16 
r 
abouts. In a few minutes the voices sounded nearer, and 
when they were hailed they proved to be close enough 
to answer questions intelligently. After one or two in- 
quiries, which related principally to matters of distance, 
the canoe resumed her journey, and on rounding a bend 
which was a trifle more crooked than usual, suddenly 
encoimtered a swimming party on the bank of the river. 
The answers to my various questions carried the in- 
formation that it was still five or six miles to the nearest 
house (river measure), and that as it stood some distance 
from the water's edge we might easily run by it in the 
gathering darkness; that an unknown number of para- 
sangs further down the river stood the classic city of 
Palmyra (pronounced "Palmiry"), and lastly that some 
of the_ party hved only a mile back from the river on 
the adjacent hills. By this time the skies were lowering, 
and somehow during the colloquy I had received an in- 
vitation to go up and stay over night, which was of 
course entirely unexpected. The Little Pilgrim having 
been put snugly to bed in the bushes, the rest of the party 
retraced their steps up stream and crossed the prehistoric 
bridge on the way to the farmhouse. 
Does the man who has spent all his life in the city 
realize what he has lost in missing the experience of 
boyhood on the farm? The country boy often removes 
into the city, in his mature years, for the brain and brawn 
of every municipality is largely drawn from the rural dis- 
tricts; "but, however far away from the soil fortune and 
fate may lead him, the farmer boy never entirely sunders 
the mystic cords that bind him to his earlier existence, 
nevei* wholly loses the subtle touch that keeps him 
always in sj'mpathy with the great realm of animate and 
inanimate nature, which lies outside the lines of any 
human corporation. And when he comes into that realm 
again, perhaps after an absence of many years, he re- 
sumes at once his wonted converse as if it were inter- 
rupted but yesterday, and reads, as if in an open book, 
the records that to those untaught are only blind hiero- 
glyphics. For the boj'^ on the farm lives the transitions 
of the revolving year, sharing to the full its varying 
phases and entering with unabated zest into all the ex- 
periences which it brings. He is, in and of himself, a part 
of each recurring season, merging his personality in each 
as it in turn enfolds the earth, taking on the changing 
hues of nature, like the fabled chameleon, glad when she 
is mild and bright, graver when her face is shadowed with 
cloud and storm, touched with an unconscious melancholy 
in the ripening of the year. God bless the country, to all 
its boys now and always the most delightful region in 
all the round earth in the seasons for nutting, for swim- 
ming, for fishing, and hunting; but alas! sometimes 
scarcely so alluring in the times for hoeing potatoes and 
husking corn. 
And so it was that the country boy from the city speedily 
established the most friendly relations with his farmer 
host, and together they discussed all the varying con- 
ditions of the weather and the crops, with incidental 
references to the far-ofif conflict in Cuba and the Philip- 
pines. Much to the guest's surprise, the family seemed 
to be quite familiar with the existence of Toledo as a city 
on the banks of the Maumee, and indeed the sister of our 
farmer's wife had a son who had some time previously 
gone to that metropolis to build up his incipient fortune, 
and the farmer himself, not so very long before, had been 
in Toledo for a day and had listened to some tales in 
M'hich both Chicago and Duluth were clearly set forth as 
back numbers. All this was perhaps not so very remark- 
able when it is remembered that the farm was only a trifle 
more than a two hours' Journey from the Maumee by 
rail. 
The next morning opened none too propitiously, since, 
paradoxically speaking, the skies seemed to contain al- 
together too much water for an aquatic journey. But 
they held it back very considerately till the Little Pilgrim 
was fairly on the way again — and then it rained. The 
farmhouse and its kindly occupants had been left far be- 
hind; there was not a shingle in sight anywhere, but by 
this time w^e were passing through a bit of woods, and by 
the most satisfactory coincidence came uppon a tangle of 
fallen trees just' at the point where the rain became 
serious. Here, with her bow resting on a convenient 
trunk, whic?i was upheld by its fellows at just the proper 
height from the ground, the canoe was transformed into 
a hotel, with all her supplies and other movables closely 
stowed away in the basement. Then and not till then 
were brought forth the pipe and the bon bouche of the 
voyage — carefullj' treasured for just such an occasion as 
thi.s — -the current and hitherto unopened number of 
Forest and Stream. What could have been more de- 
lighthd than that unreckoned hour, when, snug and dry, 
under the shelter of their own roof tree and a hundred 
miles from anywhere (by river), the crew of the Little 
Pilgrim called up the choicest comrades from all quarters 
of the globe, and held congenial converse with kindred 
souls! But the journal and the shower were finished at 
about the same time, and as the sun looked out again the 
hotel disappeared like a palace in the "Arabian Nights," 
the Little Pilgrim was once more afloat, and we sped 
peacefully away on our journey. 
Jay Beebe. 
tXhe mink not only has an inveterate habit of stealing along the 
shore, hut of stealing everywhere else that he may happen to be. 
He has, in fact, the reputation of being the greatest known thief 
in the localities which he inhabits. 
home, and the two regular guardians of the camp, making 
rather a strong force. 
We started out five of these men with a horse in the 
raoming to break and shovel a road for the rest of us. 
We waited a while, and then set out. On the wind-swept 
surface of the lake, to cross which was the first stage of 
our journey, we got on very well, but when we came to 
the islands we began to get a taste of what was before us. 
There we found drifts! The men and the single horse 
with no load had struggled through them, but our heavier 
horses and heavily loaded sleigh were another matter. 
In places the horses went nearly to their bellies, and 
coiild get on but a few yards without stopping, while the 
sleigh plowed a complete canal from one to two feet 
deep. Still, we kept on till we came near the mainland. 
There we found trouble. The whole force of men had only 
been able to dig us a road for a few vards through a 
drift ID or 15 feet deep, with as much further to go— that 
is, there was a bank of it piled up on our road which we 
could not avoid. After that, there were 3 feet of snow 
for two and a half miles through the woods, and beyond 
that again a couple of miles of clearing, river banks, gul- 
lies and hills, where the road would inevitably be blocked 
to an unknown extent. It was clear that there was no 
thoroughfare for us. Horses would be tired out, -and some 
of the passengers might perish before any shelter could 
be reached. We could do nothing else but return to the 
camp and wait. The robes and blankets we threw on the 
snow, the passengers got out and stood on them, the 
horses were unhitched and compelled to flounder around 
and get out the best way they could. All the men were 
called together, and by their united exertions they turned 
the sleigh about also, and the camp was regained without 
difficulty. 
The question arose what was to be done next. That 
heavy and cumbersome sleigh could not be got over that 
road for some days to come. The leader of the expedi- 
tion, like Hans Breitmann, "retired into himself a little 
viles," and devised a plan. He got out one of the oldest, 
best and strongest of our canvas canoes, and by means of 
ropes harnessed the horses into it. It wa^ found to go 
very well, and the men and the young ladies had great 
larks with it. The day was so far advanced that nothing 
else could be done, but the next morning we started the 
men out to shovel the road as before. Their horse could 
not draw their empty vehicle, so they turned him loose, 
and he and the men made a single track wide enough 
for our horses to follow. All passengers embarked in the 
canoe, well wrapped up with blankets and robes, and 
away we went. The canoe was sometimes tilted to some 
very uncomfortable angles, and at times took in a good 
deal of snow, but it was never actually upset. We could 
see that the horses had hard work to go along, but by 
the laughing of the passengers it was evident they did 
not sympathize much, and was merely the best we could 
do. It was nearly nightfall before we got through the 
bush and to the nearest house, having been obliged to 
stop and favoV the horses a good deal. From there to 
our destination the road was open, and there were farm- 
houses all the way along. The men and boys of the 
families all seemed to be occupied chopping wood at 
their door, but when they saw this uncommon convey- 
ance they dropped their axes, went into their home and 
called the family to come out and look. It has been said 
that they dropped on their knees, crossed themselves and 
said their prayers, thinking this to be the famous "Chasse 
Galerie of ^ Canadian legend, which, although flying 
through the air and clouds in summer, might be supposed 
to be drawn over the snow in winter by horses. The 
roads being well broken we drove fast, and arrived at 
our destination before dark. Our uncommon mode of 
locomotion was the subject of discussion for a week. 
- G. D E MONTAUBAN. 
New York C C 
BATH BEACH — GRAVESEND BAY. 
Saturday, June 16. 
The New York C. C. sailed a special invitation race for 
the Marine and Field Club's new one-design class on 
June 16, the course being a triangle from off the club 
house around a buoy off the Atlantic Y. C. station at Sea 
Gate and a second mark off the Marine and Field Club, 
the rounds, making nine miles, naut. Five boats started 
at 3 :27, Quinque winning. The times were : 
^1 1st Round. 2d Kound. Finish. 
Quirique, L. H. bmith 4 U 10 5 02 47 5 Sfi 05 
Stinger, A Clapp. ,...4 13 43 5 05 14 6 03 42 
Kelpie, J. Brown ....4 36 43 5 14 41 6 08 58 
Esperance. F. L. DuncU....4 18 17 5 13 32 6 10 21 
Vixen, J. J, Mahoney 4 16 36 5 12 13 6 12 02 
Elapsed. 
2 29 05 
2 36 42 
2 41 58 
2 43 21 
2 45 02 
A Hard Road to Travel. 
The prize was a handsome claret pitcher of cut glass 
and silver. After the race the Aasitors were entertained at 
dinner. Mr. Vaux in presenting the cup recalled to the 
visitors the obligation of the New York C. C. to the 
Marine and Field Club.at the time of ; the last international 
canoe race, when the club had no house nor station, and 
was given all the privileges of the Marine and Field Club 
station. 
Saturday, June 23. 
On June 23 a race was sailed for N. Y. C. C. boats, oyer 
the same course, starting at 3 129. The times were : 
_ Finish. Elapsed. 
Broncho, F. C. Moore .. .............. ..5 36 .'jfl 2 OV 55 
Wraith, B. Fredericks 5 36 30 07 30 
Spots, R. de F. Bailey ........5 48 05 2 19 05 
Eileen, C. B. Vaux 5 42 43 - 4S 
Pebble, R. M. Speer .5 44 40 2 15 40 
Minx, C. V. Schuyler... .5 46 51 2 17 61 
Down the Raisin^— 11. 
Boxing the Compass by Canoe— An Aquatic Jotifney 
Through /Lower Michigan— The Cruise 
of the Little filgrimc 
It was said in the previous part of this narrative that 
the upper portion of the River Raisin bore no traces of 
traffic or commercialism. There was, as we* discovered, 
most excellent reason for this, since in many a bend be- 
side the one in which the Little Pilgrim had come to 
grief, nature had written in sprawling but unmistakable 
•characters, "No Thoroughfare." Frequently all that day 
and the next we came upon these protests against our 
passage, the foundations huge logs of driftwood and the 
trunks of trees that lay on the spot where they had fallen, 
the superstructures closely woven from their dismembered 
'branches and all sorts of miscellaneous flotsam. Through 
some of these there might be found on careful scrutiny 
a narrow and uncertain opening, barely wide enough for 
the Little Pilgrim, and it was one of the pleasures of the 
voyage to essay these successive barriers in all their 
varietv and originality (for no two of them were alike), 
and thus to thwart the purpose of the old dame who would 
fain have shut us out from her secrets. But the most of 
these were navigable only for finny travelers or the pred- 
atory minkt that occasionally stole along the shores. At 
these it was necessary to land the canoe and to "Hft in" 
and "lift out" with all the loading and unloading usually 
incident to more serious portages. The man who at- 
tempted to follow the river in a skiff or a "john boat," 
the two best known methods of navigation on the waters 
of the inland lakes, might have got out of sight of his 
own farm, but the probabilities are that he would have 
ended his voyage ere it had fairly begun. But this was 
evidently a matter of supreme indifference to the farmer 
along our river, who wasted no time or money in build- 
ing boats or in cutting away these impromptu dams. All 
that the farmer cared for the river was to use a few 
square yards of it for the purpose of watering his cattle 
and washing his sheep. These services accomplished, it 
might run away as it pleased into the regions of the 
unknown. Yet' all these interruptions were only sauce 
piquante to the Little Pilgrim, which had set out to ac- 
company the river to its home in the great lake, and which 
was not to be daunted by such show of apparent inhos- 
pitality. 
All that long, placid summer afternoon the little craft 
floated down the river, now in the shadow of a group 
of forest trees, which had as yet escaped the axe of the 
woodman, now sweeping through the broad sunlight that 
flooded the meadows, now rushing down some miniatiire 
rapid where the stream seemed suddenly impressed W'ith 
Ihe idea of making up for lost time, but that thought 
abandoned, drifting more leisurely over still reaches 
where the hurry was entirely forgotten; always and for- 
ever winding and turning and curving backward with the 
most good-natured and persistent determination of going 
nowhere in particular and taking the longest possible 
time in which to accomplish its purpose. First on one 
side of the valley and then on the other our river saun- 
tered, backward and forward as if bent on furnishing the 
greatest amount of scenery in the least Hneal distance, 
and heedless of any apprehension that the long June day 
would ever come to an end. Meantime we had left the 
railroad and the "early settlement" far behind, and were 
steadily going onward — toward what and where? Less 
than little did the crew and captain know, and absolutely 
less than nothing did they care. For it was a matter of 
slight consequence (they thought) where the river went, 
so that it kept always going, and in the progress of time 
arrived once more in the vicinity of railroads and tele- 
fraphs, of graveled highways and the abode of man ■ 
layhap if they had known then what they afterward 
learned, they might have felt differently, but that is not at 
present material. It was such a delightfully novel sen- 
sation to be going, going, without the remotest knowl- 
edge of one's destination. 
But as the afternoon wore on and the lights softened 
and the shadows lengthened, the Little Pilgrim sometimes 
grew half vexed with the river's consistent delay, and 
now and then hastened her pace for a few hundred 
yards, as who should say, "We ought certainly to be 
coming out somewhere soon." Not that it made any 
difference, though there are times when a change is 
welcome, if it is only an evidence of recurring civiliza- 
tion. For the Pilgrim furnished, in addition to a well- 
stocked larder and an accorapHshed cook, all the othei 
facilities of a first-class hotel, and had it proved con- 
venient (as it afterward did) to spend the night on the 
banks of the Raisin, not all the mosquitoes in Michigan 
could have kept the captain from sleeping the sleep of 
the man who carries a clear conscience and a good 
digestion. 
It seems very likely that all the Pilgrim's hotd accom- 
modations would have been called into requisition that 
night had it not been that not long after the sun had 
stepped behind the most convenient range of hills and 
the s'ow June twilight settled in the valley the Little 
Pilgrim came upon a bridge. Fancy the effect upon the 
boat and the captain of this modern paraphrase of 
Crusoe's solitary footprint on the sands! A bridge is in- 
dubitable evidence of a road; a road logically presupposes 
the existence of a class of beings of sufiicient intelligence 
to construct it, and (when reasonably sober) to travel on 
it after it is constructed; and since these beings cannot 
always be traveling, like our rivers, they must, in all 
probability, erect some kind of structures along this 
channel of communication in which they might cook their 
food in the day time and do their sleeping at night. 
Thence it would naturally follow that a wayfaring man 
inight— — 
Before this line of argument could be extended to its 
proper conclusion we had passed down some distance be- 
low the bridge, and for the first time in the day heard 
the sound, of human voices. They seemed at the be- 
ginning to be in some indefinite locality beyond, and 
their tones came through the air like the sound of men 
in hiding, so difficult was it to determine their where- 
*"We," as it is used in these chronicles, is not that misleading 
form of the first personal pronoun employed by the editor and 
others who wish to divide the weight of their heavy responsibility 
with people unknown. It is simply meant to include the Little 
Pilgrim and her crew. 
Quebec, June, 1900. — I had some little business at the 
lake and invited some others, two of them young women, 
to drive up with me. So, with our driver, we were five, in 
a big sleigh drawn by two good horses, tandem. The 
drive up was nice, the roads being very good, and our 
intended stay was pleasant, as stays at Lac Clair usually 
are. But just at the time fixed for our homeward start 
there came up the storm of March i and 2. We stayed 
it out without impatience, but when it was over we wanted 
to get home. 
This it w^as certain would not be easy, two travelers 
who came up on snowshoes giving us alarming reports of 
the state of the roads, which reports, from tfie violence 
of the storm, we could well believe. But we wanted to go, 
and I engaged these men to go along with us and shovel 
out our way. Besides them, we had two men with a 
horse, who having finished their work also wanted to go 
Buffalo C. C. 
The Buffalo C. C. opened its new club house on Satur- 
day, June 9, w^ith a full attendance. The house con- 
tains thirty sleeping rooms, a fine billiard room and a 
dining room, which will accommodate no; shower bath, 
locker room, servants' quarters, and one of the most 
complete kitchens possible. The club now has a full active 
membership of 150, and 20 life members. 
Canadian Canoe Association. 
The newly organized Canadian Canoe Association has 
selected Aug. 4 and 6 as the dates for its first annual 
meet, at Brockville, on the St. Lawrence River. The 
events will include war canoe,, fours, tandera and other 
paddling races, and a four-oared rowing race. 
