DRAGGING THE SEINE. 143 



forwarded to the spring to be cared for by the ladies ; and 

 now, as we crawled, weary and dripping, forth to dress our- 

 selves, under the protecting bank, we blessed our stars that 

 this " fun " was over, and that our expectant Houries had 

 something more substantial on hand awaiting us than am- 

 brosia. 



Our hurried toilets made as best we might, we found our 

 way to the scene of anticipated reward, guided thither by 

 the smell of cooking fish, which " burdened all the air " with 

 an aroma far more luscious to us now in our ravenous mood 

 than that of all the flowers we had crushed in our morning 

 ride. 



Every one must remember, that long exposure to the 

 effects of cold water is apt to provoke a most unpoetical ap- 

 petite. Ah ! how genial was the merry greeting we received 

 how romantic seemed the flushed cheeks of our cooking 

 belles, and when fairly seated on the green sod for our table, 

 how far more ethereal seemed their light forms than the Pa- 

 gan Houries, as partly enwreathed in the smoke of Jim's 

 great fire, they received from his lordly hand the steaming 

 dishes, and bore them with divinest smiles, and fingers rose- 

 tipped, like those of so many auroras, by the heat, to place 

 them before us ! Ah ! tell it not to heathens what a Para- 

 dise was thus made for us of that scene, or all Christendom 

 will surely be in danger from overrunning hordes of Infidels 

 seeking to realize this suprcmest mundane bliss the Dinner 

 at a Fish Fry ! 



