spots on the Chelsea
and ventnor dunes and address themselves
to the study of the large. restless pool, It's
manifold changing hues. It's ever-varyiag
seething and tumbling
But the vast majority OF visitors here
seem to be barely conscious OF the near
adjacence. so to speak. OF the sea, except
when they go In 1t to battle
An experienced transportation man esti-
mates that some 10000 excursionists from
inland points visit Atlantic City every year
who have never before caught a glimpse
OF the sea-
1t might naturally be supposed that Tho
majestic old puddle would make a big hit
with these iandlocked folks. that they'd
warm up and enthuse over 1t i bit, and
at least toss It a few verbal bouquets be-
fore finally turning their backs upon IT,
as most of them do when they sit In the
pavilion to rubber at the clothes OF the
passing Boardwalk thron2s.
But, apparently, the sea doesn't get these
fandtocked ones going a particle. The an
swer may be that 1t is now the universal
American pose. among women well as
men, to seem blase. Even country folk
ana innapltAntS OF small villages nave
caught this trick, so that when they get on
the move among the big sights and scenes
of the land they are on their guard. es-
pecially when there are city people around
to refrain from any sort of manifestation
that might be taken for bucolic enthusia sm
few days ago / watched large bunch
of Ohio and West Virginia young people In
the act of getting their first view of the sea.
They got In about 10 o'clock at night on
four or five exclusively day-coach trains
run in sections In all kindness, they were
certainly as y-panky-looking lot OF
awkward and countryfied-seeming young
men and women as ever hit this Boardwalk.
One OF the excursion agents In charge of
the outfit told me that they were all from
very small towns and villages in their
states, and that only about a dozen OF
the entire party OF thousands had ever
clapped eye upon the ocean.
l stood at the junction of one of the
main streets with the Boardwalk when
about 500 of these excursioniSts assembled
the slanting planks, on the morning fol-
lowing their arrival, for their first peek at
old ocean.
Considered the Ocean a Fake.
Without exception. they all advanced to
the outside Boardwalk rail with the great
est imaginable stohdity. Not a word OF
enthusiasm from the HIPS OF one of them.
although the patch Of ocean that forenoon,
even TO one who has been somewhat up
handsome whipping In the brilliant sun
shine. the crests Of the breaking combers
bursting into millions of prisms from the
Still-Slanting beams, and the tumbling
masses of white foamy lace ehurnng in
with the ever-moving thin layer of green
at the verge. That very forenoon | had
seen old, Travelled men. some of them used
to the sight of all the seas for many years.
gaze with sparkling eyes out over the
scene so ever new and beautiful To them.
But these landlocked ones from the pent-
up interior Of Ohio and West Virginia Just
looked the old thing over with careless
indifferent and. in some instances, con-
temptuouS eyes.
1T hain't so much" I heard two or three
of the real smart young rural chaps say to
each other-they must have been smart for
didn't they wear those four-bit white
yachting caps that are now on sale in
every general country store as far west as
the Ohio river. and that are only worn at
this section of the seaside by excursonists
from that section of the country?
"Jes' a hull lot O. water" some of the
young women remarked. with upturned
noses of suDercilousness.
Cant see nothin' [ brag about in Il
was an ordinary remark from the detached
groups of excursionists leaning against the
rail. Don't come up { tn pictures seen
o it, nohow-where's them big waves
what's in tn pictures? It's a fake that's
what it is, jes like Niagara Falls. I went
t Niagara Falls two years ago, an it's a
fake-jes a lot of green water falIin' over
tn side o a hill"
9TH pictures always makes tn sea blue
or green. but this amt neither-it's kind O.
gray. hey?" observed one of the hyper
critical young women.
.Is that all the bigger the shipe is?'
queried one of the clever young fellows,
pointing out one of the small excursion
sailboats from the inlet that just then
tackled close to one of the piers. Huh! l
seen lots o. bigger catboats on tn Miami
river These pictures o. tn sea with big
ms mn hp fakes bpV7'' and a
good many of them seemed to really be-
lieve it.
But the Iandlocked ones are not the only
people visiting Atlantic City who adopt a
sort OF patroniZing, merely tolerant tone
toward the sea. Far be it from the writer
hereof to knock. but he is bound 10 relate
that he recently heard a Washington girl
who had never seen the sea before refer to
as 1t can be" when she caught her first
view of the ocean on her arrival here re-
Gently.
Even that however, wasn't SO bad as
conversation l overheard between a gay
looking young fellow and his girl who got
down with one of the tremendous excursion
punches from Philadelphia on Saturday
evening last. They were on the Boardwalk
within about eight minutes after they'd
hit the Atlantic City railroad station
Hey, Mag, the young fellow observed
to his girl when they reached the planks
and looked out over the amethystine sea.
1.-THE old wallow looks like the candy this
evenin', eh?"
aAll TO the mustard replied the girl
Talking about mustard. Pete, take me
somewheres where we can git Swiss
cheese sandwich and bottle o beer. will
you?" and they were their way down
one of the side streets for the suggested
rejection just two seconds after the girl
had made her little speech.
A Meeting on the Boardwalk.
There's saying down here that at one
time or another the whole world trudges
the Atlantic City Boardwalk. And there's
a good deal in the saying.
Ten years ago last February a certain
Washington man was down-and almost
out-with coast or Chagres fever In one or
the most miserable places on the habitable
giobe-La Libertad. Salvador. on the Pacific
ocean
certain old haif-Spanish priest down
there was mighty kind to the Washington
man during his long Illness and GONZALES
cence. without any particular reason why
he should have been 50 kind He nursed
the Washington man with the tenderness
of a woman, encouraged him. read TO him
when the< deIirfum was over and the con-
g. stIN trI