Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-20

be. seen and heard in an evening
on either the ]. S. or st. Paul
steamers on the Mississippi river
appeared recently in the feature
section Of the st. Louis Republic:
AS an adventure it's well worth
| the so cents plus the jitney war
| tax-moonlight thrown in free
while as a study of human nature
the embryo novelist can collect
enough local color any night to
fill a volume
There was time before the days
of the war and high prices when
the boat excursions on the Missis-
sippi were not as popular as they
are these days and nights, when
everybody didn't go and the young
man who spent several evenings a
| week on the river boats was re-
ferred to behind his back as SOW
ing his oats"
But whatever stigma might once
have been attached to the "excur-
sioning" there is no question but
that it is one of St Louis happiest
pastimes today. Everybody's do
ing it, to use the words Of the song,
wants to go again.
There are two big modern boats,
the ]. S. and the St Paul, making
nightly trips up and down the
river, and one is as fertile a field
as the other for the student of hui
man nature or the youthful ones
in search of romance.
Father, mother, brother-most
always with somebody else's sis
ter, of course-and sister with
some other sisters brother, opti-
mist and pessimist, crouch and
philanthroPist, broker and plumber
sit about the decks in democratic
proximity and get acquainted be-
fore the trip is over.
There is no room for snobs on
the river boats and the man or
woman who objects to rubbing
shoulders or having his or her feet
stepped on occasionally had bet
ter stay at home.
Boats Are Cosmopolitan.
AS cosmopolitan as Paris, the
decks Of the pleasure craft are
great places to get acquainted and
no one need be lonely who isn't
tongue tied. If you can't dance
you can still belong to the party,
although you may find yourself
holding half a dozen girls hats
while their owners are WhirIing
about the dance floor And no
man can look dignified hugging a
stack of millinery while his best
girl is jazzing about in the arms of
the bank clerk who lives on the
next corner and is doing his best
to cut you out with the wistful
blonde who lives in the next house
but one from you. You would like
to tell her that she dances too
much, but you don't. There's
something about the river atmos-
phere that makes for good sports
manship, so you resolve to take
your medicine in silence and Incl
dentally IeGrn to dance in time for
next season.
Often boat parties are i'm
promptu because there isn't much |
planning and packing to do for
that kind of a water trip. The
agreement usually is: Meet me
at the levee." Long before boat
time little groups are gathered at
the foot of Washington avenue |
scanning eagerly each passer-by in |
search of George" or 'Al' or MA |
RE" And somebody always misses |
the boat, as it has always been and |
always will be, so all your party |
can do is to join in the generous l
laugh that goes the rounds as the |
absent one comes running down
the levee just as the gangplank has
been raised and the boat glides |
into stream.
Dance Floor the Magnet.
The dance floor is the magnet |
that attracts all for a time and !
some for all the time and it's a |
question of who works the hardest, |
the stokers, the dancers or the |
negro jazz band seated to one side |
on a platform which brings the |
heads of the players perilously /
close 1to the roof. The band, how
ever, has an electric fan to tickle |
the atmosphere in competition
with the slide trombone and the
tuba
There's always a crowd ready to
watch people work and the band |
draws a capacity audience of the
indolent ones who don't take kind /
ly to the more strenuous exercises
on the dance floor. The stokers
are a second rate show as a draw
ing card. Reason: It's warm
enough on the rest of the boat and
the sight of coal isn't the thing the
river excursionists are after. They
want to forget the II. C. L. and
life's similar annoyances-at least,
the young folks do and they are
the only ones who do much explor-
ing about the vessel.
Their elders sit about in groups
in the deck rockers and while
away the hours in gossip, relaxing