Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-31
THE GOWNSMAN
How the Submarines Helped the Red Cross

INHE Gownsman Is settled, for the nonce,
i land creature that he is. on the edge of
the sea which laps and swishes idly dozen
yards away from him as he writes Before
him. some half mile off, rises a bank-it
would be called a cliff were there much stone
in ton the brow of which is comely
brown lighthouse, from the neighborhood of
which you may look out past promontory
or two to left and right to the open sea To
his right, as he sits here, pen in hand there
Is a picturesque little fresh-water pond in
which frogs croak by moonlight and terms
noisily rear their broods all day. To his left
lies a stretch of sea, bounded by the coast
line, a dozen miles away a stretch of water
which the sun gilds and the moon silvers,
which clouds make dapple gray and which
alternate strips of white sand ana potion
grass streak with blue and purple. This
shining stretch of water is the thoroughfare,
north and south, of those who go down to the
sea in ships.
ITO THE left, once more, and back Of your
i sedentary penman. lies the harbor-
down here they used to call 1t the Hole
extending back to little wooded hills and to
the small, gray town with its square church
tower painted as white as lighthouse, and
its rival dark spire-symbols of how freemen
may differ in the form of their theology,
however the spirit thereof may be at one.
Pretentious luxury has surged in even mere
to destroy the proportions OF things. There Is
villa" across the harbor which is nearly
as large the Seamen's Hospital on the
opposite side. and far more carefully calcu-
lated to give pause to the rowing eye a
wooded shore, nature wooded It, seen
across a little water may seem forested
height, but let some dsproportonate man
walk along the waters edge and pehoio! we
know that the trees in our forest are only
scrubby bushes and our height has fallen to
the dead level of things which we know. Ihe
pretentious luxury Of men In their EFFORTS 10
control, improve and alter nature changes
| ortt
imaginings of their own, and villas, bunga-
lows cottages" swollen into mansions and
nondescript structures dwarf the landscape,
a string of wooden incongruties on bright
thread of sand.
yT,HE harbor has been quiet but for the oc-
casional punk-a punk of fisherman S
boat going out or coming in sheet OF blue
| sea under summer sky but for the hltting
| of the white sail of a catboat and the four
| tall masts of that laggard schooner out there,
! which appears to have forgotten that there IS
| work to do in the world Even our busy
| little patrol boat, with its gun perked up
| sharp against the horizon. Its circlng sig
mailing anG hustle. can only be dimly seen,
| far out in the mist, lying to, PROV to the
wind.
| And now gradually the harbor begins to
| fill. Tug after tug comes In, each with his
string of barges and, footing his whistle, Is
answered in higher, shriller key, barge after
| or one after the other. The tug. after hover
| ing about to see his charges safe. makes Nst
| at a pier close by, tug siding up to tug until
| there are seven big stacks leisurely smoking
| in line, their days work completed. Now
| larger craft begin to gather, schooners OF
| three and four masts each furling sail as
| she comes up into the wind. topsails, jibs and
| mainsails in turn, coming to anchor In care
| fully selected remoteness We had seen a
| strange, larger steamer in tow in the morn
| ing, going north. She rode perilously high
out of the water for anything but calm
weather, listed oddly and was evidently
sadly in need of paint, There could be no
| mistake about 1t (; here she was headed back,
straight in, and she passed us to an anchor
| age far up toward the town.
| C&TILL bigger craft are now coming in
| y Ocean-going colliers, ships of burden
| built light at the ends and wide to store
| away large cargoes. Three, five. eight, a
dozen of them, some ingeniously camoufaged
/ but it becomes the Gownsman not to say
how-so that they looked dubiously like
something else--it becomes the Gownsman
fortunately, not to tell what ehe. There was
| garniture of red and white told her confidence
| boat the masts of which were placed In pair,
| nected over-decks with span. II was sait
4 that she was q putchman---that Will hsrdl,
Id. but we could ~ hardly ray tlzat she VA