112 



NATUKAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



PENIKESE— A Reminiscence. 



By One of its Pupils. 



Copyright secured 1895. 



a big metropolis loomed in the distance. Presently 

 the train, after passing through a perfect labyrinthine 

 maze of houses, streets, archways and narrow alley- 

 ways, stopped, and we found ourselves safely landed 

 at the "Hub of the Universe" — Boston. 



From Boston we left directly for New Bedford, 

 where we arrived about seven o'clock that evening 

 and immediately engaged rooms for the night. Here 

 the hotel was alive with excitement. Carriages were 

 constantly arriving with guests, — mostly students like 

 ourselves, and bent upon the same erraud. Men, 

 both old and young, were going to and fro in all di- 

 rections; porters, carrying huge trunks upon their 

 shoulders, were continually running against the pass- 

 ers-by, or stumbling about under their loads to the 

 seeming peril of a bevy of small boys, who were in 

 everybody's way; and waiters, with white aprons, 

 nicely balancing upon the tips of their fingers large 

 trays filled with dishes, were hurrying here and there 

 in apparently endless confusion. The clerk's desk 

 occupied, very nearly, the centre of the room or long 

 hall in which we found ourselves upon entering the 

 hotel, — hence, to the general confusion was added 

 the bustle and crowd attendant upon the registering 

 of our names, and bell-boys showing people to their 

 rooms. Nor should we forget the numerous boot- 

 blacks, who acted their part in the scenes about us. 

 To get my supper, and find my room, and hasten 

 toward the land of dreams, was the work of a com- 

 paratively short time, — though it seemed hours to one 

 who was so tired as myself; but it was at last accom- 

 plished. 



The next morning I awoke very early, refreshed both 

 in body and in mind with my night's rest. It was too 

 soon, as yet, to arise; and so I lay and watched the 

 dancing sunbeams which through the blinds of my 

 half-closed windows, shone and played merry pranks 

 upon the opposite walls of the room, while the trees 

 outside, stirred by the light off-shore morning breeze, 

 sent shadowy images of fantastic shape, moving, 

 here and there, among them. One immense, dumb- 

 bell-shaped sunbeam amused me greatly in its at- 

 tempts to smash a fine vase upon the mantle near 

 by. It would dash at it with unerring accuracy and 

 terrific impetus, only to stop short, within a few 

 inches of it, and return immediately to its former 

 position, leaving the vase wholly untouched. Above 

 this beamed another, now intensely bright now quite 

 dim; and, farther on, two small, active little fellows 

 played hide and seek behind each other, so that the 

 two became one and the one two again each alternate 

 moment. At length, tired o watching the b right, 

 roguish sunbeams, and animated by a lusty-sounding 

 gong, which seemed to be beaifen directly in front of 

 my door, and, consequently, f or my express benefit, 

 I sprang from the bed and quickly dressed for break- 

 fast. After the morning's meal I hastened to place 

 my baggage in the hands of the porter whose duty it 

 was to take it on board the little steamer, which was 

 so soon to convey us to our island home, and then 

 started for a stroll about this quiet, quaint, old- 

 fashioned city, — there being yet several hours to 

 spare before our departure. 



I will not attempt to describe New Bedford, as I 

 was in it for so short a time; but I wandered along 

 one or two of its principal avenues, admiring the 

 noble dwellings with their rich, handsome lawns, 

 which, like miniature parks, fronted the streets at 



the farther end of the town, and then, returning, en- 

 tered one of the small, dirty by-streets that led to a 

 neighboring wharf, to which I directed my steps. 

 What a sight here met my gaze. Vessels of all kinds 

 and sizes, from full-rigged ships to perfect swarms 

 of boats and dories, lay about me in every direction. 

 It seemed as if there were thousands of them, though 

 doubtless barely as many hundreds. Two full-rigged 

 men-of-war, which had just arrived from France, as 

 I learned afterwards, anchored some distance in the _ 

 bay beyond the rest, seemed like monstrous guard- 

 ians of whaling vessels, steamers — large and small — 

 brigs; barks and schooners of all sorts and kinds. 

 Vessels, almost new, shone resplendent with recent 

 coats of bright paint above the rest, but most were so f 

 old and worn that you .could almost have believed 

 them to be veritable "Noah's Arks,"' I could not 

 but admire several beautiful pleasure yachts that lay $ 

 at anchor in the bay. I could see them, rolling 

 about from side to side, showing their smooth planks 

 and well made forms, and bending their masts grace- 

 fully in the air or dipping their handsome prows far 

 into the waters which surrounded them. How I en- 

 joyed the scene. It seemed to have a fascination for 

 me that was irresistible. 



Then I turned my attention to the wharf itself, 

 which, like most of the others I could see about me, 

 was built far into the water. It was covered with 

 heaps of boards, new and bright, old and dingy, 

 some immense plank, others thin deal, — and one very 

 old pile came tumbling down with a noise like thun- 

 der, as I accidentally stumbled over several pieces 

 which extended far beyond the rest; with barrels, ap- 

 parently of oil and tar, whose blue sides and red 

 ends, thickly streaked with an abundance of the same 

 material as that composing their contents, showed 

 up on all sides; and with piles of old iron, ballast- 

 stones and spars and masts of vessels; all of which, 

 with many other things of a like nature, lay scattered 

 everywhere around in endless confusion. 



At the farther end of the wharf were a group of 

 dirty, bare-footed little urchins, who were amusing 

 themselves with all sorts of doings, — one could, at 

 first sight, barely distinguish them from the brown, 

 dirty logs or barrels amongst which they played, and 

 whose hands and faces, as well as their clothes, 

 seemed equally bedaubed and grimy. Some of them 

 were playing at marbles, while others, mere lookers 

 on, were lying about in the mud and dirt, like so 

 many flounders off the pier head at low tide, watch- 

 ing the progress of the games. On a low, narrow, 

 stairway, leading to the water, sat several youthful 

 fishers, who appeared in high glee over four or five 

 poor little fishes, barely as many inches long, which 

 they had succeeded in catching with the most primi- 

 tive pole, hook and line imaginable, and only after 

 long and patient waiting, doubtless, upon their part. 

 On the very end corner of the pier, a most wretched- 

 ly dirty, ragged and diminutive urchin was amusing 

 himself by throwing stones at the numberless small 

 chips of wood which were tossing about upon the 

 rippling waters beneath him, or occasionally "skip- 

 ping" some particularly smooth, flat pebble, which 

 he had selected from the loose earth scattered about 

 the pier around him, to the great delight of a still 

 smaller specimen of existence, who jumped about 

 and clapped his hands, as he counted the skips, most 

 gleefully. It was a characteristic scene for such a 

 place, and I watched it all with idle interest whilst 

 waiting for the whistle of the "Helen Augusta" to 

 summon us on board. 



[to be continued.] 



