The Washington times., 1909-09-18
BIG WATER PAGEANT
PROVES ATTRACTIVE
Crowds Line Banks of Pc
tomac to Witness Spec
tacular Regatta.

From the time when some colonist
came along TO the place where the
Aoueduct bridge now stands. found that
the country looked good and started tile
town of George, to the day when some
poet or statesman or ordinary sentry.
looking out over the river from the
squat. Spidery structure Of the Long
bridge, made the famous remark that
"All's quiet along the Potomac tonight -
The green-vellow-black stream has seen
some strange sights, crawling fiatboats,
Indian canoes, ships under full sail,
armies of blJe-clad soldiers and OF
brown but today's spectacle promises
TO beat them all in uniGueness.
Many Types Entered.
Torpedo boats that can beich unseen
destruction to a c0.O00-ton sea ieviathan
= thousand yards away, clad in the
dress Of peace; big war canoes hlled
with lusty-lunged and lithe-limbed ath-
letes; paper shells that cut the water;
ordinary one-man canoes; power boats
that make enough noise to drown a
battery of inch guns: rowboats that
resemble in construction and appear
ance the Ark; sailboats, every old kind
of craft. in fact. that any respectable
river like the Potomac ever saw, were
on the Job this morning ready to par
ticipate IN the carnival which began
at noon and viii end with the process
sior on the water and fireworks dis
play in Potomac Park tonight.
Every enthusiastic waterist who eX-
. pected to participate In fact in the car
nivsI today hoped for good weather.
and from the manner in which Willis
- adj
ear to the asphalt for many hours.
Today dazyned practically perfect for
a water carnival. little breeze, no clouds,
a sky that couldn't be bluer II it tried,
and a river not too low, too muddy, or
too clear.
Spectators Arrive.
Long before the dme for the regatta
10 begin. the stroke Of Z, people began
10 wander down to Potomac Park. From
away up where the shore line swings
over toward the dunes of Dixie. hiding
brewery. a gas works, and other
things, to the daddy-long-legs structure
OF the Highway bridge a mile below,
the spectators spread out in little groups
over the grass. Many were on the
ground as early as 1890. and every cal
ard every minute, because everyone
On the bridge. with its thousand feet
of concrete floor high above the racers
hundreds Of other people, mostly young
at that hour. found places from which
they could view the pageant or what
ever Il was that was coming along
down the smooth. calm-looking. old riv-
er. The wordly-blessed came down over
Seventeenth street and around the curV-
ed smooth driveway In motors, big, lit
lie old Wheezy. and disreputable. OF
- ~-utc nd hrr In
ND where the police told them and view
ed the things as they were from ton
neaus and rumbles. and common or gar
der variety OF seats.
Start at Noon.
Major sylvester, much interested in
the spectacle and the regatta, had al
the police details arranged. and th'
crowds Of the morning and early after
noon were handled expeditiously and
saneIy. The races began at u o'clocl
and last for practically FIVE hours. Tn
course was guarded by police boats an,
. revenue cutters. The finishing OF tn
course was marked by torpedo boats
destroyers. an excursion steamer OF two
and the Apache, a revenue cutter
The races were single. double, fou
anz eight-oared shells. There were war
canoe races. with seventeen warriors
in each canoe single canoe races, whale
boat affairs. gigs. cutters. etc. From
$50 20 o'clock there will be an inter
mission during which the four band
will play and those who have brUush
food viii eat and those who haven
will not. At o'clock will come tn
dance of the nations in which severa
hundred school children, trained 70
weeks, will participate. About this tim
Old King Cole viii make his appearance
with his pipe and his bowl, his jeste
and hddlers. just as ne might step dow
any day at the FOrty-secOnd Stree
Country Club in New York. Ten trum
peters from Fort Myer will precade hi
majesty down Pennsylvania avenue q
the Capitol and then back again to tn
starting point near Fourteenth street
The king will then he tally-hOed 10 hi
throne IN Potomac Park
At o'clock the water pageant will be
gin. Canoes decorated with flags. bunt
Ing. etc. with flowers. women. and othe
beautiful things will pass down the rive
TO the turning point and then back par
way. At O'Clock will come the displa,
Of PAINS fireworks. which the pres
agents and demonstrators say is abou
the best that ever came down the F. b
& W.