Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 165, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 July 1915 — SHE WENT SAILING [ARTICLE]

SHE WENT SAILING

By OREN M'NEIL.

At four o’clock In the afternoon Miss Blythe Winters finished her book. No matter what the title was, she was not to remember it an hour. No one girl in ten ever does. At 4:05 Miss Blythe rose languidly from her seat. At 4:06 she yawned. At 4:08 she took down an old skirt from a hook in the closet and proceeded to get into it. At 4:15 she had changed her slippers for a pair of stout walking shoes. At 4.18 she had hunted up her old hat. At exactly 4:20 she appeared before her mother downstairs and said: “I am going sailing for about an hour." “But your brother Fred has gone to town ” “That makes no difference. I can sail a boat as well as he can.” “Why, Blythe, you haven't been out with him more than three times!” “But wasn’t I watching all the time to see how it was done? Poof! All you’ve got to do is to watch the wind.” “But I wish you wouldn't go. Neither Fred nor your father may be home before midnight.” “While 1 shall be back within two hours. There’s a fine breeze, and it will blow the cobwebs away. So long, mother! Don’t worry about yours truly.” It looks as easy as pie to sail a boat. In the first place, you want the wind — not too much nor too little. If the wind isn’t right to sail up or down the lake, then sail across it Don’t think the breezes must be made to your order.

You stumble into the boat and raise the sail. It doesn't make such a great difference about the stumble, but it is imperative about the sail. When it is up you make the halyards fast and go to the stern and take the tiller. Attached to the bottom of the sail is a boom, and attached to this boom is a rope called a sheet. It is no more a sheet than you are, but the sailor who first called it must have grown tired of calling everything a rope, and so made a change. The boatman holds the free end of this sheet in his hand, so that in case of a sudden gust he can slack away and spill the wind and prevent an upset. This was one of the several things that Miss Blythe had not taken notice of when she went sailing with he/ brother. With charming assurance she went sailing away, and she chuckled with glee at the thought of how she would crow over Fred. Off Tiger island, young Mr. Walter Dayton was fishing from an open boat. He had come down from the city for the late fall sport, and had not the slightest suspicion that Cupid was going to spread a net for him. There are no halyards or ropes or sheets or sails about fishing. All you have to do is to throw a baited hook over, and by and by a foolish bass comes along and gulps it down and you pull him in.

Mr. Dayton was fishing away, and his thoughts were not even remotely on the feminine sex when he was aroused by a woman’s voice calling out: “Oh. oh! Please get out of my way!” He looked up to see a sailboat bearing down on him and a girl twisting the helm one way and the other. Her craft was so dose at hand that all he could do was to seize an oar and prepare to fend her off. His craft was struck a glancing blow, the best he could do. and as the other drifted away he called out: “They shouldn’t have let you come out with that boat!" “And they shouldn’t have let you!” was the spirited reply. “Don’t you know that the wind is rising and becoming gusty?” “What of it?" “Your sheet has been made fast, and the first heavy gust will upset your boat!” She did not even look his way. “There goes a girl who needs a strong hand!” muttered the young man, as he kept down the bay. "There is a young man who thinks he is very clever.” was the comment of the girl as she left him behind. It was true that the wind was rising and becoming gusty, and therefore sailing was unsafe for a novice, but Miss Blythe wanted that young man to understand that she could manage things without his advice. Providence looks after foolish girls as well as foolish men. It looked after this one as her boat yawed this way and that, and it clouded up and the sun got lower and lower. She would have cut her voyage short, but for the action of Mr. Dayton. His was a motor boat, and after awhile he said to himself: “That girl is going to get in trouble, sure enough. I’ll pull up the anchor and drift down, so I’ll be closer at hand when I am needed.” The girl looked back after a while and saw what he was up to and said to herself: “Oh-ho! He is getting ready to play the rescuer.and the hero, is he? Well, I shall disappoint him.” By the time she was ready to turn back the wind had increased threefold. She had seen her brother bring the boat about, but had not mastered the trick herself. She must try it, however. With a prayer that it might be a success, she moved the tiller over, and the next moment the craft was keeling over and she was screaming for help. The man in the motor boat was not far away, and within two minutes he was pulling averv wet and

much-bedraggled form to a seat in his boat. For the next five minutes he waa busy righting her boat and making it fast for a tow, and then he turned to her to be greeted with: "I suppose you are glad it happened ?” “It was a silly thing for you to do, knowing nothing of the management of a sailboat!” he slowly answered. “But you know all about it!” was fired at him * “I have run a sailboat for years.” “Did you begin as soon as you were weaned?" It was a long time before he spoke again, and then he said: “There is a shooting jacket on tne seat beside you. If you feel chilly put it on. I will get you home as soon as possible.” She opened her lips to say something, but just then the engine of the motor boat went “dead.” Mr. Dayton gave expression to his feelings of astonishment, and thereby gave away the fact he wasn’t much acquainted with motor boats and their way of stopping to rest every few minutes. “What is it?” asked Miss Blythe. “Engine out of order!” “It was very silly of you to come out in this boat!” They were running in close to Cat island and, unheeding the taunt, he got out an oar and brought the craft to land and began an inspection. When he had worked In vain for half an hour he rose to ease his aching back and said: “I’m not electrician enough to repair it.” “Then there are men smarter than you!” chuckled the girl. "Plenty of them!” “I thought there couldn’t be. Well, what are we going to do?” “Will anybody come after you?” “Father or Fred may come about midnight, but I am not sure of It.” “We can’t use either to get away tn. The motor is disabled, and your boat has lost its mast and sail.” “And we must sit here till help comes?” “Do you see any other way?” “If I were a young man, I'd take a few lessons in a few things, and I’d begin on motor boats. We’ve got a hired man at home who doesn’t know enough to pound sand, and yet I’ll wager he can fix this boat in ten minutes.” “If I’d have let you drown out there—’’ “But nobody asked your help. I had the boat to cling to, and was all right.” “I’ll know’ better next time!” was the sulky reply as the young man turned away. From thence on, for a long half hour, there was silence between them. Then it was broken by Miss Blythe saying: “Did you ever go over Niagara Falls in a barrel?” "Were you ever fired from a cannon?” he replied. Then there followed another long silence. Of course, these venturesome young persons were rescued long before they had experienced any’ serious hardship. When they separated, It is certain that neither had the faintest premonition of what the outcome of their unpropitious introduction would be,and it is equally probable that either would have disclaimed any intention to pursue the acquaintance. It is a fact, however, that they were married less than a fortnight ago. (Copyright, '1915. by the McClure News- . . paper Syndicate.)