Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-31

Quoted somewhere to be made fit to do some
thing for the nation. High out of the water,
shabby her list is to starboard, not to port.
Who can say oh ye carpers Of Boston, that
the Middle West is not doing her part?
WHAT could it all be about, this hetero-
w geneous concourse, in this, our modest
little harbor, somewhere in America? And
now rumor began to fly. But the GownSman
will not repeat unlikely rumors. especially
as the reality, as all now know, turned out
to be even more unlikely" than the rumors.
Our valiant enemy, the ineffabie exponent of
efficiency, had sent a submarine 1000 miles,
it appears, to shell an American tug and. to
send to Davy Jones two empty towboats and
third filled with stone From the staging
Of this deed of derring-do 1t may be surmised
that 1t had deep ulterior purpose which
could have been none other than the terrify-
ing of the summer boarder. But 1t takes
great deal to terrify the American brand of
summer boarder and even more to frighten
an American boy of ten. The boarders rocked
In their chairs on porches, tanning away the
flies and mosquitoes, wearily waiting for the
valorous gunners to hit something. An hour
and half of German diligence at length
accomplished this difficult feat. The three
barges were finally sunk, the tug set on fire,
the iron crosses achieved. AS for the Ameri-
can boy, he waved his little American flag
with the shrapnel falling about him and until
daddy called him Off All this was just over
your, Gownsman's horizon. Had he been
preternaturaly forewarned he might have
listened to the Teutonic popguns.
LNROM our harbor full we had not noticed
l. it, but one of the tugs had slipped away.
And next day we were summoned to the
porches by sudden pandemonium of whis-
ties broken loose, pipings of tugs deep fog
horns of the larger vessels and puny whis-
Ting from even the barges. all saluting two
tugs in stately progress down the harbor
lashed side to side, the rescuer, spick and
span, the rescued, battered but not limping,
with holes from shell and shrapnel in stack,
deck and sides, her wooden superstructure
burned away and most of her paint scorched
off, but untouched below the waterlne and
at her masthead proudly floating Old Glory.
She is now tied up at the wharf for inspec-
ton and incidentally is earning money for
the Red Cross from patriots and curiosity
seekers, sometimes combined in person.
The sun shines through into her coal bunk
ers, but her engines were almost untouched.
Three brave men who were injured her
| are recovering from their wounds, and rumor
even reports that the wreckers are already
raising the submerged stone barges,
THE Gownsman noticed three little gamins
L on the street day. The eldest was
about twelve, the second ten, the third was
mere baby. The big boy, we will assume
for good reason, cuffed number two. We will
| assume that he stood in loco PARENTS to him /;
] possibly he was both mother and father.
Number two thereupon looked at number one
| ruefully measuring his size and forthwith
| turned to the baby and passed the cuff
with interest But you can't whip the big
| boy by beating the baby; and even the baby
won't cry