The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-11-06
VOYAGE DOWN THE RIVER.


! The first thing that 1 can remem-
: Der is that boy had me in his hand
and that he, with a jackknife, fash
!oned me a little sail of birch bark.
He then took me and put me in the
water and made me go wherever he
wanted me, by means of stick.
The waves as they went frolicking
oy called to me to come and play with
them. I tried to run after them, but
every time the stick brought me back.
[ tried again and again to go after
them, but the old stick still kept me.
Finally a great hand reached out
after me and picked me up. But l
heard a dear little wave call, Come,
) come and play with me, and We'll
have some fun" and 1t called in such
plaintive way that I could not re-
sist; so 1 fell out of the hand and
, went down the river with the wave
before the stick could catch me.
The wave dashed a bit of spray
over my deck, and said: 81 am aw-
fully glad you came with me; where
do you wish to go?" 1 said, as the
wind puffed up my sail: Il don't
care where go, as long as 1 am with
you." "Thank you," said the wave,
as she lifted me lightly over a pebble.
Il do hope I'm going fast enough for
you"
"Oh, yes," said.
"Well, I'm going faster STILL" 1t
said.
"Oh, don't" 1 managed to say.
The wave went on with me, but 1t
tad to mind the great current, and,
as the current was going slow, the
wave had to go slow, also.
Now the chip had time to look
about it. Here is the description of
what 1t saw:
I now was carried past a vast for
est and the murmuring trees whls-
pered to the brook and to me-
Three little lambs came down to
drink at the little brook. AS l sailed
past them, I heard one of them say
to another: "See the little chip that
goes sailing by. 1 wish 1 were having
sail like that. What fun it must
be!"
The scenery was beautiful. I sailed
past some rushes now, and in them
sat family of frogs. "Croak, croak, )"
cried the father. See, children, see
the little chip boat that sails by US.
Look at her little sail. See" and
then my wave carried me past them,
and 1 heard no more.
The pretty little flowers beside the
brook nodded they pretty heads to
me as 1 sailed by them; the grasses
that hung over the water brushed
my sail gently, and the wind famed
by me with his breath, that smelled
sWeetly of fresh wild flowers.
We now came to some stones and a
little girl in a pink dress was going
across the brook with basket in her
hand When she saw me she cried:
"Oh, what a pretty little boat!" and
she reached out after me, lost her
footing and fell into the water. There
was big gurgle that came from the
basket, and liquid poured out of it.
The water at once became discolored.
I bumped into an eggshell, turned
aTOuuQ IWlCS dHu llCH SdlISu oll
never saw anything more of the little
girl.
A beautiful dragon-f1y came and
took sail on me. 1t had the love
liest wings that 1 ever saw. They
We're of a beautiful blue tinge, and
oh! they were so light and gauzy. He
sailed along with me for quite little
while and then flew away.
My wave carried me along for quite
a little way further, and then he
gently said "Goodby," pushed me into
a gentle eddy and was gone.
1 sailed around and around for a
long, long while, and then the eddy
shot me into little harbor between
two rocks, where the water was very
smooth and the bottom was very
sandy, so now I am content to listen
to the gentle whisperings of the
leaves of a large maple tree above
me.
And 1 do feel so happy that IA
chip boat-could be carried down a
river and come to such nice resting
place as this at last.-Mary Esther
Oaks, in the Brooklyn Eagle.