176 



RECREATION. 



other. It seemed impossible, that we were 

 not in the grasp of a mighty tempest. 



"Here it springs over ledges exultingly. 

 Breaks into foam and goes merrily drifting 

 And lilting and leaping and plunging and shifting 

 From color to color, as if they were dyes 

 Of all marvellous tints where it flashes and flies. 

 Here it lifts the stout prow that encounters it, sways it, 

 With terribly masterful will that betiays it 

 Almost to disaster and death: here you feel 

 A quick shiver ol fear course along the boat's keel. 

 Till it struggles with pain like a person and shudders 

 With live apprehension, and writhes in the rudder's 

 Strong hold, and leaps forward at length as if greeting 



" The moment of mastery .... 



for here 



You may sail with the sky bending over you clear 

 As a crystal, the winds in Euroclydon's caves 

 All asleep, and yet meet as wild tempest as raves 

 When the demon of storm his black anger has hurled 

 O'er the waters, and God has forgotten the world." 



This was written by one who had made 

 the passage in one of the big river steam- 

 ers. Imagine, then, our sensations when 

 our little 20-footer was shaken as a lion 

 might shake a mouse. 



After the Split Rock, the Cascade rapid, 

 though wild and dangerous, seemed tame 

 and commonplace. It was quickly and 

 safely passed, and we swept out on the 

 placid bosom of Lac St. Louis, having 

 made the 13 miles of rapids in about 50 

 minutes. 



There, after an exciting chase, we caught 

 a tow on the fly behind a train of huge 

 barges being towed by a big tug at fast 

 freight speed. It was like boarding a mov- 

 ing railroad train, only more so, and corre- 

 spondingly exciting. 



Our tow took us in to the foot of the 

 newly completed Soulanger canal, the big 

 ship waterway that carries downstream all 

 the craft that do not care to risk running 

 the rapids, and that lifts all the shipping 

 going up river on that side. As we lay 

 lost in the immensity of the locks, the 

 Kingfisher's flagstaff, just showing above 

 the lock gates, or were towed slowly up 

 the long levels, sometimes with the help of 

 a friendly steamboat or tug captain, once, 

 at .least, by playing donkey (not the first 

 time, perhaps) and doing our own tow- 



ing, I became deeply interested in the pub- 

 lic spirit displayed by the Dominion Gov- 

 rnment in building and beautifying this 

 splendid waterway, at a cost of $15,000,000. 

 It is one of the finest examples of engineer- 

 ing science and builders' art it has ever 

 been my good fortune to see ; and the work 

 of the landscape gardener is not neglected. 

 The banks are grassed as carefully as a 

 park; fine trees are being set out at regu- 

 lar distances on both sides ; and electric 

 lighting apparatus, supported on ornamen- 

 tal iron posts, gives it the trim appearance 

 of a city boulevard. It is robbed of the 

 ugliness characteristic of all the other arti- 

 ficial waterways with which I am acquaint- 

 ed. In it beauty and utility are splendidly 

 combined. 



It took us 5 hours to climb back to the 

 point from which we had slid in an hour. 

 It was 8 o'clock when we reached Coteau 

 Landing behind the mail steamer. There 

 we made the mistake of casting off our 

 tow line and attempting to go it alone; for 

 with a light wind almost dead ahead, we 

 had hard work beating up to windward the 

 10 miles to camp. Once we tried to catch a 

 tow in mid-river ; but our good luck failed 

 us. The wind died down just in time to 

 lose it by a minute. 



For a little we helped things along with a 

 good ash breeze; then the night wind be- 

 gan to blow fresh, and with a long leg and 

 a short one we really began to eat into the 

 miles that separated us from home. 



It was ghostly business, sailing by the 

 dim starlight, with only the lap-lapping of 

 the waves alongside, and the occasional 

 ominous snap of the tightening sail over- 

 head as the wind freshened. The way was 

 long and we were tired, hungry and sleepy. 

 I thought of those old fishermen on Genes- 

 saret, and how they "toiled all nighl, the 

 wind being contrary." We had nearly 

 done so ; but at last, with faithful old Gren- 

 adier on guard far behind us, we made fast 

 to the home dock at Port Lewis, tired but 

 happy in the possession of a unique expe- 

 rience. 



Teacher — How many zones has the 

 earth ? 



Johnnie — Four ; the frigerated, the hor- 

 rid, the temperance, and the intemperance. 

 — Exchange. 



