Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-31

l
| posa Belle was bedecked with
| flags to start off on that fate
| full morning, her occupants little
| dreaming of what was to happen be-
| fore night.
The boat was due to leave at 7.
There was no doubt about the hour
not only Z, but sharp. The notice In
| the Newspacket said: THE boat Will
leave sharp at ~; and the advertising
posters on the telegraph poles on Mis-
sinaba street that began "Ho, for In
dams Island." ended up with the
words: Boat leaves at sharp" There
was a big notice on the wharf that
said: Boat leaves sharp on time"
Scat Z, right on the hour, the whis-
tie blew loud and long; and then at
| 7:15, three short peremptory blasts;
and at 1880, one quick angry call-Just
| one-and very soon after that they
cast off the last Of the ropes and the
| Mariposa Belle sailed off i'm her cloud
| Of flags. and the band of the knights
| of Pythias, timing it to nicely.
broke into 1.-THE Maple Leaf for Ever!
/ suppose that all excursions when
they start are much the same. any
way, on the Mariposa Belle everybody
went running up and down all over
| the boat with deck chairs and camp
splendid places to sit, and then got
scared that there might be better ones
and chased off again.
People hunted for places out or the
sun, and when they got them sWore
that they weren't going to freeze to
please anybody; and the people IN
the sun said that they hadn't paid so
cents to be roasted. Others said that
they hadn't paid so cents to get COW
cred with cinders, and there were still
others who hadn't paid so cents to get
shaken to death by the propeller.
Still, 1t was all right presently. The
people seemed to get sorted out into
| the places on the boat where they be-
| longed. The women, the older ones, all
gravitated into the cabin on the lower
deck and by getting round the table
with needlework, and with all the VIM
dows shut, they soon had 1t. as they
said themselves, just like being at
home.
All the young boys and the toughs
and the men in the band got down on
the lower deck forward where the
boat was dirtiest and where the anchor
was and the coils of rope.
And upstairs on the afterdeck
there were Lillian Drone and Miss
Lawson, the high school teacher. with
a book of German poetry-Gothey,
think it was-and the bank teller and
the younger men.
In the center, standing beside the
rail. were Dean Drone and Dr. Gal
lagher. looking through binocular
Up in front on the little deck for
ward of the pilot house was group
of the older men, Mullins and Duff
and Mr. Smith in deck chair, and be-
i side him Mr.. Bingham, the undertaken
of Mariposa, on a stool.
/ Down the lake, mile by mile over
the calm water, steamed the Mari
| posa Belle. They passed Poplar Point
where the high sandbanks are. with
all the swallows nests in them, and
(; Dean Drone and DIR. Gallagher looked
| at them alternately through the
binocular glasses, and DR.. Gallagher,
who knew Canadian history, said to
Dean Drone that it was strange to
think that Champlain had landed
there with his French explorers 300
years ago, and Dean Drone. who didn't
know Canadian history. said 1t was
stranger still to think that the hand of
the Almighty had piled up the hills
and rocks long before that. and Dr.
Gallagher said it was wonderful how
! the French had found their way
J through such painless wilderness, and
| Dean Drone said that it was Won
derful also to think that the Almighty
had placed even the smallest shrub In
it's appointed place. DIR. Gallagher said
1t filled him with admiration. Dean
Drone said 1t filled him with awe. DR..
Gallagher said he'd been full of 1t
ever since he was a boy. and Dean
| Drone said so had he.
| Then a little further, as the Mari.
posa Belle steamed on down the lake,
they passed the Old Indian Portage.
where the great gray rocks are. and
DR.. Gallagher said that 1t was just here
that party of 500 French had made
their way with all their baggage and
accouterments across the rocks of the
! divide and down to the Great Bay.
And Dean Drone said that 1t reminded
him of Xenophon leading his 10000
Greeks over the hill passes OF Ar
| menia down to the sea. DIR. Gallagher
said that he had often wished he could