The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-08
BOATING TRIP ON l. HISTORIC POTOMAC Has Its Pleasures as Well
 as DiscomfOrts BEACH A DELUSION Bathing Girls Do Not Look any thing Like Beautiful Pictures
 That Are Printed on the
 Railway Folders
n. WALTER HARPER

Washington, September 7.-(Special.) Three taps from the bell, snort blast from the deep voiced whistle and the :; big excursion steamer backs noiseless- l. ly into the broad Potomac, faces down stream and glides away.
 Two thousand people, men, women and children are aboard They are gathered from all classes. Some are professional men. some are business men with their families. There are clerks from the departments in the red eral government. There are laborers and store clerks. There are men and women of leisure.
 All ase seeking one days diversion from their several occupations or sur roundings of monotony in the big city.
 The steamer is one of the biggest on the river and it Is loaded with jolly mob from the lower deck to the pilot cabin on the roof. The morning is clear and crisp. The river is fine, a little swollen from recent heavy rains.
 The snore line, gradually widening as the steamer glides on it's way, is still green with here and there touch of
  On the right hand are the aristocratic valleys of old Virginia. On the left are the equally attractive hills and stretches of Maryland. Why the peo- pie living on the west side of the river are supposed to be better than those on the east side is something you fail to understand. Perhaps there is diff ference. If all the people who came from Virginia" were still there it would undoubtedly be the most populous state in the union.
 But you do look on the Virginia shore with a feeling of strange reverence. Perhaps it is sentiment after all And what would this life amount to with out its sentiment?
 Before the boat gets good headway you turn into the wharf at old Alexandria for few additional excursionists. Among these is a bevy of young girls, cheery and laughing. They greet friends from Wash ington, and are soon mingled with the crowd till they are all as one.
 Alexandria is an interesting old place, but you only get a passing impression from the river. You must get off there, spend day among the people and its
 
 place.
 But we will now glide on down the beautiful, historic Potomac, the most mo- table river from a historic point of view in the country
 little further down from Alexandria you pass in full view of Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington. The old home stands in a grove on point overlooking the river. If you are pa trotic and of course you are, you eX- perience a feeling of reverence as you look on the place for the first time. The spirit of the First Patriot, the liberator of the American people, seems to haunt the place. and you remove your hat for a moment in silent reverence.
 Up to few years ago the boats ply ing the river sounded their bells in knell as they passed the place, but the spirit of commerciaiism or characteristic indif- ference of constant familiarity has led to the neglect of this impressive custom.
 Now you must know Mount Vernon at sight or some one must point 1t out to you or it will be passed unnoticed.
 Beautiful homes and fine old planta tions dot the river banks on both sides all the way down to Colonial Beach. so miles below Washington. But the river widens rapidly and IS you hug one shore or the other. mainly the Maryland side. you can see but little more than an outline of white bank and green fringe on the other. At Colonial Beach the river is five or six miles wide tinguish a small thread of the Mary