The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1918-11-15

N A QUIET reach Of the
II Thames my friends house
boat Is tethered to two posts
AS If 1t never meant to go
away, Fullerton J. Waldo writes from
London to the Philadelphia Ledger.
Just above the mooring Mace the old,
gnarled Charon who for a penny plies
his trade has dug up ancient British
poetry and Roman spearheads in the
eei-nursing mud. But we did not now
require his professional service, for
across the river to meet us came like
shaft Of light his amateur rival.
("Rival," of course, II you run the
word back to Its origin, means one
| who dwells on the bank of a stream.)
| She was a girl with hair of bur-
nished gold bobbed and filleted, who
bent manwise to the oars, in her yell
low sweater and white skirt, nalad
Of the rushes who seemed to have ris-
EN- out Of the stream, Its own anthem
tic spirit.
The houseboat itself, white-painted.
held aloft under its striped canopy and
ever soft red rugs, a hanging garden
OF geranium baskets, with vines whose
tendrils delicately wavered on the soft
whisper Of the breeze. A clutter OF
canoes and punts gently fretted the
tionting platform below, as though
upon q river Of Cathay. In the living
room, radiant with violas and roses
end geraniums, the filmy snow OF the
curtains was parted by fireplace and
over It a clock restored the sense OF
time that elsewhere was pleasantly
1 / absent or negligible.
Met I Flying Man.
Two rallied gangways led ashore
and no sooner had put my modest
luggage aboard than to the shore we
went, to find the golf links close al
hand, where. the fat sheep grazed. A
young and debonair Englishman met
us there, and learned 70 my surprise
that he was accidental. He was
flying man, and something wrong with
the engine compelled him to volplane
down to paddock next the golf
course. "'Tis an i'll wind That has
blown me good" I thought, as l shook
hands with this Brushwood boy ange
unawares.
The larks were singing, and paused
often with cleek or lofter In midail
to hear the sound think care more
for George Meredith's Lark Ascend
ing" than do for Shelley's "unpremedi
tated" singer, but IL had to choose
between them would take them both
! IF acCfQ
rom such little bird! And he pres
emily went off lit seemed) in company
with q disreputable troupe of sparrow
hawks, singing to them still. as ar
opera tenor might chant for com
pany of songless tramps. Can 1t bt
that an English links, with Paul Pot
ter cattle and Daubigny pools and vii
b lows round about, ever hears harsf
word over a golf ball sliced or stymiet
or in obstinate hiding?
Above us airplanes purred and wer'
vigilant increasingly. And in my hear
| blessed them, and with my hant
/ waved them greetings that l hop
they saw. In a single group on tn
way to the links l had beheld sevel
captive sausage" balloons-as thong
r. benevolent constitutional monarch
had sent all these things that plat
American might have an afternoon G
sport What close neighbors are tn
implements OF war and of peace
. the old world todayi
We walked back to the boat, throug
4 a garden plot brimming with blue v
Q olas, and there was tiny cemeter
L with more vfolas in glass on til
9 grave OF a cygnet born the day befor'
3 Mother Bird Had Done Murder.
c Then we met the mother bird, tn
d murderess. In stately circles she We
swimming round the boat. swa
more lovely to look upon than an
that bore Lohengrin and heard HI
tributary song.
The day before four cygnets WEI
tatched out. Three Of them were wit
her now-the fourth, she had decide
u with an unrufied calm I doubt no
9 vas one too many. So she had slal
o It, TRANQUILITY enough the bereave
. family was taking It's outing-so soc
. after the funeral
Father was the advance guard, III
a cruiser bringing in transpo
ship and lesser craft. Two gra
{. fun balls were on the mothers bac
+ In a warm cradle deep and soft b
= tween her wings. They arched an
( stretched their necks as they saw hi
doing, and took In all the view, an
petred over the side with q remarl
able air of detachment at their sma