THE LAKE 59 



come and go. They must have found altruistic 

 refreshment in the knowledge that somewhere 

 there was relief from the heat, for they could have 

 found but little comfort from the slight breeze 

 that blew over the river. On the dock at the end 

 of the bridge was a crowd, eager to embark, but 

 these were women and children; women of all 

 ages and conditions, and arrayed in all possible 

 styles, from the sternly nautical to the purely 

 decorative. 



I have never been able to take a large concourse 

 of women as seriously as one of my sex and calling 

 should. There is always a ludicrous incongruity 

 about it, to which men are particularly alive. Re- 

 cently I have had this feeling explained to my own 

 satisfaction. It is due to the entire lack of that 

 uniformity in appearance which a gathering of 

 men presents. How, pray, can a high-heeled 

 maiden in trailing lace and chiffon and plumed 

 picture hat possibly be of one mind with a matron 

 of the broad-soled, short-skirted, severely tailor- 

 made variety? 



Interspersed in the crowd were a few men, not 

 real men perhaps, but still men, prevailed upon 

 by great love or fear you could generally tell 

 which by the expression of the woman who had 

 him along to brave the feminine jam. 



