LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ^^ Cliap;r.„... Copyright No. Shell.Lt'i UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SKETCHES AND STORIES OF THE LAKE ERIE ISLANDS BY THERESA THORNDALE. e^ SOUVENIR VOLUME ^ SANDUSKY, OHIO: I. F. Mack & Brother^ Publishers. J898. lcS440 COPYRIGHTED 1898, BY I. F. MACK & BROTHER. :nd Cnry 1898 REGISTER PRESS, SANDUSKY, OHIO. 1898 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE A Gem of Historic Setting, ... 7 Perry's Victory in the Light of Local Reminiscence, . . ... 23 Put-in-Bay in Song and Verse, . . 35 Visitors from Another World: Story of the Battle of Lake Erie, . . 47 A Notable Conspiracy: Capture of Steamers Island Queen and Philo Parsons by Confederate Plotters, . 68 Summertime Saunterings Among Island Resorts. ...... 82 Hotel Victory, . . . . .94 Tent Life, . . ' . . . . . 100 Under a Steamer's Headlights: The Ad- ventures OF Two Silly Girls, . . iii Winter AT an Island Resort, . . . 119 An Icequake, or the Wreck of Herring- town. (Story.) . . . '135 Romance of the Icy Plains. (Story.) . 146 Pen Sketches of Historical Characters: No. I, Capt. John Brown, Jr., . . 159 No. 2, Owen Brown, .... 168 Autumn Etchings, . . . . .174 Fruit Harvest in the Archipelago, . 181 "Isle De Fleurs," . . . . . 189 Middle Bass and Her Attractions, . . 192 Experiences of an Old Doctor Among the Islands, . . . , . . 198 IV CONTENTS. Perilous Adventure: Trip With the Isl- and Mail, ...... Kelley Island^and Her Resources, . "Echo": The Iroquois Maiden. (Story.) Everything Wrong, or the Trials of Nicholas Beetlebrow, Adventures in Quf.en Victoria's Dominions (Point Au Pelee). Beautiful Ballast, .... "Uncle Jimmy," ..... Castled Gibraltar and its Lord, Johnson's Island: Burial Ground of the COxNFEDERATE DeAD. ... "Brown Sugar:" Reminiscence of San- dusky Bay. . . . • . What the Drift Brought Ashore (Story.) The AovENTURifs of an Island "Family Robinson." (Story.) Castaway: Romance of Rattlesnake, Crusoe Islands of Erie, . , An Eventful Night. (Thrilling Story of the Burning of Green Island Lighthouse in 1864.) Some Interesting Geological Features: The "Lost Atlantis" of Lake Erie. Among the Fisheries, . . . . Storm and Darkness, "1 . Wreck of the Dean Richmond, An Old Steamer's Farewell. (Word Etching). . • __• PAGE 201 208 220 238 261 266 271 279 289 300 310 339 345 356 366 373 376 INTRODUCTION. As a journalist and general newspaper contrib- utor, resident for several years at Put-in-Bay, the writer has been afforded ample opportunity of becom- ing thoroughly acquainted with each individual island of the Lake Erie group; and has frequently expressed sur- prise that no literary delver has ever entered the field with a view to the systematic working up of resources so extensive and varied. The object of the work here submitted is, there- fore, to present in compact form a collection of inter- esting and hitherto unutilized material; historical, rem- iniscent, legendary, combined with story and romance, tales of adventure and matter descriptive of the pict- uresque and striking scenes in which the Islands abound. Though appearing in fictitious garniture, most of the stories herein transcribed are founded upon fact; and are true in detail to life and conditions as they ex- ist in the archipelago. While the compass of this volume is not sufficient to contain all the material of interest and importance which might be collected, the aim of the writer has been to combine as much thereof as possible, and trusts that the work may meet with a favorable reception. The Author. A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING, " O, boatman, row me gently slow, Into the golden sunset glow, That crowns the dying day; Out where the emerald islands lie, In the crimson sea of the western sky, Row me away, away " Environed by an atmosphere of poetic fancy and historic lore, the Islands of Lake Erie hav-e fur- nished from time to time the ba- sis of man}' an entertaining sketch, story and poem,enibodying the best thoughts of some of America's '^ gifted writers. The blendings of fact and fancy, and the crisply i touched word pictures employed in the productions show an in- spiration which only a meritorious subject could infuse. That men and women of genius have made the locality a field for literarv and historical research, coupled with the fact that it is annually visited by thousands of tourists and excursionists, and is constantly becoming more widely known and popular, establishes its claim as especially worthy of note. 8 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. Since, however, all that has been written concerning the archipelago by visiting journalists and literary con- tributors, has been of a desultory and fragmentary character, the idea of collecting for preservation within the compass of a volume some of the loose material so abundant, has been carried out by the writer in the following sketches and stories. Approaching by any of the marine highways mark- edon the charts of lake navigators, the voyager, who from deck of cruising yacht or steamer first sights the archipelago, is charmed by the beauty which encircles and pervades it. When the islands are bright with the variegated greens of summer foliage, and the tranquil waters mirror the deep blue of aerial heights, the group seems a veritable emerald cluster in a setting of sapphire. Its dreamy groves, its vine embowered haunts and ethereal distances kindle the poetic fancy and delight the eye. Down through time's dim vistas have descended traditions many concerning the dusky race which formerly inhabited the islands. Thii-se date back as far as the 17th century, when the Eries or Eric (wild cat) tribe of aborigines still existed. The history of these people is broken and imperfect. At the period indicated, however, the southern shores of the lake, to- gether with the islands, were undoubtedly the favorite hunting grounds, and formed the stage where were enacted the tragic scenes which closed the drama, and ended the career of a fierce and war loving people. The Eries were swept out of existence by the powerful "Five Nations," forming the Iroquois, but they left their name permanently established, the name that now designates A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. 9 the waters of Erie, lake of the "Wild Cat." Uncertain as are the records of this lost tribe, the antiquarian and historian groping amid ruins of the past, finds, never- theless, broken bits which fit into their history. No- table among these may be mentioned "Inscription Rock" at Kelley's Island, said to be the most extensive and interesting relic of its kind in America. At the opening of the present century, the islands were overrun by nomadic tribes which have been designated as "sojourners" rather than dwellers, rep- resenting the Senecas, Miamis, Ottawas, Shawnees, Potowotamies, and Wyandots; the latter being the most numerous. Representatives of other tribes, among which was that of the Mohawk, sometimes visited the archipelago. Though supposed to have been a favorite locality, the islands were not so much the territory of any one tribe as a common stamping ground for all. Thev came and went in a manner similar to that of the modern summer excursionists; the attractions of Put-in-Bay and her neighboring isles, as a summer resort having been known and appreciated, evidently, many thousand moons before the pale face came to know them. When the waters were fettered by ice, and withering blasts swept the island shores, the Indians are supposed to have retired into the thick, deep wilderness of the mainland; returning however with spring flowers and sunshine to their island haunts. The romantic element — so instinctive to these children of nature— must have run rampant amid sur- roundings so calculated to inspire sentiment. The dim forests, the darkling waters; the shifting clouds 10 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. and night shadows; the gathering storm, the play of Hghtning, and roll of thunder; the war of winds, and rush of waves - all these things were invested b}^ the savage with a wierd mysticism, end looking upon Nature and listening to her myriad voices, wild fantasies and strange beliefs took shape within his brain. His imagination peopled with super- natural beinifs the caverned rocks, and witchery dwelt in the falling of a leaf, or the flash of a sea- gull's wing. In feudal days such as existed in the ar- chipelago where paths of wandering tribes so frequently crossed, occasions \ ere many which gave rise to tales of love and jealousy, of A ROCK-BOUND SHORE. conqucstand adven- ture. Thus touched by the subtle hue of poetry, and romance as charming and as real as that which has come down to us from the feudal da3's of "mediaeval" Europe, was the life of tlie untamed island dweller. Antedating the period of Indian supremacy , lived and flourished in the archipelago, a people concerning whom no scrap of history remains; yet in the earth, — ^'>-'..'- A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. 11 defying still the wear and corr osion of time — evidences of former occupanc}^ by the " Mound Builders" are found. Mingling heterogenously in the same earthy treasure vault, these remains are often confounded with those of the Indian; the practiced antiquarian alone being able to assign each relic a place in the catalogue of antiquity. Relics both of Indians and "Mound Builders" are numerous at Put-in-Bay. Stone implements used by the latter are frequently turned up by plow and spade. Of these the stone ax is common. It is ground to a sharp even edge. Axes have been found of a size so small as to suggest their design as children's toys, or for purposes of ornament rather than for use. Stone pestles supposed to have been used for the pounding of grain are abundant, and arrow heads of white and blue flint are everywhere found. A rude mausoleum of stone slabs, black in color, and of a formation unknown on the islands, was dis- covered some years ago directly beneath the roots of a stump, four feet in diameter. Within the mound thus enclosed, were eight human skeletons, one of which measured over seven feet in height. Evidently "there were giants those days." How long these relics of mortality had reposed in their sepulchre of stone before the tree became rooted upon it, is a matter of conject- ure. Other mounds of a similar character have been imearthed. In the caverns of the island, human remains have been found. In one instance a skeleton was discovered in a position indicating that the luckless individual rep- 12 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. resented had become wedged between the rocks, and had thus succumbed to death by inches. On the southern shore of the ishind, near the gov- ernment Hirht-house station, is a fissure in the Hmestone extendmg to a considerable depth below the earths' surface in which was discovered a large quantity of human bones. Stumbling thus among the sepulchres of van- ished races, we are led to conclude that though com- paratively new to the modern investigntor, the isles of Erie are as ancient in buried history, perhaps, as Egypt itself. Though ranging as third in size, Put-in-Bay has from early daysranked first in importance among her sister islands, and is eminently deserving of the term — "Gem of Lake Erie." In consideration of its position as the most southerly island of the Bass group, geographers h?ve in a gen- eral way marked it on maps as South Bass. It was once known as "Ross Island." As to the origin of its present name there is a division of opinion. It is stated on the authority of a historian, that Put-in-Bay is a corruption of "Pudding Bay," an appellation given it by early navigators. A restoration of the old name it has been suggested, might be advantageous to the many summer hotels there located. Oihers assert that the name originated from the fact, that prior to the battle of Lake Erie, the ships of the American squadron put into the wide and ample bay which indents the shore, where they lay for several days. The latter theory is the one generally accepted. A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTIjXG. 13 VIEW ON THE BAY. The bay from which the island derives its name is a sheet of water enclosed by two projections, "East Point" to the eastward, " Peach Point"' to the westward. Its shores are encircled by stretches of gravel beach, or girt b}^ rugged and picturesque rock; while its crystal depths mirror the cloud lights and shadows which play above them. Squaw harbor, forming a portion of the inner bay, is a beautiful sheet of water. In the early history of lake navigation, this bay was known as a harbor of refuge; and while yet the savage beached his canoe upon its sands, and muttered the strange gutteral of his tribe before the camp fire red- dening its shores, the white man's bark cut the still waters and his anchor grappled the deeply hidden rocks. The first vessel that ever spread canvas on Lake Erie, we are told, was built at Fort Frontiac over 200 years ago by Robert De La Salle, a Frenchman, as the name indicates. She sailed from Green Bay in 14 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. September, 1679, having on board a band ot mission- aries, among whom was Father Lewis Hennisin. This vessel — tradition informs us — cast anchor off the islands, and inspired by its beautiful scenery, the missionaries landed upon one of them, and within its green arched temple, conducted devotional exercises. These men, it is said, were the tirst of the white race to set foot upon the archipelago. In 1766, four trading vessels which plied the lakes frequently cast anchor by its shores. Concerning the early settlement of Pat-in-Bay, his- torians are divided. Some obscurit}' evidentl}^ exists, but the facts, as far as obtainable, date back to a period shortlv before the war of 1812. At that date, Put-in- Bay together with North and Middle Bass islands became the property of Judge Ogden Edwards, for- merly of Connecticut; these islands being included in the Western Reserve grants to people of that state. About the year 1810 two French squatters took possession of the island. These adventurers engaged mainly in hunting, trapping and fishing. Their tran- quility, like that of the solitary exile of Juan Fernan- dez, was frequently disturbed by the discovery of "footprints on the sand," there indented by the moc- casined feet of hostile red men. It is a natural pre- sumption that these men felt relieved therefore when they were reinforced by several families of French Canadians. An individual, Seth Done, agent for the Edwards property, also located on this island with a view to clearing and improving it. Done employed a number of laborers, and the little colony thus formed turned attention to civilized pursuits. About 100 acres A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. 15 were cleared and sown to wheat, the soil proving un- usually fertile, and the first wheat crop grown was harvested in 1812. The grain had all been stacked, and the colonists were engaged in threshing it, when they were surprised by British troops. The crop was de^vtroyed, and the colony driven from the island. In view of the troublous times, 2,000 bushels of wheat had been boated across to the peninsula only two or three days previous to the visitation above narrated and St red for safe keeping in a commodious log pen. This pen and its contents were likewise destroyed by British and Indians. Thus disastrously ended the first settlement of Put-in-Bay. After the war intervened a period in which the Bass islands almost relapsed into their former prim- itive state. Save the occasional appearance of ad- venturers from the mainland, or of sailors from vessels anchored in the bay, they were left to solitude. Two individuals are recorded as having, in the course of time, made brief sojourns there — "Shell" Johnson and one Captain Hill. Little thought of making the place an abode of civilization seemed to suggest itself, how- ever, up to the year 1822. About that time A. P. Edwards, brother of Judge Edwards — then deceased — came to look after the property, to the control or own- ership of which he had succeeded. Landing at Put-in-Bay, Mr. Edwards found there a single squatter, one Ben Napier, a French Canadian, living in a little cabin constructed of red cedar logs near where the steamer wharves are now located. Ben had taken full possession of the island, and evidently considered himself "monarch of all he surveyed." He 16 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. vigorously disputed Edward's right, and the latter was forced to visit Norwalk for the purpose of pro- curing papers wherewith to establish his claim, the islands being under the control of that judicial center. Ben was finally ousted, and retired in disgust to look for another "squatter's" claim. The work of opening up and improving the island now be£fan. A numerous band of laborers were trans- ported thither, and the first movement was the erec- tion of a building to serve as shop and warehouse; to- gether with a commodious frame structure intended both as a residence for the agent appointed to super- intend operations and as a boarding place for the labor- ers. These buildings were erected in 1823 upon the site known in after years as the Put-in- Bay House. This dwelling formed for many years the center of at- traction and crowning glory of the island. Its grounds were pleasantly laid out, and basking under a virgin coat of white-wash, it came to be known as the "White House." It was successively occupied by agents representing the Edwards estate, chief among whom were Pierpont, McGibbons, Scott and Van Rassaler. McGibbjns finally rented the island, pay- ing ^500 in cash. Cord wood and limestone were thence shipped to Cleveland and Erie. No direct line of vessels connected with the islands, but b}- special agreement with the captains of schooners bound up and down the lake they were signalled in by shots fired from a cannon planted on shore when shipments awaited transportation. These vessels also brought supplies to the little maritime populace. The only facilities afforded for reaching the main- A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. 17 land at that period consisted of a small sloop — the A. P. Edwards— and a large boat called a "Zig," rowed by ten men, five on a side, something after the fashion of an ancient galley. But the island pioneers grew amphibious in their habits, and their exploits on ice and water were marvelous; the details of which would supply material for a whole series of "yellow backs." A PRIZE WINNER. Wishing to dispose of his island possessions as a whole, Edwards declined selling a foot of land by par- cel, refusing even a location for a government light- house on Put-in-Bay, which in consequence was erected on Green Island. As a result of Edward's policy, the islands developed slowly, and at the end of two de- cades were still comparatively wild and unsettled. 18 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. RESIDENCE OFTHE OLDEST INHABITANT. In 1843 Phillip Vroman, the oldest survixdng res- ident of the place at the present time, came to Put-in- Bay from Cooperstown, N. Y. The "White House" above described and a half-dozen log cabins were then the only habitations, while Middle and North Bass contained each a single cabin. At that time the lake waters swarmed with fish. Game, such as water fowl, fox and raccoon, was abundant. The squirrel in his natural state, however, was never known to exist on the Bass islands, and few deer vi^ere then seen excepting occasional herds which crossed on the ice from Pelee island and the mainland. Rattlesnakes were a prolific crop, and gave the inhabitants some anno3'ance. The woods became infested by hogs, which for years had run wild and multiplied until very numerous. For A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. 19 subsistence these brutes depended upon their own grubbing. They were savage creatures and the isl- anders were some times treed by them. When fresh meat was required a squad of mounted men, with dogs and guns, set out for the purpose of hunting them down, and the sport is said to have been very exciting. ^ . ". :^\ BLACK BASS SHOALS. In spring and early summer the islands formed — as they still do — a veritable Eden of bloom, wild flowers of endless variety appearing in overwhelming abundance and intermingled with native shrubbery, vines and mosses belting and overhanging, in a manner most picturesque and charming, the broken shore rocks. This prodigality of nature may be more fully understood when it is known that the island region forms the meet- ing place — according to Prof. G. Frederick Wright — of several botanical provinces, so that Canadian, 20 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. Southern, Atlantic and Rocky mountain species are found together as nowhere else on the continent. The island forests were literally alive with wild songsters, and the eagle found here a congenial re- treat, making the tall tree tops his home. In 1S45 Gibraltar Island was occupied as the camp- ing ground of a large party of surveyors and engin- eers, employed by the government in making charts and maps of ihe lake. In order to secure an unob- structed sight, a strip forty feet in widih, running the whole length of the island, was cut through the heav}' timber of Put-in-Bay. Tliis strip afterwards became the main island thoroughfare, and is slill known as the "Sight road." Platforms seventy-five feet high were also erected at various points on the shore from which observations of the lake were taken. Long before she had made her debut as a sum.rer resort, Put-in-Bay had won many ardent admirers; and in 1852 a Fourth of July celebration formed an event such as the island had never before witnessed. The anniversary coming on Sunday, the principal doings were deferred until the following day, but a national religious service was held Sunday afternoon at which the first sermon ever preached on Put-in-Bay was de- Hvered by Rev. Jewett of the M . E. church, San- dusky. Monday came with a memorable blow-out. The boom of cannon awoke the echoes. The burial mound where rest the slain of Perry's victory was decorated with the national colors. Military companies from various points throughout the state participated, and crowds from the lake towns and cities arrived by special steamers. Sandusky grocers had erected lunch A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. 21 stands and stocked them with bountiful supplies, by means of which the hungry multitudes were fed. In- spiriting music and eloquent oratory awoke an enthu- siasm which reached white heat. In 1854 ^'^^ islands, comprising the Edwards prop- erty, were sold entire to Riveria De Sanjargo, a Span- ish merchant of wealth and distinction then residing in New York City. Up to this time, but a single frame house had been erected on Put-in-Bay, but with a change of proprietors, ils prospects brightened. Con- tracts for buildings were issued by Riveria, and Mid- dle Bass was disposed of to three purchasers — VVm. Rehberg, a German count, Andrew Wehrle, and a gentleman of fortune named Caldwell. A steamer, the "Islander", began making trips from Sandusky to Put-in-Bay. Improvements went rapidly forward, and the islands as a body enjoyed that which in modern times would be called a "boom." Many visitors now began crowding toward Put-in-Bay, drawn thither by the natural and historical attractions of the place. Among the number was J. W. Gray, then editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Realizing: the need of suitable hotel accommodations, Gray pur- chased the 'White House." Changes and additions were made, and ere long a comfortable hotel opened its doors. The island was now becoming famous as a summer resort, and to meet the ever increasing de- mand for accommodation, a grand summer hotel was projected, built and christened — "The Put-in-Bay House." The structure was 450 feet long. Its veran- dahs extended the whole length of the building and commanded a magnificent view of the bay near 22 A GEM OF HISTORIC SETTING. :-i-,>^- OLD PUT-IN-BAY HOUSE. which the hotel was located. The Beebe house, a commodious structure, was erected on the site of an old building known as the "Perry House." The Beebe house was owned and is still operated by Henry Beebe, the oldest hotel man in the state. Other hotels rapidly sprung up, and owners of real estate in sizable tracts suddenly found themselves wealthy. Not only had the place become an attraction to tourists and visitors in general, but the peculiar adaptability of the soil rendered grape culture a prolific source of gain; and Put-in-Bay and adjacent isles were soon covered with thrifty vine3^ards. The Put-in-Bay house was subsequently destr03ed by fire, but was afterwards rebuili on a smaller scale by Valentine Doller. In size and magnificence, however, the old Put-in- Bay house was finally eclipsed by the erection on Vic- tory Bay of Hotel Victor}-, which enjoys the distinc- tion of being the largest and most luxuriously appointed summer hotel in the United States. Such in brief is the history of a summer resort. PERRY'S VICTORY In the Light of Local Reminiscence. "As bears the noble consort slowly down, Portentous now her teeming cannon frown; List to the volleys that incessant break The ancient silence of this border lake." "While Erie's currents lave her winding shore. Or down the crags her rushing torrents pour, While floats Columbia's standard to the breeze, No blight shall wither laurels such as these." — Harpek"s Magazine "The chief products of Put-in" Bay are fish, fiirlalions, limestone md Perry's victory." Thus facetiously comments an observer after duly siting up the isl- oiiver Hazard Perry, aud iu questioH. Thc latter com- modity is especially abundant as may be divined from the fact that it forms the primary consideration of al- most every visitor of intelligence who for the first time sets foot upon this historic bit of terra firma. Among the crowds which annually visit the resort are tourists from New England, from the land of the orange and palmetto, from the isles of Britain and from Continental Europe. As a rule, the farther traveled, the deeper the interest exhibited by travelers in a con- templation of the scene where occurred the great naval contest which swept from American waters the Cross 24 PERRY'S VICTORY. of St. George, and demonstiated the invalidity of Eng- land's pretentions to being "mistress of the seas" — a supremacy long the boast of this most invincible of old world powers. On almost any favorable da}' during the "guest season" many loiterers mixy be observed near the "lone willow" — beneath which lie the slain of Perry's victory — leaning over the post and chain fence that encircles it, or resting on the lawn adjacent, evi- dently lost in retrospective cogitations. They have many questions to ask of the islanders whom they meet concerning points of history — local and general — bearing upon events associated with the spot, and are sometimes as easily gulled by the romancist as are travelers in the holy land by the relic vender. The burial mound, which thus forms a point of general in- terest, is located on a level sweep of greensward, a few rods from the bay shore, midway between the two wharves at which incoming steamers land their pas- sengers. This spot was denuded of timber before the war of i8[2, and save the old willow contains only a few second <;rowth trees. In consideration of its isolated position, it became known as the "lone willow" — an appellation given it by early settlers, and which it still retains. Its story as told by these pioneer dwellers runs as follows: A few days succeeding the surrender of Barkiey's fleet, a vessel hailing from the settlement now marked by the town of Vermillion, arrived laden with supplies for the American squadron. While anchored offshore, the master of this vessel visited the island, where were interred the slain officers of both fleets. In his hand PERRY'S VICTORY. 25 he carried a walking stick cut from a green willow. The earth which rounded the lonely graves was still fresh, and into the yielding surface he imbedded the shoot. It became rooted and grew into the goodly tree which now marks the place. This story is well authenticated, many of the old residents having seen and conversed with the man who planted the willow shoot, and who in subsequent years visited the island. Within a comparatively recent period the tree was encircled by the above mentioned post and chain fence which encloses and renders con- spicuous the otherwise neglected spot. The tree has grown to stately proportions, but its trunk is becom- ing gnarled, and its yellow twigs and clustering leaves are oftimes broken by the hands of strangers and carried away as mementoes. Two or three round, white boulders lie partially imbedded in the sod at its roots — the only monumental stones the enclosure con- tains; whether originally placed there by Perry and his men, is a matter concerning which the present in- habitants seem devoid of knowledge. There are persons still living on Put-in-Bay who remember seeing the remains of an old scaffold cap- ping a wall of rugged and precipitous rock near the "Needle's Eye," Gibraltar Island, From this com- manding station Commodore Perry and his officers daily and hourly reconnoitered the lake, sweeping with their marine glasses the horizon to west and north- west for the first topsail of the British squadron, the appearance of which was to be the signal for action. A grass-grown path leading to this point of rocks from the opposite side of the island off which lay at 36 PERRY'S VICTORY. anchor the American fleet, is also remembered by early pioneers. The scaffold long since disappeared, but the spot upon which it stood is now commonly known as "Perry's lookout." It is marked by a flag- staff, and the neighboring scenery, as viewed from this eminence, is the most rugged, picturesque and ro- mantic known in the archipelago. Near "Perry's Lookout," on Gibraltar, is placed a monument intended to commemorate the battle of Lake Erie. It was designed and erected by Jay Cooke, the well known Philadelphia financier and present owner of the island. Within the entrance hall of Mr. Cooke's stately summer villa — which occupies a central location on Gibraltar — hangs an old painting representing the scene of this famous engagement. Several years ago a transportation vessel lost her anchor, and while grappHng for it, her crew hauled up, not that for which they were looking, but an old wooden stock anchor, such as were used by navigators in early days. The wood had rotted away, and the iron was deeply corroded with rust. This anchor is said to have been lost from one of the ships of Perry's squadron. Other interesting relics of the troublous times of i8 12-13, ^"^ of Perry's visit to Put in-Bay, have been found at various times and in divers places. Arms and military accoutrements bearing the United States brand have been picked up, of which the wood portions were rotted away and the iron deeply rust- eaten. On Peach Point, which overlooks the battle scene, was found a cannon ball imbedded in a mass of rock PERRY'S VICTORY. 27 and debris. The ball corresponded in size and weight with those used for the naval cannon of early days. This relic came ultimately into the possession of Jay Cooke, by whom it is highly prized. For an indefinite period of years an old dismounted cannon figured conspicuously in the history of Put-in- Bay. This piece of ordnance — it is asserted — belonged to one of Perry's ships, and was left on the island after the fight in a disabled condition. The piece was re- cently sold to the town of Port Clinton. The citizens of that borough feel proud of their acquisition, fondly cherishing the relic and bringing it forth with great eclat and profuse decorations whenever a street pa- rade or public jollification is given. The anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, Sep- tember lOth, is recognized at Put-in -Bay as a holiday of an importance as great as that which attaches lo the Fourth of July in other portions of the country- Whether any pubHc celebration is or is not held on the island, the average islander suspends his daily occupa- tions with the advent of the "tenth," and donning his best, repairs to the "Bay," wliere he aims to get out of the occasion all the glory there is in it. The res- idents of adjacent islands are accustomed also to gather at this common center, crossing in skiffs, yachts and sail boats. If no special features of interest are afforded, a meeting with neighbors and friends in the Bay park, a dish of ice cream at the restaurant, a glass of lager or perchance of something stronger serves to round out the day, and in the evening the islander goes home with a serene sense of duty done. 28 PERI^rs IICTORY. However, the advent of this anniversary rarely fails to bring crowds by every steamer from lakeport towns and cities, and often from points far inland. So- cieties civic and military frequently parade the thor- oughfares, bands discourse martial music, yards of bunting stream from public buildings; and inspired by the occasion, speeches full of hre and frenzy are pro- jected by orators of every degree. Then, too, the "lone willow" is wreathed, ribboned, flagged and flowered in the most approved manner. On one of these occasions a large and handsome portrait of Perry garlanded with exquisite floral decorations, and knots of red, white and blue ribbon, was suspended against the tree. Directly beneath lettered in black on a white ground appeared the words of th it brief but significent dispatch, penned by the hero to Gen. Har- rison — "We have met the enems' and they are ours " At the tree roots lay the rusty anchor — that had been fished from the bay — twined with evergreen, and its chain clasped about the trunk. Upon each post hung an evercrreen wreath and fluttered a flag, forming about the mound a blight circle of color. One of the most notable anniversaries of the battle ever held at Put-in-Bay, occurred somewhere back in the "fifties."' On this occasion, over 15,000 people were in attendance, and so many steamers arrived that scarcely room enough was afforded at the wharves to land their passengers. In anticipation of the crowd, bakers and restaurant keepers from adjacent mainland towns had put up temporary lunch counters and eating stands, and did a rushing business. There were present at this anniversary nearly PERRY'S VICTORY. 29 sixty survivors of the battle, among whom was Capt. Elliott, who commanded the ship Niagara, which after the Lawrence became disabled, was boarded b}^ Perry and made flagship of the squadron. A thrilling address was delivered by Capt. Elliott in the grounds of the "White House." An old resident of the island, Phillip V^roman, who was present, des- cribes the speaker, as he then appeared, as a grey bearded, but well preserved man of medium height, slender build, and intelligent countenance. Gen. Harrison who figures prominently in history, both civic and military, was among the speakers; also Gov. Cass of Michigan, together with many other noted scholars and statesmen. An incident which occurred in connection with this particular celebration is related by Mr. Vroman. He was standing near the old burial mound when he ob- served in the cro^vd about him a man of worn and grizzled appearance, with head inclined, and the tears coursing slowly down his cheeks. Mr. Vroman kind- ly inquired as to the cause of his grief. The man lifted his head and, pointing to the mound, said: "Here lie my comrades. Forty- five years ago to- day we gathered at this spot to perform for them our last services. Since then I have not seen the place until now. Gazing once more upon it under circum- stances so solemn and impressive brings back upon me an overpowering flood of recollections." In reply to inquiries, the old man gave some per- sonal experiences of the battle, as follows: "I was with a large detachment of our men on the little rock island known as Gibraltar, when Barkley's 30 PERRY'S VICTORY. fleet was sighted approaching from the northwest. We lost no time in getting back to our vessels which were idly swinging at anchor. Orders from command- ing ofi^icers were given, quick and sharp. There was a bustle of hasty preparation heard; a great straining of blocks and cordage, and a flap of canvas as the sails were unfurled. Our fleet passed out of the bay be- tween Peach Point and Middle Bass Island. The morning was as beautiful as any that I have ever seen. When about five miles north of Put-in-Bay, we en- countered the British squadron." After giving a description of the fight, the narrator closed with an account of the burial of the dead at Put-in-Bay. According to his statement, six officers — three Americans and three British, were buried on the site marked by the willow; the sailors and marines, on a beautiful treeless knoll near "Squaw Harbor." Some historians tell us that the latter were sunk in the lake by means of a cannon ball attached to the feet of each. This, however, must be erroneous, as other testimony to the effect that they were buried on the island exists besides that of the old marine above mentioned. Had the fleet been sailingr the high seas instead of lying in a quiet harbor, a disposition of the dead by committal to the waves might appear more reasonable. The spot pointed out as the burial ground in question was afterwards used by the early settlers as a place of interment, and in excavating, human bones were unearthed. Nearly all the remains of island settlers were subsequently removed to the present island cem- etery. Greensward and vineyard sweep cover the PERRY'S VICTORY. 31 site of the old burial ground at the present day, and nothing is now left upon its surface to suggest that it was ever used as such. Another point upon which historians differ is in reference to the exact location of the battle, its distance from Put-in-Bay ranging, according to several accounts, all the way from two to ten miles. Since, however, no measurements were ever taken by the participants, the exact distance in hnear miles will probably never be known. There are aged persons still Hving who remember having heard the cannon at the Battle of Lake Erie. E, W. Barnum of Cleveland, who attended a recent loth of September celebration at Put-in-Bay, saw, when a boy of twelve years, the British fleet, before its engagement with Perry, lying at King's Quay, Ft. Maiden. He was also on board the Queen Charlotte before her capture, and saw the identical cannon which has frowned for so many years upon passersby in Monumental Park, Cleveland. At various times for years past, efforts have been made to secure the erection of an appropriate Monu- ment at Put-in-Bay, intended both to commemorate this great naval achievement, and also to mark the burial place of the slain, but up to the present time all enterprises in this direction have met with signal failure. Many years ago a fund for the erection of a monu- ment to Oliver Hazard Perry was largely contributed to by island residents with the understanding that it was to be located at Put-in-Bay. Photographs of the 82 PERRY'S VICTORY. PERRY'S LONE WILLOW. "Lone Willow" were circulated and sold in large quantities, and the proceeds donated to this fund. In due time the monument took shape, and proved a suc- cess, being an elaborately designed and exquisitel}' exe- cuted piece of sculpture, surmounted by a life-like statue of Commodore Perry. Instead of being erected at Put- in-Bay, however, it was placed in Monumental Park» PERRY'S VICTORY. 33 Cleveland, where beside the old British cannon men- tioned in this co::nection it formed for many years an object of interest and admiration to the thousands who dail ; thronged the paved thoroughfares near which it stood. It was afterwards removed to Wade Park, where it will no doubt remain till time shall crumble it. MONUMENT COMMEMORATING THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE— GIBRALTAR. 34 PERRY'S VICTORY. On September loth, 1891, the Maumee Valley Monumental Association, with President Rutherford B. Hayes at its head, held a meeting at Put-in-Bay, Cassius M. Clay, of Kentucky, and other men of promi- nence being present. At this meeting the Perry monu- ment question was again agitated. As a result of this, and various other movements, a congressional appro- priation was solicited; and ever since, the congressional body have been considering the expediency of granting the same. Meantime, Rhode Island — Commodore Perry's native state — has stepped to the front, and pro- poses undertaking, on her own account, the building of a monument at Put-in-Bay, and the islanders are pray- ing that " Little Rhody's " good resolution may not fail until her task is accomplished. PUT-IN-BAY IN SONG AND POETRY. EVENING ON THE WATER. It IS "Did you ever behold a more lovely scene?' "Never ! It is superlatively beautiful, glorious !" The subject of discussion was a brilliant sunset viewed from a rocky projection. The interrogator an enthusiast who had never travelled far; the individual addressed, an enthusiast who had travelled extensively and viewed scenes and objects of famed attraction, but only to return to his own country, and there to dis- cover among the isles of Lake Erie the acme of all 36 PUTIN-BA YIN SONG AND POETRY, artistic inspiration and poetic sentiment shown up in one grand masterpiece. In its contemplation he grew ecstatic, and straightway exhausted the whole vocab- ulary of adjectives and terms synonymous expressive of highest and mightiest appreciation; but nothing could be too extravagant in the way of word garniture for such a scene. The Master Painter seemed indeed to have thrown into this stupendous effoit the full power of creative genius. Such delicate pencillings; such exquisite shadings; such clearness of outline in the foreground; such films of haze and flecks of cloud in the ('istances; such combinations of color; such fan- tastic play of lights on wave and sky; such a glorious reincarnation of beauty as a whole. A breeze with breath of balm, just rippling the channel waters. A murmur, just audible, of wavelets among caverned rocks. Ledges abrupt and crags overhung by riot-running vegetation. Cedar clumps abristle and maples thick leaved scumbled with golden bronze. To westward, the sun's divergent path; and far and near winged sails catching the crimson glow of the d3'ing da3^ Such in outline is the sketch of an island sunset; and afloat upon a luminous sea of in- spiration, poetic f- a: O TENT LIFE. 101 feeling the zephyr's breath soft upon the cheek, tis heaven to swing and doze. There is lots of romance, too, in a camp by moon- light when a soft splendor bathes lake and land, and silver pencils penetrate the dim forest. From out the twinkling firmament the gazer may then single his star of destiny, and the vocalist afloat upon the waters pour forth his soul to the click of row-locks. All this the average camper duly assimilates. Life in camp brings the individual into close com- munion with nature, enlarges his ideas and makes him healthy and happy. Bugs, ants, spiders and ]une flies dismay him not, and when fairly rilled up on poetry and romance he may have recourse to other amuse- ments, such as rowing, wrestling, bathing, foot-balling, love-making and yarn spinning. That the crew of every pas.sing craft may know how extravagantly happy he feels, the summer nomad explodes, by way of salutation, gun powder and torpedoes in endless quan- tities, and ehouts himself hoarse, forcibly expressing thereby his irrepressible jollity. The denizens of summer camps hail mainly from lake and inland town and city, and the change from interminable walls and crowded streets with their in- evitable heat, dust, dirt an.l discomfort, to the breezy haunts of island shores is novel. The first installment of campers puts in an appear- ance about the latter part of June, others coming and going from this date until the first of September. Representing all classes, they arrive in parties of all sizes. Romantic young couples sighing for "a lodge in some vast wilderness," spend the honeymoon in tented 102 TENT LIFE. seclusion, and family parties are common. Cliques of college students, sporting clubs, social clubs and clubs of divers sorts variously costumed and equipped are numerous, and military organizations occasional. Each encampment is rendered conspicuous by flag and other diicorations, and to each is attached some strikingly novel or romantically suggestive name usually blazoned in black letters on a strip of white canvas stretched from tree to tree. Exceedingly picturesque are the scenes sketched from life in the woods. That it is not all poetry and romance, however, and that its experiences are not all of a dreamy, indolent nature, is frequently demonstrated; the term "roughing it," having oftimes a literal and unwonted signification. "Taking it all through, you have a good deal to contend with?" was asked of a tent dweller. "Oh, yes indeed," he replied wearily, "We have our ups and downs of course. For instance, last night after we had got nicely settled in our straw mattress beds, the rain was pattering soft upon the canvas roof and we were just going off on an excursion to the poetic nooks and crannies of Dreamland, when zip! down came the tent, collapsed you know quicker'n a man could say Jack Robinson, and there it lay fiat as a pan- cake with us squirming under it, and the rain a pour- ing. The worst feature of the whole business, though, was the laughter that greeted us from the boys in an adjoining tent, but that serves to illustrate the cruelty of human nature and the readiness of its representatives to laugh at misfortune." "A speedy retribution awaited the game makers, however, for the roars of merriment to which they TENT LIFE. 103 gave utterance had not yet subsided, when down came their tent amid the rain and darkness. Suppressed groans were heard beneath the writhing heap of can- vas, but we felt that for us the tables had turned and naturally looked upon the last collapse as a just judg- ment sent upon the unregenerate doers. Investigations were continued in another direction, "How do you make out in the culinary department ? Suppose you are all good cooks?" "Well, I don't know," he replied, slowly. "I sup- pose there are just as good cooks to be found. The fact is, we never have had very extensive experience in that line." "You ought to have a cook book." "Oh, we liave a cook book and medical adviser combined; but somehow we get Jenny Lind's cream cake and Victoria fritters all mixed up with catarrh remedies and rheumatic balsams. I don't see how it is, but I believe that a woman can conjure from her head in half an hour a better meal than we can study out of a cook book in a week. We don't have our meals regularly," he continued, plaintively, "be- cause we can never decide who is to cook them. We get up at 7 o'clock with sharp appetites, expecting to sit down to a breakfast of French rolls, fricandelles and omelet soiiffle, but instead we have to hold a council of war to decide who is to be the projector of the enter- prise. Every fellow wants his breakfast, but none of 'em wants to cook it. As a result, we don't get ready to serve up till about 1 1 :3o, and that makes a late din- ner, you know ; and then sometimes we don't get any supper till the next day." 104 TENT LIFE. Initiation to camp life is frequently made interesting by the elements which arise to welcome the novice, summoning for this occasion the whole fantastic band of buglers, harpists and pipers at command; yEolius and Boreas leading, with prelude and plaint, whoop and howl, an extravaganza the weirdest and most magnifi- cent in all Nature's collection. On one occasion the arrival of a veteran military organization at "Gamp Bowler," on East Point, was thus notably greeted. All the tents having been staked in position by an advance guard, the main body reached the grounds just in time to render themselves "useful, as well as ornamental," in holding them down. The wind howled, trees were twisted into hard knots, spray spouted up the rocks, and tent canvas flapped like the sails of a frigate in a 13'phoon. For a time brawn and muscle prevailed over the elements; then, with a sud- denness appalling to onlookers, the steel ribs of the dining hall tent gave way, and the whole concern snapped togethei' like a rat-trap- Two or three men narrowly escaped being caught in the wreck; dishes innumerable were broken, and the quartermaster — so mad w-as he, it is affirmed, that you could have heard him swear from Put-in- Bay to Sandusky. The tent was an elaborate affair, and had kept a dozen men busy two days putting it up. While all this was transpiring, old Neptune was busily engaged in administering rites initiatory to other members of the camp on their way thither in row boats. The first boat, containing a party of ladies and an oarsman, narrowly escaped swamping. They made land after a hard struggle, but were drenched by rain TENT LIFE. 105 and driving surf. The wreck of dry goods and milli- nery was simply awful, and the half- drowned party presented a pitiable but picturesque appearance. A second boat went ashore upon the rocks and capsized; its occupants were picked up, sustaining no damage beyond a thorough wetting. While the storm was making things lively at "Camp Bowler," the occupants of an adjacent encampment were routed. They, too, had arrived that day, and had just got their tents fairly anchored when the gale struck, capsized and tore them from their moorings. Descending floods of rain quickly submerged the ladies and gentlemen of the party, together with bedding, provisions and camp equipment generally. Two immense trees close at hand were blown down, the air was filled with flying leaves and limbs, and the terrified party beat a hast}'" retreat to the nearest house, the hospitalities of which they were forced to solicit until the following day. Within the past few years Put-in- Bay and adjacent isles have formed the scenes of many notable encamp- ments. Of the numerous military organizations which have made the former place a rendezvous, the most brilliant, as well as the largest and most rollicking, was undoubtedly the First Regiment O. N. G., under com- mand of Col. W. B. Smith of Cincinnati. From early morning reveille until cannon thundered forth a parting salute at sunset, the drum beat and bugle call, the sharp word of command, the prolonged cheer, and bursts of music from the grand military band resounded from shore to shore, filling the day with a continued round of excitement. The camp was thronged with visitors, ladies and gentlemen, and the band, containing over 106 TENT LIFE fort}' performers, furnished an abundance of inspiriting music for the edification of hsteners. The arrival in the bay of the U. S. gunboat Michigan was honored by a salute of several guns from the First Regiment camp and a storm of martial music by the regimental band. The soldiers and marines and the officers of the army and navy visited each otlier in camp and on board the man-of-war. CAMP GROUNDS ON THE EAST POINT SHORES. Fewer in numbers but hardly less brilliant was the camp of the Duquesne Grays, pitched on the shores of "East Point," and a pleasant recollection here recalled was an evening spent at their camp. As our party approached the grounds, we were greeted by a brilliant flood of light, which, bursting through the wood, pen- etrated its dimmest recesses. A massive stand occupy- ing a central position was encircled by flaming torches, many more of which, fastened to trees, were inter- TENT LIFE. 107 spersed through the grove. The tents were lighted by swinging lamps and chandeliers, and the rays fall- ing upon gnarly tree trunks, and flashing upward into the leafy vaults overarching, produced an effect which was both novel and beautiful. The tent floors were tastefully carpeted and each was furnished according to the tastes of the occupants, decorations of flags and flowers appearing. Near the tent occupied by Col. Campbell of the Mexican Veterans drooped the torn and tattered folds of an old standard which had been carried through the battles of Vera Cruz, Cerro Gordo and on other noted fields at the head of the Colonel's command. Col. Campbell appeared hale and hearty, though advanced in years, and on this occasion was busy receiving and entertaining the man}' visitors who thronged the camp. At 8 o'clock the band, consisting of twenty-one performers, took their positions, and the evening con- cert began. Visitors to the number of 300 or there- about crowded around the stand, many selections were rendered in a brilliant manner, and for an hour the audience was held under the witching power of music. When the echoes of the last notes had died away, a shrill whoop was heard resounding from a remote part of the forest, it was speedily answered by other whoops, and a band of Indians appeared leading by the foretop a white man. They were hideous in war paint, red blankets, feathers and fantastic ornaments. "Big Injuns" were the}^ in every sense of the word, besides whose gigantic proportions the unfortunate pale face seemed a mere Lilliputian. With guttural howl and broken jargon the man was lashed to a 108 TENT LIFE. tree. His face was painted, and a pile of faggots lighted about him. Midst ascending smoke and the glare of flames, the savages circled 'round the tree in a wild war dance, brandishing knives, guns and toma- hawks. "Buffalo Bill" in bear skin suite, belt and revolvers figured conspicuously in the scene, and a rescue party and a horse appearing, the captive was released and smuggled into the saddle. The horse, after plunging and kicking at everybody in a manner most extraordinary, escaped with his rider through the wood. Scalping bees and "neck-tie parties" were amuse- ments also indulged to th'e delight of spectators. The Duquesne Greys, or "Pittsburgh Heavy s" form an old military organization originally named in honor of Old Fort ])uquesne. "We're Tenting Tonight On the Old Camp- Ground" is the song which more than any other finds an echo in the hearts of comrades of the Seventh O. V. 1. when gathered around their annual "campfire" they note the absence of once familiar faces and the changes which time has wrought; while in stor}^ and reminiscence they live over again those memorable events which so closely connect their history with that of the nation. "Banner regiment of Ohio," honored alike for past deeds of heroism, as for the present staunch patriot- ism and worthy citizenship of its members. For nearly twenty five years East Point, Pul-in-Bay, has formed the annual rendezvous of this famous regmient, and its members entertain a natural and strong attachment for the old camping ground which has witnessed all TENT LIFE. 109 these meetincTs. Its location is most charming. "Far from the maddening crowd's ignoble strife" — it forms a secluded retreat where naught is heard but wild bird notes, and the swash and wear of waves. The shores are clothed with natural forest, and girt by picturesque rocks fantasticall}^ carven and covered BY THE CAMP FIRE with mosses rare, embroidered by wild blossoms and festooned with drooping vines and Cedars. Detached rocks, overhung by native vegetation, form tiny islets in the blue water, and many other romantic bits of natural scenery appear. From the camp grounds a long pier projects into the lake, at which land the dashing little steamers of the island ferry lines. 110 TENT LIFE. Few veteran members now are left, but the fam- ilies and friends of those who have passed away and of those who survive fill the vacant places at yearly gatherings, and the organization is commonly known as the "Seventh Regiment association." The old battle flags carried by this regiment throutjrh a blaze of shot and shell at Lookout moun- tain, at Winchester, at Port Republic and upon many other noted fields, were formerly exhibited at these encampments — blackened by smoke and so shredded as to scarcel}^ bear unrolling. The "white banner" of sheeny silk, elegantly wrought and bearing upon its center the words: "First in valor; first in achieve- ment," is also treasured with the regimental colors. This trophy was presented the regiment by Ohio ladies as a mark of highest appreciation for gallant services rendered during the war. For safe keeping these flags were recently placed in the rooms of the Northern Ohio Historical society at Cleveland. ^ UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. Two Silly Girls and Their Adventures. To begin, I may state incidental!}' tl at I was born and bred in a section of countr}' ly'"& ^^'*^^^ inland, and until a few weeks previous to the occurrence which I am about to relate, had never seen a boat, save the tiny models in toy shops, nor a body of water bigger than "Taggart's mill pond." I experienced then a rap- ture inexpressible when first I sighted Lake Erie, wide rolling in all the reflected blue and golden glory of summer skies. And when in amongst the sleeping islands, emerald dotting her broad bosom, I was borne and sighted the shifting sails, grey and white, of cruis- ing vessels, and the pretty painted pleasure craft gently rocking on the bay, the scene impressed me like a dream. 1 questioned my reason as to whether the pictures were real, and wondered whether the "Isles of Greece," where "burning Sappho loved and sung," were lovelier than these. The bulk of my knowledge concerning great waters had been gleaned from poetry and fiction and I was proportionately susceptible to romantic impressions. The depth and mystery of the blue expanse where it met and blended with the horizon was to me awe-inspiring, and when the skies darkened and the waters turned green and black with storm, and turbulent waves thundered among caverned rocks, 112 UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. I was fascinated by the sublimity of a scene so new and novel. I loved, feared and venerated the JVeptune of the inl'ind seas and felt anxious to be on a friendly footing with this particular deity, hoping thereby to gain the freedom of his wide domain. Sailing and rowing afforded attractions irresistable which I was eager to enjoy, but was afraid of the water. A thought of its depth and the thinness of the boat's sides between it it and me caused a choking sensation in my throat. With a trusty oarsman 1 felt no especial timidity? though still there remained an aching void which could only be filled by a personal and practical knowl- edge of boats and oars. To obtain complete satisfac- tion I must learn to row. Once formed, the idea grew and strengthened, and one afternoon 1 found myself on a little wharf that projected into the waters of a quiet cove. The spot was romantic. The surface dimples were flashing gold and crimson from the westering sun and the faintest of zephyrs stirred the shore trees. Moored to the cribbmg was a skiff, blue and white painted, in which lay a pair of oars. "Now's your time," something whispered. I obedi- ently loosened the chain which held it and slipped down the cribbing into the boat. The water, as seen by the pebbled bottom, was but two or three feet in depth. "Should 1 fall in or the boat capsize I can't very well drown, because there isn't water enough." The thought gave me courage. Cautiously adjusting row-locks and oars, I was soon in the midst of my experiment. I kept the boat UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. 113 for a time in water shallow enough to wade, in case of wreckage. Having studied the movement of oarsmen I now endeavored to imitate, but sometimes my right oar struck bottom in a most provoking manner, while the left barely skimmed the surface, and vice versa. Still the boat moved and I was exultant, for I could row. Little or nothing knew I, it is true, abouc feath- ering, backing and curvetting, and having lived on a farm, might have turned a two horse wagon in far less tirre and space than I should have required to turn a boat; still I got along amazingly — so I thought — diffi- dence began evaporating and boldness grew apace. I re- solved to pull into deep water, a daring venture, but the boat showed no signs of treachery or insubordination. Confidence in myself, and it became stronger, my strokes bolder, if not more dextrous, and I ventured still farther until the boat w^as lifted by the gentle roll of undulating swells from the westward. How delight- ful! The motion was like swinging, with space illimit- able above and below. Read and his exquisite Neapol- itan song came to mind, and a stanza went jingling through my brain. I sang "Rocking on the Billows," "Song of the Sea," and "Life on the Ocean Wave," and thought of Grace Darling and in my soul emulated her daring spirit. Thus I found myself luxuriating in a heaven of my own creation, when a young woman, an acquaintance, appeared on the shore. I invited her to join me, and nothing loth, she accepted. With some difficulty I got the boat headed landward, and later, we together quaffed nectar to the fresh water Neptune. Arra evinced a slight distrust of my abilities, when she learned that I was handlinor the oars for the first 114 UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. time. However, I was the better of the two, since she had never pulled an oar, and never had indulged aspirations along the oar pulling line. There was no danger, obviously, of Arra usurping my place, so I laughed at her fears, sang "Bounding Billows," and she became more courageous. I was growing heroic to a painful degree, and having like Alexander conquered the world, yearned for more worlds to conquer, when an idea flashed upon me dazzling with its brilliancy. I had long wanted to visit an adjacent island lying in the dis- tance; "why not now?" My companion thought it a risky undertaking and objected, but I overruled her objections and we started. "We can easily get there and back again before dark," I observed, and so thought, but had miscalcu- lated both the distance and my ability as an oars wo- man. Had our course been direct, we might have progressed favorably, but I knew nothing about fixing a point on shore by which to. keep the boat in line, so Arra kept constantly bothering me with — "You're too far to the right," or "You're too far to the left" — until I ardently longed to box her ears, but contented myself with the demand: "Who is row- ing this boat?" We thus described a course which might have suggested the "worm" fence seen in rural districts. Outside we encountered a passing steamer. 1 was somewhat alarmed, having heard of small boats being run down by larger craft; but we got by without dif- UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS, 115 ficulty, and my fear of steamers was at once dis- sipated. The sun went down under a cloud which rose to meet it, and we missed the sunset scene which we had previously anticipated. Other clouds came up and overspread the sky. Twilight shades were gathering,, and still we had not reached our destination. "It seems as though we should never get there," observed Arra. "We're bound to get there," I replied, buckling in energetically. It was beginning to get dark when we reached the island, "Let's not land," pleaded Arra nervously. "No- body lives there but an old hermit, and I'm afraid," Now, on this bit of terra firma was an old tree with a big eagle's nest. The nest was the nearest ap- proach to an eagle I had ever known, and I could ill brook the disappointment of not seeing it. Once more, then, I overruled Arra's objections, and we quietly beached the boat. "We'll arm ourselves with sticks, and if the hermit comes out of his hut yonder we'll go for him." I seized a fragment of ship timber that had washed ashore. Arra picked up a broken lath, also tossed up by the waves, and we quietly stole along a gravelly stretch, and were soon beneath the eagle tree. The big nest in its top, outlined against the sky, was built of twigs and small limbs of trees. After a moment's contemplation thereof, we hastened back to our boat. "Dear me, how dark it is getting, but never mind, we're homeward bound." 116 UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. I adjusted the oars and we were off. There was no moon, and only an occasional star appeared through cloud rifts. The zephyr had freshened to a breeze, a strong current was setting through the chan- nel, and we made even slower progress than when coming. "I'd like to know what ails this old boat, I can't keep it straight !'.' It did behav^e very badly with the current against it. M}- hands, too, were blistered, and I was getting very tired, but I steeied as well as I could by a light gleaming from a cottage window in the cove from which we had started. To while the tedium, we began telling stories. I was in the midst of a narration, when Arra interrupted me. "Say, we had better hurry and get out of the way, the Jay Cooke is coming." "I don't care anything about the Jay Cooke," I re- plied and resumed my story. A few minutes passed, and i\rra again poked me up with the remark : "I think you'd belter keep the boat straight and row faster; ihe steamer is not far off, and coming right this way." "Do let her come; we're here first." I would not deign a look, and so persistently re- turned to my stor}'. I did not finish it, however, for Arra again broke in : "If vou don't row faster we'll be run down, just as sure as the world ! It's so dark they can't see us, and she's coming straight toward us." The churning of the steamer's big wheels did sound ominously near, and for the first time I turned and UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. 117 looked. She was indeed but a short distance away, and 1 saw that we were directly in her course, her port and starboard lights glaring full upon us, I felt a sud- den alarm, but confident of being able to clear her, began pulling with all my might. At that place, how- ever, the channel curved visibly to avoid hidden rocks» and veering to starboard, the steamer appeared to fol- low us. My alarm grew, while strength began failing. My hands trembled, and despite every ex- ertion the progress of the boat was scarcely percep- tible. The steamer was now but a few yards distant, and coming at full speed. The thunder of her great wheels sounded frightful, and her red and green eyes blazed down upon us like those of a monster. I spoke not a word, but my thoughts were all awhirl. "She is following us; we must turn and row the opposite way !" flashed through my mind. "No, there's but a moment left; before I can turn the boat she will have passed over us !" flashed back- I made another effort to send the boat forward, but my hands were nerveless. " 'Tis useless; we are lost ! Another instant and we shall be under her wheels ! In the darkness her crew will never know, and we shall be left to our fate." These were some of the thoughts that spun through my brain while the red and green eyes of the monster loomed above us, holding mine by the spell of their fascination. Already life and consciousness seemed slipping away. She was upon us. We were directly under her bow and awaiting the final shock when — 118 UNDER A STEAMER'S HEADLIGHTS. was it luck or Providence ? — she suddenly veered. Whether by accident or whether the pilot sighted the struggHng boat 1 will probably never know, but an instant turn of the helm "hard a-port" saved us as by a hair's breadth. The steamer passed us close; our boat trembled and was nearly swamped by the great waves from her wheels. It was some moments before we fully recovered our senses. The steamer was then far past, and taking the oars, which had fallen from my hands, I headed the aimlessly drifting boat toward our destination. "I hope after this experience you'll know better than to toy with steamers." Arra spoke wrathfulh' and reproachfully, but thor- Qughly humiliated 1 answered never a word. I heard, nevertheless, and heeded her wise counsel, and will continue to heed it lo the end of my days. s WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT, One may travel the country over without striking a locaHty in which the contrast between winter and sum- mer is so strongly marked as at an island resort, so complete is the revolution from scenes of exuberant life as witnessed during the gay season — to silence and desertion entailed by the rigors of winter, that the place seems almost to lose its identity. Such at least is the impression received by individuals having occasion to visit Put-in-Bay at both seasons of the year. Shut in by icy fetters which interlock bay and channel, communication by steamer with all lake towns and cities, excepting that of Sandusky, is entirel}^ cut off, and though comparatively near, even this place occas ionally proves as inaccessible to island dwellers as the north pole to Arctic navigators. So uncertain are the chances of the journey that but few of the class known as "land lubbers" seek the island shores during the ice blockade. Those who ven- ture across have experiences sometimes which intimi- date them from future enterprises of the kind. The few visitors seen at the island during the winter are mostly those who come on urgent business, or are Jured to the place by curiosity, both to see how its isolated inhabi- tants live and how the place appears en dishabille. In looking tor accommodations the stranger finds the hotels deserted by guests not only, but frequently by 120 WINTER A T AN ISLAND RESORT. the proprietors as well. Only the watchmen keep daily and nightly vigil under the massive walls of Hotel Victory, but a side door entrance may sometimes be found into some of the smaller hostelries and a board- ing house or two keep open doors for the benefit of adventurers. The tramp never seeks the winter attractions of Put-in-Bay and peddlers, book agents and solicitors for patents seldom show up to vex the islander's soul. The pretty summ.er cottages and club resorts are all vacant; the v, indows closely shuttered, the gates locked, while the snow on the gravel walks lies unbroken save by footprints of sparrows and of vagrant cats which rendezvous about them. At the ''Bay" dancing paviUions, bowling alleys, boat houses, bathing houses, groves and gardens are empty now as were "Tara's Hall," whence the soul of music had fled. During the day when the island denizens are busy at their homes, or engaged in amusements and occupa- tions on the ice, the observer may walk from end to end of the main village street without meeting a person. The distant ring of an ax or hammer, the barking of some perturbed canine, the voice of chanticleer, or pos- sibly the rattle of a wagon are about the only sounds which break the otherwise oppressive silence. The visitor, accustomed to the rush and roar of the cit}', is especially struck by the absence of sound indicative of life and enterprise, and wonder how people keep alive in a place so dead. The inhabitant, grown accustomed to quiet surroundings, however, assumes the winter to be the gayest season of the year. After a busy sum- WINTER A T AN ISLAND RESORT. 121 mer he rests contentedly, and if the ice closes in early and remains solid until spring, his happiness is com- plete. An iceless winter is to him an abommation and little wonder, since upon good ice depend so largely both his winter recreations and employments. The inhabitants represent mixed classes and nationalities. They are constitutionally and practically independent, with other strongly marked characteristics. In the wa}" of amusements on shore an amateur theatrical, concert, dance or masquerade occasionally varies the monotony. The island church, St. Paul's Reformed Episcopal, built and donated by Jay Cooke, the noted Philadelphia banker, affords a school for religion and morals. The provident islander always lays in ample supplies for winter while the lake is unfrozen. His less wise neighbor provisioned less bountifully, sometimes runs short of the comforts and necessities of life at a time when they are most difficult to procure. The most calamitous thing that can happen during the season of broken and dangerous ice, however, is when the beer runs dry, with no way to obtain a fresh supply. The island dweller is a great observer of the weather. He always notes from which quarter the wind blows, and by the depth of water in the ice open- ing, from which he gets his household supply, marks the daily rise and fall of the lake. When the more distant islands loom up, and appear as if hung in space, with a strip of sky under them, he predicts a nor'easter, which rarely fails to materialize. He makes a daily study of the weather map and watches the storm signals. The central idea, however, around which revolve all other 122 WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. ideas, and which dominates during the winter season the island dweller is comprehended in the three lettered word, ice. The idea is omnipresent. It is obtrusive, confronting him at every turn. It is a cold, hard fact which deprecate as he may, he cannot ignore. It thwarts or favors his purposes, and enters into nearly everything that concerns his occupations and amuse- ments, and with an interest unflagging he watches its making and shifting, its coming and going. Ice in quantities illimitable shuts him in on every side; ice sufficient to swamp whole empires in cooling drinks and iced creams, expands its trackless plains to the horizon where ice and sk\' blend into one. The resident islander is a sort of amphibian, and excepting under extraordinary circumstances, to drown him is among impossibilities. There are few enter- prises on ice, apparently, too hazardous for him to undertake, and during a single season he tempts Provi- dence oftener than he has fingers and toes. He breaks in frequently, but by some "hook or crook" usually gets out again; while his associates treat the affair as a good joke rather than as a mishap that might have ended his earthly career. Occasionally, however, there is a body to be fished from under the ice, if not car- ried away by undercurrents, and a funeral varies the program. By means of the "ice bridge" connection is made with neighboring islands and the mainland, the inhabit- ants passing to and fro on foot and with teams when the ice is solid; with boats set upon sled runners when it is broken and running. Under stress of circum. stances may be seen imitators of "Eliza," "Uncle Tom's WINTER A T AN ISLAND RESORT. 123 Cabin" celebrity, performing the somewhat stagey feat of making both speed and distance on foot over the floating ice. Port Clinton, distant fourteen miles, is an objective mainland point for islanders. Fish, wine and other island products are conveyed thither by teams, which on returning bring loads of farm produce, lumber and supplies of various kinds. When the ice bridge is un- certain, these teams travel near each other, so as to render mutual assistance in case of accident. They frequently break in with drivers and conveyances, but by means of a hoisting apparatus, ropes and pike-poles, always carried along, the luckless animals are extri- cated. Sometimes the poor creatures refuse to make an effort, and are drawn under and drift away beneath the ice. The only way to induce a horse to help him- self w^hen chilled and stupefied is by choking him with a rope fastened tightly around the neck. He then begins to struggle violently, and assisted by men and ropes regains solid ice. In some instances teamsters carry with them strong brandy or bourbon wherewith to warm and encourage their horses in case of immer- sion. If not required by equine representatives of the party, said cordial is apt to find other ways of disposal. As notable examples of native hardihood, sagacity and experience in ice travel may be cited the U. S. mail representatives of the island route. In accordance with the present existing postal regulations, mails cross the lake twice daily between Put-in-Bay and the peninsula, with tri-weekly trips to and from Middle Bass and Isle St. George. The individual selected for this task must be a live man in every sense of the word. He must be V2i WIXTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. DEPARTURE OF THE ISLAND MAIL. possessed of agility and alertness, unflinching courage and physical endurance. He must thoroughly under- stand the ice, its foibles and weaknesses; must know where the undercurrents, which wear it, are strongest, and be able to locate shoals and sunken reefs — danger- ous to the ice navigator as to the mariner. With a Hght horse and cutter, or with iron-sheeted boat made expressly for the purpose, he daily traverses miles of ice, precarious and uncertain, sometimes dragging the boat, but often forcing it through by means of oars and pike-poles; and he must work his cards well at times to prevent being caught and crushed in the grinding drifts that sweep down upon him. The most dangerous period of travel is when violent gales have extensively broken the ice and piled it in WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. 125 MAIL ON THE Vv'AY. slushy gorges many feet in depth. On days when even the hardiest knots among island denizens hug closely the stove and incessantly smoke their pipes to keep warm, the mail earner and his assistants are abroad on the lake. On one occasion, when a terrific storm of wind and snow swept Lake Erie, the mail cutter, accompanied by that of an islander, was returning home. Storm coats and collars notwithstanding, the snow and sleet cut the men's faces until it seemed un- bearable. They accordingly took turns in leading the way, the slight protection afforded by the advance team proving a relief to the one following. The greatest danger lay in the snow, which covered alike the good ice and the bad. Unable to choose their path, they went hap-hazard, trusting to luck for solid footing. As frequently happens, luck failed them; for when off Green Island down went the carrier's horse, and in a 126 WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. moment it was floundering in the water. Aided by the horse attached to the cutter following, the men succeeded in dragging out of the water the unfortunate leader. In consequence of hard tugging the animal had been in a perspiration, and its sudden immersion so benumbed the poor creature that it was at first unable to stand. The horse was given a thorough rubbing, and by the help of its equine friend, to which it was fastened, was enabled at last to proceed, the party finally reaching Put-in-Bay. On another occasion a part}' had made the trip to Port Clinton and were returninir laden with mer- chandize, having left that place early in the afternoon. The snow was deep and very compact, and the travel- ling hard. When a mile or two on their way, the horse having become jaded by its previous fourteen miles of travel, succumbed to weariness and refused to proceed farther. No other alternative presenting they were obliged to unhitch the animal, and leaving the sled and its unprotected wares, proceeded on foot. Owinfj to the difficult walking the men soon became very tired, and varied the tedium of the way by mounting and riding the horse, each in turn. Even with this help the journey grew more and more ex- haustive, and before they were near their destination a rising wind and a howling snow storm swept down, blotting from view the point toward which they were heading. Night came on, and a reahzation that they were lost on the ice dawned upon them with uncom- fortable suggestions, considering the fact that Lake Erie is a big place for waifs and strays to get aboard on a night of storm and darkness. In one place they WINTER A T AX ISLAND RESORT. 127 Struck slush ice into which the horse sank to its sjirth and the men to their waists. After serious difficuhy they succeeded in floundering out of this unpleas- ant predicament to solid footincr. Wet and bedrag- crled and chilled to the marrow, man and beast were obliged to keep moving to prevent being frozen to death, even at the risk of their unguided course It ading them out toward the open lake. Fortunately as night advanced, the snow storm cleared sufficiently so that a light became visible. Guided thereby they finally reached home at a late hour. Meantime, friends on the island becoming alarmed, had started out with teams and lanterns to look for the missing party, but finding no trace thereof returned with the intention of enlisting other assistance and extending the search. On arrival they found the party safely ashore, though nenrlv dead with fatigue. Probably one of the most hazardous experiences ever endured on the island mail route, however, was during the winter of '97 and '98 by the Hitchcock broth- ers — U. S. mail representatives. Caught in a storm and running ice, they were carried down the lake by the resistless force of a drift in which they became wedged. The boys were given up for lost by the excited islanders who at various points thronged the shores. A cablegram wired to Kelley Island read: "Look out for the carriers; they are fast in the ice and drifting that way." How^beit, to the intense relief of all, the carriers succeeded in escaping from the drift, and after a des- perate struggle reached shore. They were in an exhausted condition and so com- 128 WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. pletely covered and weighed down with ice as to be perfectly helpless. Their caps were frozen fast to their heads and their garments so loaded with ice from the showering spray that the wearers were un- able to bend. On arrival at home their friends were obliged to cut and tear from them their ice-armored clothing STR. AMERICAN tAUiLE. which they exchanged for warm, dry garments. After changing more than a bushel of ice that had fallen off in the process was swept from the floor. The above serve as fair samples of adventures on the ice plains annually taken by island dwellers. Space permitting, scores of blood curdling, hair lifting ex- periences of this kind might here be narrated, which would afford material for a whole series of sensational novels. In winter the steamer American Eagle may o WINTER A T AN ISLAND RESORT. 129 be justly termed "Queen of the Islands." Seen be- side the magnificent steamers of the Cleveland and Detroit lines when the excursion season is at its height, the Eagle shrinks by comparison, but when ice twelve to eighteen inches in thickness extends from island to mainland, the superior prowess of this ice battering monitor becomes apparent. The Eagle is a craft of medium size, heavily clad in steel armor and is built and ballasted in a manner which enables her to keep her nose well out of water. Running thus upon the ice, she cruslus it by her weight. The steamer is sailed by Capt. Fied Magle, of Put-in-Bay, whose skill is equalled only by his courage. Though cap- able of breaking twenty-two inches of solid ice, the running expenses are heavv, and as the winter freight and passenger traffic is dull, the steamer, runs but a part of the winter. Line fishinjr through the ice has become an in- dustry of no small importance among the islands. Villages of tiny but comfortable fish houses dot the lake surface at a distance of a mile or two from shore, and during a sinole season fish from seventy-five to a hundred tons are annually caught with hook and line at Put-in-Bay alone. These are shipped over the ice to mainland market towns where they bring a good price. Occasionally when the ice weakens and becomes precarious, these venturesome fishermen allow their aquatic houses to remain a little too long exposed, and an unlooked for parting of the ice carries some of them away. The winter of 1S97 and '98 witnessed a notable disaster of this kind. Following an extended 130 WINTER AT AX ISLAND RESORT. period of mild weather, a gale struck suddenl}^ and with great violence. The wind which was off shore quickly seamed and parted the ice and sent adrift a great fioe containing a whole village— nearly lOO houses and about seventy-five people, among whom were a number of women. Some of the airy domiciles were blown over. White caps began surging around PLOWING ICE. the frail ice raft and fast the big fioe began drifting down the lake. So liard blew the gale that the be- leaguered villagers could scarcely keep their feet, and were in imminent danger of b.iing blown into the water. Consternation reigned not only on the drifting floe but on shore, which was soon thronged with specta- tors. As soon as boats could be procured and launched, a rescue party pulled after the fugitive fish- WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. 131 ing village. After serious difficulty, some lively work and many narrow escapes, the castaways were all rescued, but many of the houses were caught and crushed in the breaking ice or carried away bodily with all their belongings. The cutting and storing of ice affords extended oc- cupation to day laborers. Immense quantities of this commodity are stored annuall}' in the houses of the Forest City company. Winter recreations of the island young people are mainly on the ice. They skate, sail and sleighride on the ice and hold afternoon matinees and torch light parties thereon. Skating is greatly in favor, but chief among amusements is ice yachting. At one time Put-in-Bay claimed the finest fleet of ice yachts on the whole chain of lakes, rank- ing as second in the country^ being ortrivalled only by those on the Hudson river. A com- modore and other officers are appointed to direct the fleet and pretty and suggestive names, such as "icicle," "Frost Fairy," "Winter King," and "North Wind," are bestowed upon these swift flyers. A large fleet of ice yachts in motion is an inter- A SAIL SKATER. estiug spectaclc, and with a crisp breeze on smooth, solid ice, the speed of a mile a minute is attained. Moving, as they do, swifter than the wind, they sometimes sail away from it, 132 WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. AN ICL YACHT— THE "ICICLE." and come almost to a dead stop for a second until the wind "catches up." Strange as it may appear, the yacht makes better speed with a quartering wind, than when running directly before it. The sport is very ex- citing, though not without its dangers, as yachtsmen are venturesome, often sailing over ice so thin that only the great speed at which they go prevents breaking in. Accidents likewise occur on rough ice from "bucking" yachts. "Bucking" is occasioned by the yacht striking an obstruction, which causes an em- phatic pause on its part, while the crew and passengers travel on quite a distance in advance, and if they escape without serious injury they may consider themselves favored by the gods. Ladies of the courageous sort enjoy ice yachting, but the timid ones prefer looking on. WINTER A T AN ISLAND RESORT. 133 The breaking up of the ice after a hard winter and long freeze involves chaos, such, we imagine, as must have brooded over "the great void" before the spirit of creative power mov- ed upon the face of the waters. An in- land sea seeking es- cRYSTALLiEo 1 , cape from thralldom presents ^ spectacle of grandeur, embod^'ing as it does the warring elements. Advances and retreats are mcde to the flourish of wind trumpets. Vast plains of ice drive down with the weight of an avalanche; and on- rushing waves, a force of equal power, meet the icy foe and shatter and channel its solid line, send- ing adrift towering masses, solitary burgs and crystal islets, cragged and castellated. The waters foam and spout and surging floes crash against each other, filling the air with a roar like the thunder of battle. On windless days when the waters rest the million shaped ice fragments floating upon the surface show a variety of beautiful tintings in neutral tones of grey and white, steely blue and pearl, which, touched by the sun's rays, flash with iridescent splendor, each glisten- ing point a prism. With its pointed rays the sun drills the ice through and through with tubular pores until each solid mass becomes a veritable honey- comb, which a slight blow shatters into hundreds of 134 WINTER AT AN ISLAND RESORT. long icicle-like fragments. Thus, what the wind does by force, the sun accomplishes by strategy; for when the ice is once in this condition, the end is near and like a wraith of mist at sunrise, it vanishes so suddenly that observers wonder what became of it. '\§. im CRYSTALIZED FOLIAGE. AN ICEQUAKE; Or, The Wreck of Herringtown, A novel place was Herringtown. Other villages might boast greater wealth, finer architecture, and im- provements of a more extensive and substantial char- acter; but for location and the peculiarity of its general get-up, this little burg took the medal. Herringtown was an aquatic village, containing about sixty houses. Like the proverbial mushroom, it had sprung up in an incredibly brief period, and had become a commercial center of no small importance. It was situated on the frozen plains of Erie, two miles from the nearest point of land, with a coldly desolate yet magnificent prospect unrolling upon every side. Ice, ice everywhere, stretching afar, forming rough broken plains, apparently illimitable in extent. The lake had frozen during a heavy blow, and the mottled grey and white of shattered floe and crowded drift flecking wide its surface merged into the grey and white of bending skies which curved low at the horizon line to meet it. The only breaks in this icy vastness were the haze-scumbled dots and elongations outlining shapes of islands, large and small, and a narrow strip of water, black-blue, a few miles to eastward, where the lake had opened. Herringtown was the exclusive resort of fisher- men, who made a living during the winter by catching 136 AN ICEQUAKE. fish through the ice. Contrary to the usual method of building, the houses which they occupied were first constructed, tlien moved to the locations selected, upon runners, which formed the foundation of each. These houses were necessarily small. Some were rudely fin- ished; others triumplis, in their way, of the builder's art. The framework of each was of wood; but while some were boarded up in the conventional manner, others appeared in exterior coverings of heavy canvas securely tacked, and made impervious to wind and rain by coat- ings of oil and paint. Each householder exhibited a pardonable pride in his own individual domicile, and vied with his neiijhbor in embellishin white, purple and gold of the many varieties paint the landscape with diversified color. Probably no spot within the Northern States east of the Rockies more resembles these storied lands of 182 FRUIT HARVEST poetry, sunshine and grapes than do the islands of Lake Erie — a feature often remarked by foreign tourists. However, not alone in grapes do they lux- uriate, but in every variety of fruit native to the soil and climate, and a never ceasing wonder to autumn visitors are the overwhelming crops produced. Wher- ever the steamer touches at any of the numerous land- ings, and especially at the principal steamboat wharves where cargoes of fruit are taken on board, the observer is strongly impressed with the extent and importance of the horticultural interests of the locality. Business along the fruit line is seen to overshadow every other concern including pound fishing which ranks second as an island industr3\ The rich and bountiful exhibit of Pomona's treas- ures becomes less of a marvel, however, when it is known that the whole extent of available surface on Put-in-Bay, Middle Bass and Isle St. George com- prises each a magnificent sweep of vineyard and or- chard lands without a solitary wheat, corn, oat or hay field intervening, and only occasional small pasture lots, gardens and truck patches appearing. A grain reaper, mower or threshing machine are things never seen among the Bass islands, and the resident small boy would undoubtedly open his eyes as widely at sight of one of these objects as a youthful landlubber might open his at sight of a big lake steamer. While the farmer's busy season is in mid-summer when the grain is golden and the meadows are sweet with new mown grasses, the island dweller begins his harvest of vine and orchard products in early September, IN THE ARCHIPELAGO. 183 continuing it through crisp October, and on frequently until bleak No- vember blasts smite his cheeks, and the f r ost-bl ight sears leaf and blade. During (PhoiobyRev.W. F.Allen.) DRIVl N'G GRAPE POSTS. all thcSC WCCks of fruit gathering, hauling and shipping, so busy is he that the proverbial busy bee is left behind in the com- petition. Not only is the lord of the vineyard kept constantly at work, but likewise all his help, male and female, and his good wife, if she wills, and his sons and daugh- ters and relatives near and distant, with goodness knows how manv outsiders, are marshalled into ser- vice. Housekeeping affairs must languish to a con- siderable extent, of course. The bread gets away, pies and cookies mysteriously disappear, carpets and furniture get dusty, and the clothes basket becomes piled with soiled clothes. The thrifty housewife chafes and sometimes scolds over existing conditions, but is powerless to cope successfully against such fearful odds of dirt and disorder, and still do her part in fur- thering the fruit gathering. Callers who come unexpectedly are apt to find the lady of the house in the vineyard arrayed in a ging- 184 FRUIT HARVEST ham sunbonnet, her husband's cast off coat and pos- sibly his shoes. She looks ruddy and picturesque, and though slightly mortified and very profuse in apol- ogies, laughs jocosely at being caught in "such an out- rageous plight." Agents and peddlars bitterly complain of finding "everybody in the vineyard and nobody at home," and though affording them excellent opportunit}^ for munching rich clusters, and flirting with the pretty young girls who gather them, the vineyard is a bad place to talk business, and their trade corresponding!}- suffers. At the islands grape picking is regarded as an ex- ceptionally genteel occupation, and young ladies who scorn kitchen accomplishments, who eschew dining room service and chamber work, take as kindly to grape picking as fish take to water. Among the pickers are found shop girls, dressmakers, salesladies and book-keepers, and they sometimes go to work in dainty sailor hats and beaver jackets; but most of them don more picturesque attire. Though sickly and sal- low at the beginning, the bracing breezes, the sun, the live fun, and the luscious grapes contribute to give tone, fiesh and color; and the picker soon begins con- sulting the grocer's scales and to mark her rapidly in- creasing weight. The girls who pick grapes are usually witty and wise, as well as gay and piquant. They are out for a good time and have it, and why not? when the sunshine is so golden and sk}' and water such a lovely tint, and the beauty, poetry and music of nature are everywhere felt as well as seen and heard. So through mellow afternoons while lights and shadows IN THE ARCHIPELAGO. 185 THE VINEYARD LANDS. play among the vines and he aroma of ripened clus- ters scents the a i r — w h i 1 e sea gulls dip and fish i n g boats come and go, the grape pickers are busy, and blithe and song, shout and gay repartee are heard on every side. They meet many pleasant acquaintances, form lasting friend- ships and make some interesting "mashes" among susceptible island youths. Many who come to the island looking thin, pale and melancholy, go away jolly, romping girls, a trifle sunbrowned and a bit flreckled, of course, but healthy and happy. "Anybody can pick grapes." So they can, but know ye that it is an art to be studied, and to do the work speedily and well requires extended practice. There's quite a knack, for instance, in rounding up a basket of grapes, and to do it perfectly requires almost as much constructive skill and artistic ability as the planning and execution of an elaborate floral piece. Now, the grape shipper is very fastidious concern- ing his baskets. They must be heaped to the handles, yet so nicely rounded at the ends as to allow them to be stacked up in tiers one upon the other without bruising the contents. They must show to advantage the delicate bloom of the beauty bunches nestling under 1 86 FR UIT HA R VEST coverings of pink tarletan. They must look smooth and even, and all imperfect fruit must be eliminated. There's lots of character in basket building, so much, indeed, that the local phrenologist can tell there- from the general character of the builder. If the basket has a mussy, topsy-turvy appearance; the picker is dead sure to be slovenly and disorderly in habits; if lop-sided and ill proportioned, generally the individual lacks form, calculation, etc. If bad grapes are found at the bottom with good ones on top, the picker is disposed to be tricky. An honest basket in- dicates an honest builder, and one symmetrically topped proclaims a S3^mmetrical taste. Thus it transpires that if a young man with an eye to business wants to learn what kind of a housekeeper the girl who has been his late vineyard partner will make, he examines the basket she has tilled. In like manner the damsel in- spects his, and reads as in a magic mirror as to whether he will make a model husband or is likely to enter the house without cleaning his boots, to spit tobacco juice against the kitchen siove and to scratch matches on the wall. The results of a day's picking are a surprise to the uninitiated. There are baskets and baskets by scores, and hundreds brimming with sweetness, and it is quite a trick to get the labels in place and the tarletan corners pinioned down smooth and tight. This done, they are loaded upon a fruit rack made to lit the wagon and conveyed to the wharves. In the height of the fruit season a novel spectacle is presented at the Put-in-Bay docks. The ware- houses everywhere are jam full of basketed products IN THE ARCHIPELAGO. 187 — peaches, plums and grapes — the latter largely pre- dominating. Loads are still being discharged and billed, while a long line of fruit-laden wagons stand waiting one upon another for opportunity to deposit their contents. The observer wonders at the patience of the drivers, for no matter how great his hurry, each bides his time with stoical grace. Nearly every wagon met on the island roads is laden with grapes and other fruit for the steamer wharves. Grapes for wine purposes are enclosed in heavy wooden boxes. Fruit speculators abound, and many a sharp dicker takes place between buyer and seller. Outgoing steamers of all the island lines carr}'- cargoes of fruit, but the larger bulk is sent up the lakes via Detroit, and the signal for a general rush at the landing is the arrival of the Detroit steamer bound up, which on account of taking fruit at other island points does not reach the bay until late. By the brilliant light of lamps and lanterns her decks appear already heaped with the spoils of vine- yard and orchard, but under the direction of their superior officers the deck hands hustle on board the large consignments still awaiting them. The scene is a busy one. There are many spectators, and it is sometimes quite late when the steamer whistles "off lines" and heads away for Detroit. A day spent in the island vineyards when conditions are favorable is a day to be remembered, for the sunny climes of foreign lands can furnish no fairer or more enchanting scenes. ^qSLE DE FLEURS/^- From a time obscure and olden, Linked by chain of legends golden, To the present day, Comes to us a pleasing story, Full of reminiscence hoary, Down the ages grey. 'Tis about a lonely islet, Stretching under skies of violet, In the hazy west; Brightly fair among the number That together calmly slumber On Lake Erie's breast. Near it one propitious June day, Anchored fast, a wave-worn brig lay. After voyage long; Over leagues of untried waters, Where the dusky warrior's daughters Sang their chieftain's song; While upon the wavelets lightly, Touched by silver moonbeams nightly, Sped their bark canoes: But the white-winged vessel lying With her tattered pennon flying, Resting from her cruise; *NOTE. — 'According,' to historical account, the first sail craft that ever cruised the island waters anchored off what is now known as Middle Bass, in the latter part of the 17th century. The vessel, bound up the lake, carried a party of French missionaries, aniong^ whom was Father Louis Hennesin. Upon this island the missionaries landed, and there conducted the first relif?ious service supposed ever to have been held in the archipelago by rep- resentatives of the Christian faith. So delifrhted with the island and its rich display of floral wealth were these early navig-ators, that they named it Jsle de J^'/eurs—^^lsle of Flowers'.' ISLE DE FLEURS. 189 Was the first sail of the white man Ever risk of rock and reef ran, On Lake Erie's wave; And the painted island savage, Used alone to war and ravage, Fearful grew, and grave. On the beach they quickly gathered, Youthful brtave and warrior feathered, At a sight so new, And in silence there awaited Small boats with intruders freighted. From "the winged canoe." Facino then the vessel's captain. Quoth an aged, dusky chieftain: "Wherefore art thou here ? Pale-face, tell us: Cam'st thou hither All the red man's hopes to wither, By the breath of fear?" "Cam'st thou to despoil our treasure, Basely to enslave at pleasure Youthful maidens fair.-" Cam'st for bloody war and pillage. Ruthlessly to burn our village. And our braves ensnare V Then a man of stately bearing, Symbols sacred meekly wearing On his priestly gown, Rose to greet each dusky native. While a heartfelt hymn oblative Softly floated round. Spake the priest — a Bible holding, And its precepts there unfolding — "Came we that strife may cease ! Fear not these, thy stranger brothers; This our motto— 'Love toothers,' And our mission — peace." 190 ISLE DE FLEURS. Then he told the olden story, Which, transcendent in its glory, Gilds the sacred Word, And the painted island savage, Used alone to war and ravage, Marveled as he heard. THE PAINTED ISL^^ND SaVAGE. All the green isle overspreading, Widely iragrance r chly sheading Through the balmy air ; Bloomed in wild, unkempt profusion, 'Mid the tangled wood's seclusion, Flow'rets brightly fair. With the lovely shores delighted, Which these voyagers had sighted, And had early hailed — Isle de Fleurs—'-'l^Xt of Flowers" — Named they thus its pristine bowers Ere again they sailed- ISLE DE FLEURS. 191 Cent'ries now, with movement solemn, Every trace has swept before them Of these voyagers : Yet this isle of pleasing story Bears the name and blossomed glory Which of old were hers. ir MIDDLE BASS And Her Attractions. MIDDLE BASS CLUB GROUNDS As one of the trip- lets which comprise the "Bass" group, Middle Bass island i s a section o f the same emerald, so to speak, as that from which Put-in-Bay was cut. Its coves and shore lines are pretty and pictur-- esque, and the place as a whole forms a natural garden spot. The primitive name, "Isle de Fleurs," is significant, and the blooms of field and forest not only; but fruits, and foliage, and vegetation, both wild and cultivated, unite in rendering it a perfect dream of beauty. Middle Bass is shaped something like a duck — minus the legs — the neck forming East Point, a long, narrow projection luxuriant with tangles of wild growths and picturescjue with rough rocks, and a tumbled beach over which ranting storms rush and roar. A sort of "John O'Groat's house" occupies the ex- treme point, rising boldly over creviced shore and dashing sea. 1 if % t ^""i 1 4 l^^Si^ i ■ 1 'Ik 1 lis * i ' '^^^^E 1 AND HER A TTRA CTIONS. 193 The tail of the duck is formed by the bobbed off western portion of the island. Upon this caudle ap- pendage is located the grounds of the Middle Bass club with its buildings and improvements. That Middle Bass holds, as a summer resort, an important place, is due to its charminij location and convenience of access not only, but also to the enterprise of this association, which has expended a large amount of money in fitting up for the use of its members and invited guests during summer heats a most delightful rendezvous. The approach thereto from the main landing at Wehrlt^'s is by an angling road which cuts through rich tracts of vineyard and orchard lands, while to left and right appear the neat dwellings of islanders, with their prttty yards and gardens. The grounds are sheltered by natural forest trees and the situ.itiofi is refreshingly cool and breezy. In addition to the magnificent club house with massive tower and wide, cool verandahs, . they also contain a handsome pavilion and boat house, a Gothic chapel in which religious services are conducted, and a large and elegant hall, at which are held club parties and enter- tainments. These attractions, together with a collec- tion of artistically built cottages, shaded avenues and carefull}^ kept lawns, form in themselves a village of un- rivalled beauty and elegance. There are no fences to give to the place an air of littleness or exclusiveness and the lawns and grass plots reach unbroken to the gutter and are miracles each of the gardener's skill. Every beautiful and artistic effect is studied in the arranjje- ment of vines, vases, plants and shrubbery, and every 194 MIDDLE BASS detail is looked after with the most scrupulous neatness and care. Pavements of smooth, white stone, sawed into blocks of uniform size and thickness, edge the main avenues and connect the club grounds with the steam- boat wharves and piers. During the summer season a ferry line steamer — Le Roy Brooks — runs between the club ground and Put-in-Bay, and viewed from the steamer's decks as she approaches the former place, presents an exceedingly attractive appearance. Club resorters crowd the wide pier, idly promenade the avenues, or recline in the deep, cool shadows of spreading trees. Cots, ca.r.p chairs, rockers and tete-a-tetes stand ready for occu- pation, iind luxurious hammocks swing invitingly. Thi club consists of 200 members, having been limited to that number, and represents some of the wealthiest and most influential families of Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Springfield, Dayton, Chicago and other cities. In the club membership, or on the list of invited guests, annually appear names of prominent men such as Governor Asa Bushnell and representatives of his staff; Senator Foraker, General J. Warren Keiffer, Judge Haynes, ex-Secretary of the Treasury Charles Foster, and Senator Hanna. These, and other dis- tinguished public men, with their families, are members or guests at this resort. Among society people of prominence entertained there from time to time may be mentioned the Misses Clay of Lexington, Kentucky; Miss Rusk, daughter of Jeremiah Rusk, Mrs. Reese, sister of Senator Sherman, and ladies of like prominence. AND HER A TTRA CTIONS. 195 The cottage of John Berdan has won distinction as the home, for two or three weeks during his pres- idential campaign, of Benjamin Harrison and family, who were then guests of the club. Life at the club is delightful, and rest, recreation and happiness are found in measure unrestricted. Lawn tennis, bicycle riding, bathing, boating and other pastimes occupy old and young. Music by the hotel or- chestra, piano or mandolin may be heard during the afternoon and evening. Singing by select solo and quartette performers till the air with a medley of sweet sounds, Rehberg's hall echoes to the feet of dancers, gaily painted boats and swift winged yachts put out from shore laden with pleasure parties. Prooellers, cargo laden, and strings of barges bound up and down the great highways of commerce, come and go, and shadowy sails appear, to vanish again in the blending haze of sea and sky. Such is life at this little earthly paradise. Among resorts there is none which so strongly at- tracts the ga3'er portion of visiting crowds than that known as "Wenrle's Hall" where: '•Youth and pleasure meet To chase the glowing hours with flying feet." For by day and night from the opening of the sea- son to its close are heard the sounds of music and the dance, and thousands come and go, as many as a thousand persons having been on some occasions rep- resented in the hall, the assemblage consisting of hotel guests from Put-in-Bay, island dwellers and parties from Sandusky and other points who arrive on moonlight 196 MIDDLE BASS WEHRLE'S HALL. excursions. On such occasions the hall is a blaze of light, the orchestra plays, the whistle of busy ferry boats is heard — the ///«, a well known and favored Httle steamer and other boats being represented — and red and green lights twinkle across the channel waters. At a late hour when the entertainment is over, and the steamers with their crowds move away, the band strikes up a lively selection, a cannon mouths forth a parting salute and shouts and cheers resound. Wehrle's hall occupies the upper portion of an ex- AND HER A TTRA CTIONS. 197 tensive building fronting the steamboat wharves, and is reached from the outside by flights of stairs. A wide balcony projects over the entire front and across the end overlooking the residence and private grounds of the late Andrew Wehrle. The hall is wainscotted with Hght oak or maple. At one end is the music platform, at the other end billiard and other tables. From a side counter customers order refreshments of all sorts, which may be had, from a dish of ice cream to wines of every brand, and the tempting goblet with its color and sparkle and seductive sweets goes round. Under the hall are the vaults of the Wehrle Wine company, which contains, it is said, some of the largest casks in the world. s EXPERIENCES OF AN OLD DOCTOR Among the Islands of Erie. Thouorh small in area, North Bass— otherwise known as "Isle St. George" — is great in importance; so rendered by the man}^ heroes of adventure there produced. This island lies four miles to the north of Put-in-Bay. Isolated as they were, its early inhabit- ants were prone to all sorts of ditficulties and discom- forts which overtook them whenever they made an attempt to get somewhere. Following is an old doc- tor's description of his first visit to this remote isle and subsequent adventures in the archipelago: "I was practicing medicine in the city of Rochester, N. Y., and having business in Sandusk}^, the owner of Isle St. George, Henry Champion, presented me a power of attorney to procure a lease of Roswell Nichols. He occupied the island as a squatter. To get to the place was a quandary — no steamboat. I got set over on the peninsula in a row boat; from there I hired an Indian to take me to Put-in-Bay in his canoe. Thence I got passage to Isle St. George. I found the said Nichols, his wife and two Scotts, brothers of Mrs. Nichols, sole occupants. At a later date, however, I became myself a resident of the island. "A mail carrier and a doctor doing a traveling business among these islands frequently have some pretty tough experiences, and no mistake." EXPERIENCES OF AN OLD DOCTOR. 199 The speaker spread his hands over the big base burner, by the aid of which he was trying to warm himself. "The fact is," continued the doctor, after a moment's reflection, "I .don't believe there is any class or condition of men upon this terrestrial ball that see more of rough- and-tumble experience than they, unless it be a Rocky mountain stage coach driver or an Arctic explorer. "I have roughed it on old Erie for years — not as a sailor, but as a doctor, traveHng by steamer, skiff, sail, team and on foot. Like the Flying Dutchman, I am forever on the wing, beating about in all weathers, over all creation and a part of Canada." "Indeed ! So your practice extends to the Cana- dian shores ?" "Oh, yes; I have had practice in Leamington, Kingsville and other places along the Canada main, as well as at Point au Pelee Island, Kelley Island, the three Bass Islands and the peninsula. "I have traveled back and forth so much as to have nearly lost my identity, and hardly know whether I belong to the United States or Canada. When I'm here Uncle Sam claims me, and when I go over the lake they try to annex me to the Queen's dominions." "I suppose you find it risky business, sometimes, traveling over the ice ?" "Oh yes, indeed ! It's all solid enough this winter, but I have been called from one island to another, in the pursuit of my avocation, when it wasn't fit for any human being to cross. I have traveled for miles, from one point to another, when I had to bridge the whole distance, the ice being all broken up." 200 EXPERIENCES OF AN OLD DOCTOR. "How did you do that ?" "By means of two boards, one laid in front of tl e other. When 1 stepped from one board, 1 pulled up the board 1 stepped off and put it down in front, and so on across. Once 1 remember I came pretty near going down, boards and all. I tell you I had to lay my bridge and get over it just about as lively as anything you ever saw." "I am not a church member, and j-et I have been immersed in Lake Erie often enough to have made me one several times over." "I crossed the lake once when the ice was very treacherous. I carried in my hand a long pike-pole, and picked my way carefully for a time. At last, I got careless, and being in a hurry did not watch my footing, when all at once the ice gave way beneath my feet and in I went. The long ends of the pole saved me, catching on the ice and holding me waist deep in the water. With the energy of desperation I grasped the pike-pole and threw myself right over it, landing upon the ice. The weather was intensely cold, and when I reached shore my clothes were frozen stiff and covered with ice like a coat of mail." " 'You look as if you had been in the lake,' ob- served a man whom I happened to meet." " 'Maybe I have,' 1 replied, and hurried on to the nearest house." At this point the departure of the mail cutter for Port Clinton caused a break in the narrative, and but- toning up his overcoat the doctor hurried away to visit a patient upon an adjacent island. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE, Trip With the Island Mail. Most persons who read the newspapers take a lively interest in exciting tales of dangers and escapes told by adventurers in remote western wilds, in moun- tain fastnesses, among Alaskan glaciers, or mayhap with train robbers on the night express, with floods^ earthquakes, blow-ups and blow-outs of all descrip- tions. As "distance lends enchantment," so a glamour of romance is thrown upon these distant occurrences, investing each detail with an abnormal interest, while oft-times within one's immediate neighbor- hood perilous ventures and hair-breadth escapes from danofer and death are made but never recorded. No better illustration along this line could be cited than is furnished by the United States mail service in operation between the Lake Erie islands and points on the mainland during the winter season. Few occupa- tions, indeed, could be fraught with more real hard- ship and precarious undertaking, and only the hardiest of that hardy race of amphibians who inhabit the archipelago, will incur the risk and respons- ibility attaching to the position of mail carrier, despite the very liberal pecuniar}- inducements offered by Uncle Sam. The experience of a "landlubber" who once got 202 A PERILOUS ADVENTURE, stranded upon the islands, is one among scores of stories which might be related in connection with the island mail service. The adventurer who lived in a thriving inland city, had been necessitated by urgent business to visit Isle St. George — the most northerly of the Bass group. Fresh from the noise and enterprise of busy streets the little lone isle wrapped in its wintry environments appeared to the stranger most desolate and forlorn. He had intended remaining over night only, but in two hours after his arrival a nor'easter, one of the heaviest that ever struck the islands, swooped down with a fury that sent people flying to their houses, birds and animals to coverts wherever afforded, and made the fisherman's cot, wherein the visitor had taken refuge, rock upon its foundations. The wind blew a sixty miles an hour gale, and the lake, which had been frozen over, was broken up by the mighty sweep of the hur- ricane. The sea was tremendous. By its force, masses of ice w^re lifted and flung high upon the shores to weatherward, when drenched by surf and frozen together, they formed vast solid ridges and ranges of ice hills, arched, pillared and corniced like the facade of a northern iceberg, and rising in places to a height of forty feet. Spray swept in showers across adjacent lands, coating heavily with ice rocks, trees, shrubbery and all objects within a hundred yards of shore. Snow blew in horizontal lines. The roar of the wind and crash of the ice were terrific, and the scene presented was one of sub- limity. For three days the stranger was storm-bound upon A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. 203 the island. Anxious ones at home awaited his return, wondering at his long absence. Damaged by ice, the wires of the telegraph cable would not work and he could send them no message, and so on the third night the storm having abated, he resolved to seize the first opportunity of escape from his forced exile. The carrier left on the following morning with the mail— long delayed — and our adventurer was duly on hand ready to accompany him as a "passenger" to the mainland. The mail-boat, gotten up to order, was a solidly built yawl with an exterior covering of sheet iron, and furnished with short, narrow runners. A motley crowd gathered at the island postofRce to see the carrier off with his party, and down the frozen ice banks they were soon plunging to the lake. The passenger, U. S. mail pouch and expressage were stowed in the stern, while the carrier and his as- sistants attired in water-tight suits and rubber boots managed the boat. The entire network of inlets, bays and channels was packed throughout with heavy ice drift. The surface was frozen, but not sufficiently to bear a man, so that a passage for the boat had to be broken and cleared with pike poles. It was hard work and tedi- ous and the distance between Isle St. George and Middle Bass seemed interminable. Lines of drift four or five feet deep barred the way at some points across which — it being impossible to force a channel — the boat was drawn and pushed, all the men disembarking for the purpose, save the passenger, who being unused to the situation was ordered to keep his seat as the surest means of keeping out of the way. 204 A PER/LOUS ADVENTURE. The ice was most treacherous. The waves had broken, pulverized and rolled it into perfectly round balls of all sizes from a lemon to immense spherical bodies many feet in diameter. These ball-like masses were liable to crumble beneath the feet at any mo- ment. There were deep holes and fissures where water appeared and crumbliiig ice obliged the men to hastily grasp and climb into the boat. The surface, too, was broken with icy knobs and sharp spines rising high in places, and here even the passenger was required to land that the boat might be gotten over with less exertion. The experience was new and novel to the stranger. It was likewise depressing and made him wonder vaguely whether he would ever see hom^ again. In fact he would have parted with a snug sum to have been safe once more on the mainland. Middle Bass was reached; two men and a team were waiting to convey the party to the postoflice, where another mail pouch and more expressage were shipped. They were soon again on their way toward the eastern extremity of Put-in-Bay. The channel between these islands was even more difficult of pass- age. The ice had been wildly tossed and deeply drifted. Contorted images of mottled marble menaced, and berg-like masses confronted them. Approaching shore, the drift rose several feet above the lake surface. It was full of seams and cavernous hollows, and a mass giving way the boat suddenly reared and plunged bow foremost into the opening. The pass- enger, mailbags and express matter were as suddenly shot from stern to stem, where they lay in a confused mass. Two men went into the water to the girdle. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. 205 the other to his neck. Then and there was a squirm- ing time, but men and boat subsequently fished each other out, and got righted, and wet, cold and hungry, they reached shore about noon. Here the mail boat, by which they had crossed, was left for the return trip. At this place a second iron-sheeted boat like the first had been left on the beach, which ihe carrier had purposed transporting to the opposite ^^ide of the isl- and to connect between Put-in-Bay and the peninsula; but the boat had disappeared, having been buried ten feet deep under the drift ice which ridged the shore. Fortunately the exact spot where it lay was known? and although the men protested against the long, laborious task the carrier insisted upon digging it out- Axes, picks and shovels were procured from adjacent houses, and after two hours' hard work the boat was dragged forth. With mail bags, pike poles and pass- enger, it was loaded upon an islander's wagon and con- veyed to its destination. At the Bay village the man who had taken an in- voluntary bath exchanged some of his wet garments for others furnished, and dinner with hot coffee was partaken of with a relish. Here the third and heaviest mail bag was received with more expressage. Two more "passengers" anxious to reach the main shore wished to join the carrier, but were intimidated by re- ports of the bad going and gave it up. A crowd saw them off. The day was wearing along and the carrier hastened, realizing something of the difficulty yet ahead. Several miles of lake were still to be gotten over, with the prospect of having to break and force a passage the most of the way. 206 A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. The ice was found to be in a most precarious con- dition, In many places it was loo tough to break without great effort, yet not solid enough to bear men and boat, and was constantl}^ crumbling beneath their feet. To make matters worse, the wind freshened and began blowing a strong gale from the west. Clouds which had skurried about early in the day thickened, and snow began flying with prospects of more to fol- low. The passenger grew seriously alarmed; he was also benumbed with cold, and to keep from freezing begged to be allowed a part in wielding the pike poles and propelling the boat. The wind continued and the ice broke and began running heavily before it. Angu- lar masses ground their sharp points against the boat's sides with a force, which, but for its iron mailing, would have shattered it. Midway of the channel they got fast in a running drift and were carried eastward several miles before they could extricate themselves. One of the men had broken in and was wet to the shoulders, while the others were nearly exhausted. To intensify the unpleasantness snow began falling so thickly as to entirely blot from view the land. The carrier felt in all his pockets for the compass which he usually carried, but found that he had forgotten to bring it. Twilight was then falling and darkness came on apace. Lights were invisible from shore and the party realized that they were lost on the running ice, in the night and whirling snow. They were nearly dead from fatigue but struggled on, not knowing whether they headed shoreward or out into the open lake. While assisting in working the boat through a A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. 207 tough gorge our hero, the landlubber, got into the water over head and ears, and being less dexterous than his companions narrowly escaped being carried away under the ice. He was badly frightened and more dead than alive, but a heavy dose ot brandy from a pocket flask served to restore him. There was no moon. Clouds shut out the starlight and wind and snow cut painfully. In this sad dilemma an idea struck the carrier. The wind had been blowing from the west and was probably in the same direction. "Why not steer by the wind.^ " This suggestion was acted upon. Another hour passed when to their intense relief the snow ceased falling and a light became visible. Shouts were sent up and soon an answer came back and lanterns twinkled close by. The carrier and his party were helped ashore by men who came out to meet them. They did not know their whereabouts, but found that they had landed a few miles beyond the point for which they had aimed. A steaming hot supper served before a rolhcking fire in a shore dweller's kitchen reanimated the ex- hausted party, and an hour later they were whirled away to the nearest depot, arriving just in time to catch the outgoing express. Our landlubber was undoubtedly the happiest and most thankful man on the train, but the island mail reached Sandusky too late that night for delivery. KELLEY ISLAND. And Her Resources. A condensed yet comprehensive history of Kelley Island, once given by an old resident of the Bass group, runs as follows: "In the beginning Kelley Island was eaten up by rattlesnakes. You could harvest them by the wagon load, and the varmints held high carnival. Then came old Ben Napier, the pioneer of the archipelago. Old Ben turned loose a drove of hogs on the island, and the hogs ate up the rattlesnakes. Next, the Kelley family alighted on the spot, and the Kelleys ate up the hogs. Then came the Dutch, and the Dutch ate up the Kelleys." This, according to the narrator, completed the history of Kelley Island. It is sincerely hoped that this bit of pleasantry, or unpleasantry, on the part of a cynical punster may not be laid up against the per- petrator, as he is now dead and gone to his reward. The above historical representation is in reality a compliment in disguise, marking, as it does, the varied stages through which the island has passed, and indi- cating like a steam gauge the irrepressible energy and enterprise which has distinguished from early days its inhabitants. A more detailed account of the island, its history and progress, will be interesting neverthe- less in this connection, for like her sister isles, much of KELLEY ISLAND. 209 reminiscent interest and pleasing romance attaches thereto. Kelley Island enjoys the distinction of being the largest of the lake group belonging to Uncle Sam. It lies in a southeasterly direction about eight miles from Put-in-Bay, and almost directl}^ north of Sandusky- The bay-indented shores and rock-ribbed surface' diversified by vineyards, orchards and natural forest, as seen at Kelley Island, afford ample stretches of strikingly picturesque and beautiful scenery. Her re- sources are varied and profitable, and her population intelligent and thrifty. Several separate series of early settlers are recorded as having made at various times the island their home- competing with the dusky aborigines for its possession, each in turn yielding to its prioi claimants or succumb- ing to other incidental difficulties, and retiring to give place to new batcnes of adventurers. This, it seems, continued up to the war of '12, when the few white settlers then represented were driven away by the menacing attitude of hostile Indians, During the war the island, it is recorded, was made a military rendez- vous, Gen. Harrison, then commanding the Army of the Northwest, having stationed on the west shore a guard for the purpose of reconnoitering the move- ments of the British and Indians on the lake. As late as 1828 the cedar tent-stakes marking the encampment of this guard were still standing. According to historians, the squadron of Commo- dore Perry lay for a time in the harbor south of the island previous to its engagement with the British. While there. Perry received on board his flagship Gen. 210 KELLEY TSLAhW. Harrison and Gens. Cass and McArthur, who came to consult the naval commander concerning his plan of action. The battle of Lake Erie in 1813 practically ended the war, and permanently settled at the same time both the British and hidians. The red-skins skulked away in alarm after the defeat of their allies, and as far as authentic records show never ajxain re- turned on sinister motives bent. With tiie passing of the red man and his supremacy in the archipelago came more adventurers. The pretentions of modern aristocracy were then unknown to the Kelley islander; his dwelling, never- theless, was solidly and entirely constructed of red cedar, and the cutting and shipping of this rare and valuable wood formed an industry of no mean import- ance. In the interests of Kelley Island prominently figured about that time a primitively constructed steamer, the "Walk-in-the-Water." This steamer, built in 1818, was the first that ever plowed the waters of the lake, and not only as a marvel of inventive genius, but as a most important adjunct of his commercial interests, was she regarded by the Kelley Island denizen. There were no docks to facilitate the landing of vessels, and the then reigning prince of the isle — Killam by name — carried in his sailboat loads of red cedar to the Walk- in-the-Water as she lay at anchor. Some of this timber, cut into suitable lengths, was used to fire the steamer's engine, for in those days there was cedar "to burn." The career of the Walk-in-the-Water was, how- ever, brief. After two vears' service she was wrecked KELLEY ISLAND. 211 A GLIMPSE OF SHORE. and lost off Point Albino. This destroyed the cedar trade at Kelley Island and disheartened Killam, who soon after left with all his belongings. After Killam's departure followed a period cf six 3'ears in which the island, as far as known, was destitute of any perma- nent inhabitants, though adventurers occasionally vis- ited it. Notwithstanding its almost complete desertion, the island became productiv^e cif a tragedy during this period, a review of which caused to contract with horror the spinal vertebree of occupants who came after. The parties to this affair were Grummets and Barnum. These companions in solitude quarreled. Barnum shot and killed Grummets, and disposed of the mangled body by placing it in a leaky skiff and setting it adrift. The wind carried the boat out into the open lake, where it sank with its ghastly freight. Ante-dating this occurrence, according to local tra- 212 KELLEY ISLAND. dition, an adventurer lived on the island with his wife and boy, the only inhabitants, but in mid winter, wife and child were suddenly stricken by death. The solitary mourner performed for them unaided the last sad rites, rounding with his own hands their graves; after which, unable in his grief and loneliness to endure the spot, he left it, never to return. In 1826 Elisha Ellis and his wife effected a settle- ment on the island. A little later they were joined by Samuel Beardsley and wife. They occupied one house, and were the sole inhabitants up to 1828, when Mrs. Beardsley died. She was buried on the shore, but her grave was afterward washed away by the rising waters of the lake, with that of a young woman — -one Mary Kellogg — who came to the island in 1829, died soon after and was buried beside Mrs. Beardsley. During the winter of 1829 and '30 Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, Henry Elithorpe and an individual known as "Tinker Smith" formed, it is said, the total population of the island. It was therefore a decided boom for the place when in the summer of 1S30 three additional families moved thereon. Somewhere about the 3'ear 1833 a mimic lord, in the person of a French trapper named Ben Napier, tried to appropriate the archipelago, or that portion at least included in Put-in-Bay and Kelley Islands. By what fancied right this pioneer squatter sought to assert and maintain his monarchical reign does not now ap- pear; suffice to say that he made himself very much at home and very numerous in both places, and gave the individuals who afterward came into possession of these islands a lot of trouble. KELLEY ISLAND. 218 According to local legend, old Ben lived on the flesh of swine, fowls of the air and fish. The fowls and fish were supplied by the woods and waters, while the swine were bred in large droves by the squatter, and led a "root-hog^or-die" existence, fattening upon acorns and other forage, or growing lean, hungry and savage when the desired grub was lacking. When- ever Ben wanted meat he climbed a tree, taking with him his gun, and ensconced among the branches awaited the appearance of these wild porkers, and when a drove came within range he blazed away at the largest and plumpest. He thus kept his table supplied with fresh pork cutlets, ham and spare ribs, and grew corre- spondingly fat and saucy, and neither by threats nor coaxing could he be induced to relinquish his luxurious mode of life, nor to depart from the island. Like the hogs which he ate, he became very pugnacious. He appropriated to himself in high-handed style the prop- erty of his neighbors, and only by legal measures was he finally ousted. For the first time since its occupation by whites the island was then permanently settled, having become after some litigation the property of Irad Kelley, of Cleveland, and Datus Kelley, of Rockport. With the days of primitive savagery and lawless piracy at an end, dawned a new era of individual but legalized prosperity. Up to this date the island had been known as "Cunningham Island," so called after its first occupant, an Indian trader who flourished there before the war of 1812; but vvith its survey and final transfer, it was rechristened and placed upon the record books as Kelley Island — a name which has become as 214 KELLEY ISLAND. STREET LOOKING NORTH. widely known and as permanently established as that of the famil}' from which it was derived. Impressed with the belief that the place was destined to figure as a prominent commercial center, the Kelley brothers began at once making improvements in the way of dock building, in order to facilitate the landing of vessels and the shipment of building stone, lime and red cedar- — the island being rich in these natural prod- ucts. They sought also to encourage an extension of its population by settlement of lands, and with this object in view placed on sale at fair prices, lots and parcels of their possessions. Many purchases of homes were made, and the island speedily became settled by a class of people whose chief characteristics were saga- city, industry, and thrift. The ample bay on the south shore afforded a safe KELLEY ISLAND. 215 anchorage for vessels passing up and down the lake, and the docks and warehouses were filled with mer- chandise of divers sorts. Cosy cottages appeared which in time gave place to more pretentious dwell- ings; and churches, school houses, hotels and other buildings, both public and private, arose to attest the growing prosperity. The forests of cedar long siwce disappeared before the woodman's ax. With them the trade in cedar wood became a reminiscence, but not until it had' materially contributed to the wealth of the island inhabitants. However, ihe stone and lime interests have since developed into large proportions. Derricks are numerous, large forces of men are employed in the quarries, and the Kelley Island Lime & Transport Company carries on' extensive operations along these lines. After a glance at the vast areas of quarried and corded stone, and the outcropping ledges remaining, the island as a whole suggests itself as a single big lime rock, with a layer of earth spread over it. The culture of grapes and manufacture of wine are carried on extensively. Among horticulturists of prom- inence are mentioned the names of the Kelleys, Charles Carpenter and others. Like adjacent members of the group, Kelley Island has latterly become prominent as a summer reeort, which is shown by her summer hotels and cottages for the entertainment of summer people. The island is likewise noted for its important geo- logical formations, as well as for its Indian antiquities, either of which would be sufficient in itself to render the island famous. A description of the former is 216 KELLEY ISLAND. elsewhere given in this volume under the head- ine subjects overrun our lands and spoil our hunting grounds." "While they mangle and destroy each other let the ''ECHO:'' THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. 225 Sons of the Storm Cloud and Tempest swear by our own great chieftains whose spirits have flown to the happy hunting grounds, to stand ready when the time comes to kill, burn and disperse from among us the carrion fiends of the vulture chief." "The Great Spirit, source of life, will provide for the squaw and papoose of the red man and will charm away the evil spirit of Defeat. Let us follow the war path wherever it leads, and with us carry death and confusion to the pale faces." At the conclusion of this harangue there arose a general murmur of approbation, followed by the bran- dishing of war clubs and tomahawks, as with pro- longed yells they joined in a war dance around the campfire. While thus excited and occupied, Tawapsett had unconsciously relaxed the vigilance with which he had been accustomed to guard his daughter from the designing Algonquin. *"Fire water," then a new and favored beverage, was freely dealt, and thereby stimulated, the dance became wild and weird. It was brought to an abrupt close, however, by the discovery that Echo was missing from the camp — for the maiden still lived in the wig^vam of her father, though the hand and heart of many a brave had been offered her. "The vile Algonquin has stolen her away," mut- lered Tawapsett. "Let us pursue !" It was not long before the cunning Iroquois and his followers struck the trail of Mokego. Through stretches of tall prairie grasses and wild rice, forest and swamp land, northward they traced him to the shores of Lake Erie. While his followers dispersed 226 "ECHOr' THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. in different directions, Mokego had placed the captive in a canoe there waiting and was ah-eady far out on the waters, swiftly paddling toward a long blue stretch that outlined a distant island. CHAPTER II. Life in the Log Cabin of an Island Pioneer. Amidst dense, dark thickets of red cedar, which intermingled with (ther native forest growths covered from end to end the lonely island, appeared a small clearing. Surrounded by stumps, log-heaps and brush piles, were two or three rude but newly built cabins forming the homes of French squatters who had worked their way thither from Canada. The representatives of this tiny colony were hunters and traders, and at that period comprised the entire white population of the island, although its shores were made the rendezvous from time to time of In- dians bearing half a dozen different tribal names, who came and went in their bark canoes on fishing and hunting excursions. From the clearing with its log habitations led a path to a niche in the shore, belted at its base by sand and gravel and edged with wild shrubbery forming a thick covert into which were drawn up and secreted boats belonging to the settlers. The cabin of an individual who earned a livelihood by trading with the Indians formed a shelter for his family not only, but a storehouse in a small way for ''ECHO:'' THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. •I'in articles and commodities of Indian commerce, as well as for those of the white man's production, the former consisting in part of bear and deer skins, furs, wamp- um, maple sugar, beads and peltry; the latter, of blankets, flaxen and w oolen fabrics, rice, coffee and tobacco. The chinks between the unhewn logs of the cabin were daubed with mortar made from island lime which there abounded, and the chimney . built of native lime rock was a massive affair. The rafters were formed of poles cut from straight saplings and the roof of un- dressed slabs. A huge slab turning upon hinges of wood and fastened by a wooden latch served as the front and only door. The flooring was of puncheon, roughly rived from oaken timber. A single window, high and narrow, opened upon a patch of growing corn and vegetables, and admitted the light through paper oiled to render it transparent. Rough stools and benches served as seats. A bed decorated with red and yellow patch work stood in one corner and a puncheon table covered with a cloth of homespun linen occupied the middle of the cabin. An open cup- board contamed the household stock of earthen-ware, cutlery, pewter and pottery — a limited but invaluable collection. Shelves ranged along one side of the apart- were laden with the merchandise of which mention has been made. The walls fairly bristled with pegs which were hung with garments of "linsey-woolsey," deer skin and fur, together with an array of various articles, such as powder horns, stag antlers, fishing rods and rifles. A few rude ornaments decorated the rude 228 ''ECHOr THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. mantel-piece, and above it in an oaken frame hung an old print representing William Penn's treaty with the Indians. Another household article — of too great im- portance to be overlooked — was the spinning wheel. mouthed chim- ney blazed a fire which was never permitted to die. Dav and night it flickered, flamed, smouldered or smoked in accord with its varying moods and con- ditions. A sooty crane swung in the center, and a pair of straddling, wroughtiron "fire-dogs" per- THE CABIN HEARTH. formed well their duty in holding up the "fore- log.'' A long-handled shovel and a pair of massive tongs reclined against the "jamb," and a tinder box with steel and flint lay on the mantel. Hams of smoked venison, bunches of dried herbs and other articles and edibles dangled from the ceiling, and a long- legged "Dutch oven" in which was baked the ap- petizing "Johnny Cake" — smoked upon the hearth. In this little world the good wife toiled day by day frying, roasting, baking, brewing, spinning, reeling. Every day in answer to her conjuring, platters full of ''ECHOr THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. 229 wild fowl, fish and venison, steamed upon the table with swimming gravies, "pone," hominy and "slap- jacks." Her broad shouldered husband and his two strapping sons sai down to this feast with ravenous appetites, which having appeased they drank a cup each of spice wood tea or roasted rye coffee; partook sparingly of the pumpkin butter, or crab-apple jelly set before them as after relishes, and rose up to loosen their buckskin belts and give expression in deep-drawn breaths to the satisfaction which was theirs. "Trader John," as he was called, bartered with the Indians who came and went in their canoes. Sometimes in a "dug out," rigged with a bear-skin sail and accompanied by one of his sons, he made trips across to the peninsula, where he visited the wigwams of the Ottawas and Ojibwa3's. Sometimes he directed his course to the camp of the chieftain Ogontz by •'Clearwater Bay." Sometimes to Venice, then the chief trading center of the shore settlers, where he ex- changed his Indian wares for the products of pioneer industry. Father and sons were on amicable terms with most of the Indians who frequented tl ese places, and so familiar bad they become with Indian customs, habits and manners as to be quite at home among them. They had learned sufficiently the varied dia- lects and signs in use b}' the different tribes, to be able to hold converse with any and all individual rep- resentatives thereof, and were thus fitted for their chosen occupation. During the absence of "Trader John," and the son who accompanied him, the son who remained behind 230 "ECHOr THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. worked in the clearing, hoed the corn and cut cedar wood for transportation down the lake. On one of these occasions Anatola, the eldest, was left behind. Anatola was a young man of athletic but graceful build, and singularly handsome features. Having wielded the ax until weary, the 3'oung man took his rifle and started out in quest of game with which to replenish the family board. He had tramped for some time about the island, stumbling over rocks and crowding through tangles, but had dislodged nothing excepting a nest of rattlesnakes. Both the snakes and himself had had a hot time. He had left about fifty dead upon the field, and fatigued and thirsty was on h:s way to the adjacent shore for a drink of water. He was just emerging from the woods upon a stretch of level beach when an ap- proaching canoe containing a man and woman at- tracted his attention. With that caution which, born of necessity, grew to be a second nature to the early pioneer, Anatola drew hastily back and secreted himself behind some bushes. Peering through a small opening, he closel}' scanned the canoe and its occupants. A stalwart savage leaped ashore and seized the woman whose hands were bound. Though at a distance of fifty yards, Anatola could see that she was an Indian maiden of rare beauty and a captive, for she cried piteously and begged to be allowed to return to her tribe. Save an occasional gruff response, her raptor paid no attention to these supplications, but from the broken and fragmentary sentences let fall, Anatola correctly inferred that he was taking her to a ''ECHOr THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. 231 camp of Algonquins on another part of the island, intending there to make her his wife. The twain were Mokego and the daughter of Tawapsett. CHAPTER III. A Desperate Struggle, Indignation at the perpetration of such an outrage, burned in the heart of Anatola, and sent the blood surging to his temples. With rifle levelled he ap- proached the savage. The latter was leading away the dispairing girl, one hand clutching her arm, the other a flint-lock musket. "Release her !" commanded the white man, his rifle aimed at Mokeg^o's head. "She big Indian's wife," remonstrated the latter. "No, no; 1 am not his wife !" wailed the captive. "Release her this instant or you're a dead man." Anatola nervously fingered the trigger. The ugly, painted face of the savage scowled with rage and terror, but he let go his hold. "Throw down that gun." The wily Indian hesitated. By a rapid and dextrous movement, he could bring his piece to bear upon the pale face, but the latter read his thoughts and kept his searching eyes upon him. Anatola's finger was beginning to press the trigger. With a half surpressed ejaculation of wrath, Mo- kego threw down the gun. 232 ''ECHOr THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. " Now take yourself off, you red devil !" This command was immediately obeyed, and lowering his rifle, Anatola advanced to where cowered the Indian girl. Overwhelmed with gratitude to her deliverer, Echo knelt before the white hunter, clasping his hands, and kissing, and moistening them with tears of thankfulness. In a few words she told the story of htr abduc- tion, and Anatola listened with a thrill of interest, for her brilliant beauty filled him with admiration. •'I will take you to my mother," he said. '•Nay, but to mv father would I return." "To your father will I take you, fair one, but not today, for see a storm is gathering. He pointtd to masses of clouds which were sweeping up from the horizon and to the lake, which had assumed a grass- green color. "Yonder canoe could not live for a minute in a tempest such as that which approaches." "Haste ! let me take you to my mother." The girl looked up into his face, reading there naught but kindness and compassion, and placing her hand trustfully in his, submitted to his guidance. Not far had they gone before the storm struck with terrific force. In an instant the air was filled with flying limbs and trunks of trees, and rain poured in sheets so that they could not see their way. Unable to proceed, they took refuge beneath a pro- jecting ledge of rocks. After a drenching shower the rain ceased. The wind still blew a gale, but they were now enabled to go forward and were leaving the ''ECHO r' THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. 233 covert, when with a backward glance the girl uttered a startled cry. Her companion abruptly turned. With features working in a frenzy of diabolism frightful to behold and tomahawk uplifted, Mokego stood within six feet of the pale-face. The savage had stealthily followed, and in another instant his gleaming weapon would have buried itself in Anatola's skull. Quick as thought he parried with his rifle the descend- ing stroke. The two then clutched each other. Unable to use his rifle Anatola flung it from him and gripped the savage. Mokego made several lunges at his adversary with the tomahawk, but the latter managed to parry them. Closely clutching each other, they were nov\'^ upon the edge of a rocky shore. Anatola lost his footing, and together they rolled to the beach below, still locked in a vice-like embrace. More cunningly skillful than Anatola was the Algonquin, and the former now found his strength fast failing. With one arm about his neck and pressed tightly against the windpipe, the savage was slowly exhausting his victim by sti-angulation. The white hunter felt as one might feel with the tentacles of a devil-fish clasped about him. He struggled desperately, the sweat drops beading his forehead, but was powerless against superior skill and strength. All would soon be over. Echo had stood by, a silent and horrified spectator. Seized at last by a sudden impulse, she darted forward and with both hands began loosening one by one the fingers that clutched the throat of Anatola. By a mighty effort she succeeded in releasing from that 234 ''ECHO : " THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. awful death grip the pale face, and he regained his breath. Echo clung desperately to the great sinewy hand, with its bare, tattooed arm exposed. Thus re- lieved Anatola managed to shift his position to one more advantageous. Fast in his girdle hung the scalping knife of Mokego. For an instant as they struggled it touched Anatola's hand. Quick as thought he seized it, and while the savage was endeavoring to free himself fiom Echo's grasp the former plunged the knife into Mokego's bosom. With a fiendish howl fell the Algonquin. The blade had struck to the heart's center, and in a few moments he was dead. It was now Anatola's turn for gratitude to the In- dian maiden, but for whom he, instead of Mokego, would have been weltering upon the ground. He clasped the girl's hands, and looking into each other's faces, each felt that the friendship thus formed be- tween them was destined to be life-long. The white victor forebore taking ihe scalp of the dead chieftain, but he removed from the waist of his fallen foe a girdle — composed of human hair of vari- ous shades and textures, cut from the scalps secured by its owner. With this ghastly relic, Anatola and his companion left the spot. To the Indian girl this island was familiar ground as in the company of her father, as it chanced, she had frequently visited it, and she now pointed out to the white hunter — who at once became her lover — ancient sites of Indir,n villages and forts, and a massive rock- tablet extensively covered with characters and sym- bols centuries old sculptured on its face. These, as she explained, told the story of the ancient Eries, who ''ECHOr' THE TROQUOIS MAIDEN. 235 had g-iven their name to the lake and the wars in which they had engaged ; of the coming of the Wyandots, their dispersion and the final triumph of her people, the Iroquois. So attached to the maiden had Anatola grown that within a few hours after their first meeting he asked her to become his wife. Echo hesitated. "The white hunter's people will not receive me," she replied. "Many French-Canadian hunters, and traders take Indian wives," returned Anatola, "Then be it as you say." Thus plighted was their troth. For three days raged the gale that had struck the island immediately after Mokego and his captive had landed upon it. At the end of that period came a lull, and while Echo remained in the cabin, her white lover went abroad to hunt and to fish. On his return he found the little settlement in violent commotion. During his absence a party of Indians, headed by Ta- wapsett had visited the trader's cabin, and though the old chief had refrained from molesting those who had given his daughter protection, her request to see and bid farewell to Anatola was refused, and despite her tears and protestations the maiden was carried away. Their canoes were then fast receding toward the penin- sula and the intrepid and half-crazed lover declared his intention of following. The mother expostulated, and while discussing the matter, the captain and crew of a trading vessel — which unnoticed had stolen into the bay — appeared at the door. Their faces were flushed and excited, and they hastened to inform the settlers 236 ''ECHO:'' THE IROQUOIS AfATDEN. of the news just received in the mainsl ore settlements of Hull's surrender in the Northwest, and probable uprising of the Indians which was expected to im- mediately follow. "White settlers must now flee for their lives," said the captain. The vessel was bound for a small trading post near the mouth of the Huron river, and the captain kindly offered to carry thither the cabin dwellers. Anatola could not leave his mother unprotected, and to visit alone at that time the peninsula in quest of his betrothed bride would have been madness. With the settlers, therefore, who had hastily collected their valuables, he proceeded on board the vessel to the Huron trading post, and thence to the fort a short distance up the river. Learning on arrival that a military company was about to take its departure for the peninsula on an ex- pedition against the Indians, who had already attacked the white settlers, he joined it, and fully armed and equipped the company made their way thither. A fierce skirmish between a body of militia and a band of Indians had taken place. The former had been greatly outnumbered and compelled to retreat to a log house, which they had defended for three days. Wearied by their lack of success or learning of the approach from the Huron river port of reinforcements, the Indians finally dispersed, and with the arrival of the company the b.'leaguered garrison were set at liberty. Several dead bodies of whites and red skins at- tested the closeness of the combat. Among the num- ber \2iy a swarthy Iroquois chieftain who — as Anatola ECHO:'' THE IROQUOIS MAIDEN. 237 afterwards learned — was Tawapsett, the father of his betrothed. While scouring about the peninsula a day or two after their arrival, a party of soldiers captured a small band of Indians caught depredating. They were brought into camp, and with them was found the chieftain's daughter. Anatola received her with transport, and Echo wept tears of joy at beholding him. Together the twain proceeded to the Huron river fort where they were legall}' united — a missionary priest officiating. A small monument erected on the spot by its sole survivor — then remaining — the distinguised congres- sional representative, Joshua R. Giddings, just fifty years after the date of the memorable battle in which fell Tawapsett, the Iroquois chieftain, is all that remains at the present day to commemorate the struggle. As to what became of Anatola and his dusky bride it is not definitely known, eight3'-six years having merged in oblivion their subsequent history. All traces of the island cabin which they once oc- cupied have now disappeared, but the pictured face of "Inscription Rock" still bears symbolic records of the island's primeval dwellers — the red tribes — now passed to their "Happy Hunting Grounds." EVERYTHING WRONG; Or the Trials of Nicholas Beetlebrow. CHAPTER 1. An old resident was Nicholas Beetlebrow. He lived in a flat, squarely built house situated on an ex- tremity of the island known as "Land's End." This house had once been new, and Mr. Beetlebrow had once been young, but house and owner were now growing old together. Both were getting weather beaten in appearance, and crank}' and rheumatic gen- erally. When it stormed, and the wind swept in gusts off the lake the old house shook; its doors, and windows rattled, while "Old Nick" — as Mr. Beetlebrow was familiarly called — -sat in a corner of the brown painted kitchen, poked the lire, shoved in the coal, grumbled at the weather and exhibited a chronic dissatisfaction with everything. As every community has among its individual members, odd and eccentric specimens of the genus /lomo, so the peculiarities of Mr. Beetlebrow had classed him amonfj island novelties. Grumbling was his specialty. He grumbled at the heat, the cold, the rain, the sunshine. In fair weather and in foul his tongue seemed constantly shaping new forms of ex- pression for new grievances. There was always some- EVERYTHING WRONG. 239 thing wrong. Wherever he looked, he beheld germs of evil sprouting, blossoming, and running up to seed. In the sun and moon he read all sorts of evil omens, while disaster and ruin blazed in the shootingr stars of the midnight sky. So long and so persistently had he grumbled, and so fixed had become the grumbling habit, that to have broken off suddenly would have proven, doubtless, as calamitous to Mr. Beetlebrow, as total abstinence to the "arsenic eaters" of the T3T0I. So constantly had he kept the corners of his mouth drawn down and his brow contracted that they had so grown, apparently ; and the stereotyped expression of his face reminded one of a foggy morning in the month of March. Betsy Beetlebrow, the wife of our hero, was the direct antipode of her "liege lord." Her sanguine temperament never permitted her to court the dampness and gloom of melancholy. She took the world, and the people and things in it just about as she found them, never borrowed trouble and appeared alwa3-s the personification of easy, good nature. Increasing years had rounded to fullness the matronly form, but the rose flush of youth still d3'ed her plump cheeks, while a suspicion of mischief twinkled in the grey eyes, and played in mirthful curves about her mouth. "Spring sunshine linked to a November snow squall" — was Aunt Polly Jones' comment on this strangely matched couple. It was nearing the close of winter. Spring had al- ready come, in fact; and following the ordinary course of nature, blue birds and robins should have been har- monizing their songs in the tree-tops; and blue-bells, 240 EVERYTHING WRONG. and "bare-foot blows," opening in sheltered glades. But the tardy songsters still lingered among the orange groves of the sunny South, while the blue-bells and "bare-foot blows" were still in embryo. There were circles of bare ground about the orchard trees, and the knolls showed many bald spots. Aside from these, the ground was still covered with snow and ice. A line of drifts appeared on the east side of Mr. Beetlebrow's dwelling, and since the preceding December had been an eyesore to that gentleman. At present, these snow hills were covered with sooty siftings from the chimney top, shakings of the table cloth and dribbings of dish water. The ice in the lake was still solid and the winds sweeping across it biting cold. Mr. Beetlebrow sat in his accustomed corner. His brow wrinkled and the corner curves of his mouth ap- peared more decided than usual. He was cogitating, evidently, upon some absorbing topic, for he stared hard at the Are and from his pursed up lips came in- articulate mutterings addressed, supposititiously, to some offending object that intruded upon his imagi- nation. Betsy Beetlebrow was mixing pie crust at the kitchen table. Her sleeves were rolled to the elbows, and as she kneaded up the dough sang a lively ditty. "Betsy, I don't see how you can go round singing, and laffin' and carryin' on when everything's to pay," exclaimed Mr. Beetlebrow. "Why, what's to pa}' now. Daddy?" enquired she, flourishing the rolling pin over a lump of dough. "What a'int to pay, you'd better ask," retorted he. EVERYTHING WRONG. 241 "The kentry is goin' to the dogs jist as fast as it kin ; I'spose we'll have to go to the dogs with it." "All you kin read about, or hear tell of, is dynam- iters, strikers, political plotters, snow-slides, mine horrors, railroad smash ups, wars, and rumors of wars and everything by the ears ginaly." "Between the Klondike and the Spaniards every- body is goin' crazy as loons; and now that grape raisin don't pay any more, I wish that some of them fellers what blew up the Maine 'ud touch off a torpedo underneath this island, and blow it into kmgdom come." "Well," replied Betsy thoughtfully greasing her pie tins. "It might be a good plan." Mr. Beetlebrow sat silent. "Daddy, 1 wish you'd put a little more coal in the stove," said Betsy turning about. "Yis, that makes me think, I've got to go over to the mainland for a load of coal in a day or two. The bin's most empty. If it had'ent been for havin' sech a raven'us coal-eater of a stove, we'd had enough to keep us goin' till the boat run; but that's jest my luck;" and Mr. Beetlebrow rattled the stove as if angry at the amount of fuel it had consumed. "I'll have to be on the ice all day, goin' and comin' with that pesky boss; an' I'd jest about as soon think of hitchin' up a rantin buffalo." "I wish old Jake Flutterbudget had his boss agin, and I had my fifty dollars back. I never see a meaner hoss than old Ripsnorter." "What makes you call the animile such a hard name, Daddy ?" queried his wife. 242 EVERYTHING WRONG. "'Cause I can't think of any that fits him better. I've sized up all the names, from Noah down to the present gineration, and I can't light on anything that suits him better than that. You jest ought to see the hay he mows away; and he kin demolish as much corn in a week as it 'ud take to fatten a whole sty full of hogs, 'n still he's so thin you kin most see daylight through him. I expect if I should lean him up agin the fence the crows 'ud take him for a carrion carcase and go pickin' him to pieces. Then of all the mulish^ contrary creeturs in the shape of boss flesh, Ripsnorter takes the cake. "Yis, and he has an offul temper — shows the whites of his eyes; and he's got soused to the layin' of his ears back, that 'pears as if they'd growled that way. This mornin' when I was puttin' hay in the manger, the old dragon reached over and grabbed my arm be- tween his teeth. Glory ! I thought a crocodile had grabbed me. With my other hand I fetched the fork handle 'round, and he concluded to let go. I com- menced to lam him with the fork, and would have taken the hide clean off of him, but happened to think that the handle was splintered, and shaky like. No, I don't know any name that suits him better than jest Ripsnorter." "You ought to call him some of them tony names, like 'Goldsmith Maid' or " "Why, he's a boss; you don't want to give him a female name, Betsy !" "Well, then, call him after some of the presidents — George Washington, James Garfield, Grover Cleve- land " EVERYTHING WRONG. 243 "Grover Cleveland !" vociferated Mr. Beetlebrow. "Betsy, I'd jist as soon think o' namin' that hoss Beel- zebub as namin' him after a dimycrat president, and you know it. If I could git along without the hoss, I'd hire somebody to shoot him, and then he wouldn't need no name." In justice to Mr. Beetlebrow, it must here be re- marked that the worst part of his nature, the surface, always boiled over and sizzled away in highly seasoned language, and that he was never known to do anything half as savage as his words indicated. "If you had him shot, what would you do for a carriage horse ?" "I guess we don't want no kerridge hoss when we hain't got no kerridge, " replied Beetlebrow, savagely. "Betsy, I don't see why you allers will make hght of serious matters. I b'leeve if we wus goin' to be turned out of house an' home you'd want to celebrate the occasion with a dance or frolic of some kind. "Thare ain't no tellin'; we may find ourselves in that fix yit, and it's the worst of all my trouble. That's what I commenced to talk about, then we got switched off onto the hoss question. "You know that two hundred dollar mortgage I gave Jerry Johnston on the place ? Well, I thought it wasn't due till the last of May, but come to look at the papers I find it due day after tomorrow, and I hain't got twenty dollars to spare toward it. So I wouldn't wonder if we'd be booked for the poorhouse afore another winter." "Maybe we can borrow money to pay off the mort- gage. Daddy," returned his wife. "Then you will 244 EVERYTHING WRONG. have fishing to fall back on, besides raising vegetables to keep up the house, and all the other crops. Spite of the late cold snap, the peaches didn't get killed, 3'ou know." "They ain't killed, no; but the bugs, and the blight, and the San Jose scale will clean 'em all out, of course. No, it ain't no use talkin'; we might as well slip our cables and lay our course for the happy land o' Canaan? the hull raft on us, as to lay still expectin' any good to come out of this Jericho. This world is nothin' but a howlin' wilderness of woe and a valley of tribulation. It's all bottomside up and inside out, and nobody as has as much sense as a last year's bird's nest will take any stock in it." "If Molly wasn't so bent and determined on makin' a fool of herself," continued Beetlebrow, "she'd ship that lamber legged lumpkins that's runnin' after her and take Fritzhannes, that rich Pennsylvania farmer- He's got two or three big farms, and hull droves of cattle, bosses, sheep and hogs, and any amount of ready chink, they say. He could make her a first-rate home, and maybe help us with the mortgage." "Well, but Fritzhannes is old enough to be Molly's father; then he's so awfully Dutch. He's lived so long among the Berks county hills that I don't believe he could ever learn to talk English so that Molly could understand him." "Women must always have their say, and their way," grumbled J^eellebrow; "but I think a gal a fool to let a fortune slip through her fingers all for the sake of a young coxcomb who ain't worth the powder to blow him up," EVERYTHING WRONG. 245 "That's ^hat my father thought when I had a chance to marry that wealthy old merchant and took you instead," returned Betsy. Mr. Beetlebrow winced perceptibly, and his wife continued: "I think Wilbur Wilson a real nice young man, and if I was a young woman I don't know but I'd go for him myself. He's sober, honest, works hard and puts by his earnings, they say. If a gal is fool enough to git married, she'd better take a young man like that than a great, greasy old fellow like Fritzhannes, even if he is made of gold. You know what the Bible says about worshipin' golden calves } Ot course Mr. Fritz- hannes is too big for a calf, but to use a figger of speech " At this moment Molly Beetlebrow, the subject of these remarks, appeared upon the scene, having just returned from a neighboring house, where slie had spent the afternoon. Molly was a pretty, round-faced girl, with dark hair and elfish eyes, like those of her mother. She was merry as a bird and bright as a sun- beam—so thought, at least, Wilbur Wilson, the young man who paid her attention. CHAPTER II. "Well, I should think vou'd got your visit out," growled Beetlebrow. "I didn't know but what you was goin' to stay all night." "Why, what's the difference if I did stay, Daddy?" queried the girl. "I'm sure I had my work with me;" 246 EVERYTHING WRONG. and she took from her pocket a roll of lac^ upon which she was knitting and sat down by the lire. "If you call that work, then I'd Hke to know what you call play. When I was young, gals used to knit stockings and mittens, and things that was some ac- count; they didn't have time for such tomfooler}-." "Well, I can knit stockings, and mittens, too, and make lace besides; so I'm that much ahead of those old-fashioned girls," replied Molly. "Oh, yis; gals air a heap smarter nowadays, 'spe- cially with their tongues," retorted Beetlebrow. With a smile of amusement Molly continued her work. She was too accustomed to her querulous old father to feel annoyed. Presently she began studying the figures amidst the glowing coals of the grate, then she stole a look at her father. "Daddy," she began after some hesitation : "Wil- bur Wilson is going to the main-shore to-morrow, and he said I should ask if there was anything you wanted to send for." "O, I'spose you've been off sparkm' up the young shanghi." I only met him on the road when I was coming frDm Spencer's," answered Molly with a blush. "No, 1 can be my own waiter yet awhile," replied the old man. "I'm a'goin' to the mainland myself to-morrow, and I can do my own errands. A purty accomodalin' set these young fellers are, if they happen to hev an axe to grind." Mr. Beetlebrow shut the door with a bang, and walked away toward the barn muttering to himself. The following morning when the sun arose, illumin- EVERYTHING WRONG. 247 ating with flash and glitter the frozen lake, Nicholas Beetlebrow with horse and sled was heading toward the blue line of the peninsula some miles distant. Long before day, Betsy and her daughter had been bustling in and out. While Molly prepared breakfast, her mother busied herself putting up lunch for "Dad- dy," packing some butter for market, and attending to various duties. Having let loose a whole swarm of doubts, and misgivings concerning the weather and the ice. Beetle- brow took his departure. His wife and daughter looked after him until a point of land hid him from view. Betsy felt just the least bit anxious, and won- dered if there was any danger of the ice breaking up before "Daddy" returned — for she was just as fond of this wry-faced, curumdgeon of a husband as are other women of husbands who are good looking, and good natured. The day wore on, evening came, and Mrs. Beetle- brow and her daughter were beginning to feel alarmed at the long absence of the husband and father, when they saw him approaching afoot, and alone. "Why, Daddy, what's the matter, and where is the horse, and sled?" "In Davy Jones' locker — least ways the boss is." "O, I hope the poor horse hasn't got into the lake!" exclaimed Molly. "Well, 1 didn't see him go in, but he run off, and the last I see of him he was streakin' it round Birch Pint, goin' right fer a stretch of open water, and I expect he's in by this time." Maybe he' gone ashore on the point — " suggested 248 EVERYTHING WRONG. Betsy feeling relieved that the animal was not known to be positively drowned. "No, Ripsnorter is too tarnal contrary fer that. He'd go and dump hisself in jest fer spite. 1 don't cackerlate on ever seein' him agin." "How did he happen to get away;" queried Betsy. "Well you see when I was jest about a mile off Birch Pint, the boss took one of his streaks o' cussedness. He wanted to turn in on the pint instead of comin' home. When I tried to touch him up a little, he stop- Ded short, an J there he stood, and do you think 1 could budge him out of his tracks. I labored with him fer about half an hour tryin' to persuade him to move on> but he wouldn't, then I commenced to lam him with the ends of the lines — course I hadn't the shadder of a whip along, or even a strap. The lines wus short, and I had to git purty close to him, and fust thing I knew, the pesky creetur's heels flew up, and he blazed away like a hull charge of Roman candles. He didn't hit me square, or I 'spose I'd a got my everlastin' Jack. He knocked my hat off though, and knocked me down. I felt a good deal stunned, but scrabbled to my feet agin. Jest as this was happenin' Nap Davis come along. He said he felt awfully sorry fer me, but I don't 'bleve it 'cause he was laffin' all the time. He said if he had sech a boss, he'd tan his hide, and sell the carcase to a glue factory; then he passed by on the other side — like the priest, and the Levite — and left me in the lurch." "Well, I didn't know what to do, so I set down to think. While I wus thinkin', and contrivin' that there Wilbur Wilson drove up. He had a long whip, so I EVERYTHING IVRONG. 249 borried it and played it over old Ripsnorter's shanks awhile. But it wasn't no use, the old humbug jest stood there and laved back his ears, and kicked till you could see blue blazes. Then that Wilson chap said I'd better onhitch him, and he'd fasten the sled onto his'n, and we'd lead the boss home. While I was standin' by old Ripsnorter after he was onhitched, a gust of wind took away my hat. I thought the old snipe would stand till I got it agin, 'cause he didn't want to go anyhow, but he happened to find out that I wanted him to stand still, so he jest gave a snort, threw his heels into the air, and off he went on full gallop. I was lame from the rheumatiz and kick together, so Wilson said I should drive his team home, and he'd go and look fer Ripsnorter. So he started; but the boss was headin' fer open water ^nd I know that'll be the end of him." "Mavbe he's gone and committed suicide by drown- ing 'cause you said such hard things about him yester- day." "There 'tis agin, Betsy, you're allers pokin' fun in- stead of sympathisin' with my sorrows and troubles. I bleve if I was dead, and lyin' in my coffin you'd poke fun at me. There's the boss gone, and the mortgage hangin' over our heads — that's $250. worth of trouble — and still you talk as if it wus all a good joke." "O well, the horse wasn't good for anything you know. Daddy, only to keep hay, and corn from spoil- ing," returned Betsy provokingly. Nicholas Beetlebrow was utterly inconsolable that night. After supper was over, the dishes washed and 250 EVERYTHING WRONG. put away in the big, red cupboard, Bets}' took from her bureau drawer a small box. Said she: •'Daddy, I've got a little present for you, I was going to keep it till to-morrow but I guess I'll let you have it to sleep on to night." "One of them blasted monkeys, or baboons what jump up and scare folks, I'll bet," said Beetlebrow tak- ing the box and eyeing it suspiciously. Betsy smiled. "It would be jest like one of your aggravatin' tricks." He proceeded very cautiously to open the box. To his astonishment he discovered within, a ntst full of shining coins, all ten dollar gold pieces. "Jerusalem! where did you get this?" exclaimed Beetlebrow. "Count it, and see how much there is." "Just $200." replied he, thinking of the mortgage — "but where did you get it?" "Well, Daddy, I'll tell you," replied his wife, "you know that I have had all the butter and Q.^g money for the past four years. Well, I was real saving because I knew that you was hard up. So I put away in small bits all except what I needed to buy calico dresses, aprons, thread and things, and when I got a lot of small pieces I had them changed into eagles and laid them away in this box. So there is $200 to clear off the mortgage, then I have fifteen dollars left, that's going to be the nest egg for anothei brood of golden eagles." "Glory Hallelujah! " vociferated Beetlebrow. "Betsy, if you aint a woman that's worth havin' now ! " EVERYTHING WRONG. 251 At that moment a sound of footsteps and a scrap- ing of boots was heard outside and Molly became sud- denly flushed while she took a hasty peep into the glass to see if her bangs were all right. "Come in," said Beetlebrow, in answer to a modest knock. The door opened and Wilbur Wilson entered. "I have brought home your horse and sled, Mr. Beetlebrow," said the young man, after bowing to Molly and her mother. "Then you found the boss? " "Yes, 1 found him with the man you bought him of a few weeks ago on Birch Point." "Oh, I 'spose that's why he was so alfired anxious to go in that direction, he wanted to see his old home. Well, I don't know as I kin blame him much. You brought the sled home too, did you?" "Yes, sir; I left the sled by the wagon shed, and put the horse in the barn." "By jocks, young man, you're as much help as a second pair of legs. You're a tip-top feller after all, and I don't know but you'll answer about as well for Molly as that old cub from Pennsylvany." "O, father ! " exclaimed Molly, her cheeks growing red as June roses. "What's the use beatin' round the bush," continued the old man, apparently unconscious of the confusion he had created. "Don't you 'spose I kin see how the land lays. You think a heap of the young man and he thinks a heap of you, or else he would't go to so much bother to get on the right side of the old man." 262 EVERYTHING WRONG. Turning to Wilbur he said: "Look here, would you like to marry my girl? " The young man blushed to the roots of his hair. "I — I don't know if — if — whether she wants me." "O, then you haint come to an understandin'.^ " "Would you marry her if you could get her? " continued Beetlebrow, pursuing his investigations. Wilbur was reduced to the extremity of dispair. Had he been a mouse he might have crept through a knot hole in the floor upon which his eyes were resting, but as a b:oad shouldered young man standing six feet in his rubber boots, the undertaking would have been im- practicable. For some time he had thought of popping the question to Molly, but had never dreamed of having it popped to him. Forced to look the matter squarely in the face, Wilbur rallied his fleeing wits, and muster- ing all his courage, replied with a show of firmness — "I think more of Molly than of any one else, and if she likes me well enough to have me, I will marry her." "That's business," commented Beetlebrow. "Now Molly, how is it, will you have the young man?" Molly looked straight down at her feet, nervously fumbhng the hem of her apron; covertly, but eagerly watched by Wilbur Wilson. "Come, speak out," urged Beetlebrow. "Molly's lips shaped an inaudible "yes" and she nodded an affirmative. "All right then; its settled," exclaimed Beetlebrow. "Now Betsey," he said, turning to his wife, "I've given Molly leave to make a fool of herself the same as EVERYTHING WRONG. 253 you did when you married your old crank of a husband, and I'm glad you did make a fool of yourself." Thus saying he kissed her. "Well, Daddy, you generall}' complain about every thing being wrong, but I'm glad you've found some- thing that's right at last," and she kissed him back. So the mortgage was paid off and the wedding was set for the following June. ADVENTURES In Queen Vic^s Domains. An occasion of pleasing memory was the writer's first visit to Point au Pelee island some years ago, with a party of friends on board a small sail craft. For two reasons this island was of especial interest to me. First, owing to its distinction as the largest of the Lake Erie group; and second, because of its po- sition as an outpost on British territorial boundaries. It was my first cruise under canvas. A head wind whipped us soundly, and though long and tedious, the tacks which the little vessel made were lively, so ren- dered by her pitching and rolling. The wind too, made music, singing and whistling through the rigging. This, with the creak of blocks and strain of cordage, and the swash of waves under our weather bow, afforded exhilarating interest. But one incident occurred to startle, and destroyed for a moment our pleasurable emotions. The occasion was the giving way of a block at the mainmast he^d, causing a sudden collapse of the mainsail and a corres- ponding commotion on deck. The big black section of canvas loaded with tarry sheets, booms, and tackle, and wet with surf suddenly descending, buried us beneath its heavy folds. An ancient mariner a-doze, with head upon a pile of junk» ADVENTURES IN QUEEN VICS DOMAINS. 255 narrrowly escaped having his perceptive faculties knocked out. When at last w^e succeeded in extricat- ing ourselves from the promiscuous pile, the Mohican, our restive craft, was tossing in the trough of the sea — the steersman having m his excitement let go the til- ler. Sail and tackle were dragging over the side, her starboard rail lay on a level with the water and spray showered freely over us. For a moment we imatrined ourselves going straight to "Davy Jones' locker," and one or two of our lady passengers were almost frightened into hys- terics. Fortunately "Middle Island" was near at hand and the Mohican's crew worked her under the lee and finally ashore, where repairs were made. Here we first set foot upon Queen Victoria's do- mains the island lying within the dominion waters. We visited the lighthouse and were entertained at the dwelling of the keeper. Twilight shadows were thickly falling over the dark forests of Point au Pelee, when at last the Mohican made fast her lines at the old "south dock." The party were received and entertained beneath the hospitable roof of friends, and wearied from tossing on the billows and the nausea it had occasioned, we were early to bed. But the Pelee mosquito; we had been informed con- cerning this island specialty. To learn that said insect, or animal, cracked hickory nuts with its teeth, and that many of them weighed a pound was not so much of a surprise, however, as the onslaught which there on the borders of the Pelee marshlands it made upon us. The night was "filled with music," but the cares that infested the day stubbornly refused to "fold their tents," 256 ADVEXTURES FN QUEEN VICS DOMAINS. In addition to the mosquito fleet, we were assailed by a chorus of frogs, night-hawks, screech-owls and cata- mounts, also on the warpath. Just how we got through that awful night I hardly know, but we survived it at any rate, and next morning after bathing our bites in a solu- tion of soda, we started out to view the land, very little of which was visible, however, on account of the thick woods and thicker undergrowths running rampart over tracts of land which had once been clearings. VVe had taken passage in a "one boss shay" affair, the wheels of which gave forth an unearthly screech with every turn. The road was a mere wagon track deeply worn into parallel ruts close crowded b}^ trees, and notwith- standing the evaporative heats of July weather, the mud at some points was deep and sticky and it was necessary to keep going as fast as conditions would allow, to prevent ourselves and nag being devoured by mosquitoes. That road — the "rocky road to Dublin"- wasn't a circumstance in comparison; its ruts and roots, holes and humps through and over which we were bounced made memorable the ride. "Wild cats were common and herds of horses were running wild through the woods, just as in early days hogs ran wild at Put-in-Bay. A remnant of the red race still held a foothold on the island, and by request we were introduced to a family, representing as descendants the ancient Mo- hawks. Black raspberries hanging rich and ripe were every- where found through the clearings, and a few denizens A D VENTURES IN (1 UEEN VICS DO MA INS. 257 of the island were observed gathering them by pailsfull. The sight was templing, and provided with suitable receptacles, we started in to try our luck. Inexhaust- able in quantity were the berries, and snakes of various kinds were also prolific. Black snakes of immense size and length were especially numerous and could be seen whisking under and about rotting logs and hollow stumps, or gliding in and out a:r.ong the bushes, caus_ ing a creepy sensation along the spinal column; and would have stampeded us all from the place undoubt- edly, had we then known what we have since learned namely — that the mysterious and unexplored deptns of the island's land-locked bays and inlets are supposed to form the abiding place of that terrible, but elusive creature known as the "sea serpent." According to the statements of reputable residents of the island, two specimens of this monster have there been seen, one of which was declared to be lOO feet in length. On one occasion, these reptiles ran afoul of a fisherman's pounds and chewed up and destroyed all the twine, even pulling up some of the stakes to which it was moored. In harvest time these big snakes amuse themselves by coming ashore, chasing the harvesters from the field and tearing down the grain shocks. Those of our readers who have been wont to regard the sea serpent as a mythical creation, should visit Pelee Island and get the testimony of its inhabitants. Know- ing nothing of these sea monsters, however, ignorance to us proved blissful on the occasion described With an area of about 13,000 acres, a length of ten miles and a breadth of four, the island afforded ample 258 ADVENTURES lA QUEEN VICS DOMAINS. space in wliich strangers might lose themselves, and we were careful in our explorations not to get too far away from our guide. While thus scouring the wilds of Pelee, a smart gale smote the Mohican. She dragged her anchor^ drove ashora and stove a hole through her side. The breach was repaired, and fearing lest some calamity still more direful overtake us, we shook the Pelee dust, as well as mud, from our feet, and boarding the Mo- hican sailed for Put-in-Bay, which we fortunately, reached without serious mishap. A second trip to Pelee Island at a later date was taken with a party comprising the membership of a newspaper correspondents' association, our objective point being the famous Pelee club house and grounds at Point Sheridan on the north shore. We took passage on a trim, little Sandusky steamer, the Elsa. The day was glorious, the company choice, and as we headed for the north pole we were met by a breeze delightfully cool. We had just disposed of a sumptuous dinner, or as much thereof as seemed prudent, served on the steamer's roomy decks, when the island was reached, and edging carefuU}' along a precarious looking pier, her passengers suixeeded in getting ashore. A short walk brought us to the club house, a commodious structure; its olive-green exterior and red roof showing advantageously against a broad hem of dark foliajjed oaks and elms. Curiously and with a species of veneration gazed we upon the spot, since within its environments had as- AD VENTURES IN QUEEN VICS DOMAINS. 259 sembled for years some of the most distinguished men of America, such as Robert T. Lincoln, ex-President Arthur, General Schofield, Gen. Phil Sheridan, Mar- shall Field, ex-Secretary Gresham, Larry Jerome of New York, Geo. M. Pullman, Anson Stager, Bishop McLaren of Chicago, C. \\. Thompkins, Harry Dur- and of New York, and many others of corresponding prominence. The club corporation, we were told, represented somewhere between |8o,ooo,ooo and $100,000,000 and its appointments were all that might be expected — elegance and luxury everywhere, combining with com- fort and convenience to render the place an ideal resort* Each club member had placed at his disposal a servant to do his bidding, with a corps of oarsmen and lackeys awaiting orders. These representative men of brains and capital have been accustomed to meet semi-annually at their chosen rendezvous to fish for black bass —Canadian waters being more prolific in this game fish than those of the States. However, the recent restrictions placed by the Canadian govertmient on bass and other fishing, have now curtailed to some extent the enjoyment here afforded adepts of the rod and reel. A lar^e enterprise concerning which the Pelee is- lander talked volubly, was the successful drainage of the great Pelee marsh consisting of about 5000 acres. This extensive marsh was literally pumped dry by means of a massive steam pump run by an eighty horse power engine. The land, once submerged beneath malaria breeding swamp waters, now annually pro- duces splendid crops of wheat, corn and potatoes, 260 AD VENTURE. "^ IN (1 UEEN VICS D OMA INS. while the domination of the mosquito has been ma- terially curtailed. From Pelee we sighted the Canadian main, with many vessels and barges cruising in the "North pass- age," and after an hour's sojourn again boarded the Elsa and bid farewell to this very interesting bit of Queen Victoria's possessions. Though no calamity befell any of our party on this occasion, it may not be out of place to state incident- ally that after a long voyage — -taken the following year — and a series of thrilling adventures, the little steamer Elsa was lost on "Colorado Reefs," off the coast of South America. BEAUTIFUL BALLAST. BALLAST ISLAND. Among- the numerous resorts for summer visitors and tourists scattered among the islands of the archi- pelago, Ballast resort holds a prominent place. The island itself is a romantic bit of nature, consisting of picturesque rock, native forest trees and vineyard and orchard lands. Numerous cottages, artistically built and vine em- bowered, with winding walks and smooth lawns, adorn the spot, and overlooking precipitous rocks to north- ward is located the Ballast club house, an airy structure. An ample wharf, boat house and other improvements also appear. "Home of the Western Canoe Association" is the term. by which Ballast island is best known to its pa- 262 BEAUTIFUL BALLAST. trons, having formed for years the resort at which this organization has held its annual meets, and a newly erected club house on the gravelly stretch of the south shore furnishes excellent accommodations to its mem- bership. In addition to the club house of the canoe as- sociation, the canoer's camp —as seen during the sum- mer — with its tents of white and striped canvas, and its line of birchen canoes crowding the beach, forms a pretty picture, which the photographer, camera in hand, has not been slow to discover. Ballast Island was so named in consideration of the fact that just before the battle of Lake Erie the ships of Perry's squadron were provided with ballast in the shape of stone brought from the shores of this island. History does not locate the exact spot where the gallant commodore obtained his supply, but he must have found it without looking far, as lime rock, gravel stone and boulders are there found in inexhaustable quantity. The island contains about nine acres of land and is owned by a stock company, among whom are ex Mayor Geo. W. Gardner and Gen. James Barnett of Cleveland, Colonel Bartlett of Fremont and many other gentlemen of prominence who, with their famiHes and friends, patronize the resort. Nature's rugged wildness and art's refining touch here combine to form a scene most charming. Notable among summer cottages may be mentioned the Gardner "log cabin," a romantic picture, a rustic poem, from its old fashioned chimney, furniture and spinning wheel within, to the seal}' bank of its unhewn logs and ivy-clad gables without. At this resort the Cleveland Canoe association was BEAUTIFUL BALLAST. 263 THE GARDNER "LOG CABIN." organized nearly twenty years ago, W. Scott Robinson, of the Cleveland Recorder, and Geo. W. Gardner being its chief sustainers. In 1S85 invitations were extended to all Western canoers to become guests of the Cleveland club at Bal- last. These invitations were accepted and from this friendly alliance blossomed a new organization known as the Western Canoe association. An extended program of races in sailing and pad- dling are arranged for each season and prize cups of chaste and costly design are annually competed for; each meet lasting about ten days. Speaking of canoers, they are all extravagantly fond of juf t such a romantic situation as this little island affords. They are fond, too, of brisk breezes, flapping sails and dashing surf. They worship a canoe as a 264 BEAUTIFUL BALLAST. Hindoo his gods, or an Arab his horse, and little won- der, for the willowy masted, swift-winged canoe of modern construction is the prettiest and most agile thing ever designed to float upon water. Many of these canoes are trimmed in nickel and silver plating, with delicately wrought tiller chains and rudder of shining nickel. They are decked with flags and pennons of unique designs and their furnishings are novel and pretty. A CANOE RACE. The canoe is an expensive toy and fit to grace a parlor mantel — only that it is just a trifle too big for this purpose. Its color is a pale birch-brown. It has two sails, but is also propelled, when desired, by a single paddle, after the manner of aboriginal canoers. The canoer appears as strikingl}' picturesque as the canoe which he sails, for his costume is natty and novel. Beside the trophy cups sailed for, flags are awarded winners, together with other prizes, both pretty and BEAUTIFUL BALLAST. 265 appropriate, consisting of articles such as silk blankets, silver soap cases, traveling drinking cups, fishing boxes, camp lanterns, canoe rugs and other novelties. The families and friends of club members occupy the cottages, taking their meals in the dining hall. A manager is appointed to furnish supplies and to look after the interests of the island. This position is filled at the present time by S. M. Johahnsen. The Ballast resorter is a lover of nature, finding "sermons in stones and tongues in trees," and beneath his umbrageous screen of elms, maples, cedars and syc- amores the days of summer speed like a dream. One especial favorite known as the "umbrella," or "eagle tree," contained for many years a large eagle's nest. Within it every returning season a pair of old eagles reared their young, and some of the brood were domes- ticated by the islanders. The nest and the eagles have now disappeared, but the tree still remains. The Ballast patrons are individuals of quiet, refined tastes, but unconventional withal, and prefer easy but substantial comfort to stiff formality. They dress as they like and do as they please, bathing, boating, dozing, dreaming. They are all thoroughly in love with their pretty isle, and money would not tempt them to part with it. '^UNCLE JIMMY/^ The Ballast Island hermit, commonly known as "Uncle Jimmy" was a man with a history — suppositi- tiously at least— -though the haps and mishaps of his career were never quite clear to the public. However, as the old man was a bachelor and ijiven to solitude, observers who took romantic views of existence, sur- mised that a love affair was somehow tangled up in the web of his life. Though averse to general society, old Jimmy was mild tempered, and kindly disposed toward any whom he chanced to meet. At the period when he first took up his abode on Ballast Island, and for many years afterward, his weather beaten cabin was the only human habitation there existing, save the shattered remains of an old shed that had once been used by gillnetters as a ren- dezvous. His only companions were the proverbisl dog and cat which found a snug abiding place beneath his roof, and a horse and cow sheltered in a roughly improvised stable. A portion of the island was cleared land, affording opportunity for tillage and pasturage. The remainder formed a picturesque tangle of Bass- wood and elm, cedar growths, wild grape vines and other undomesticated shrubberry. Eagles built their nests undisturbed in the tall trees, and when the heavens were black with clouds and storms swept by, mad with delight sea gulls screamed, and wildly plunged into the " UNCLE jimmy:' aeT breakers which whitened on the reef. Waves mount- ed the rocky walls of weather-ward shores, flinging foam flecks into overhanging boughs and filling caverned niches with a bellowing thunder. With spring time came troops of the scarlet-winged black- bird, thrush, and whip-poor-will, the wood was reson- ant with song, while the turf formed a carpet of wild wood bloom. Summer unveiled pictures of gold, and the trees covered with abundant foliage cast over the cabin roof shadows cool and deep. The birds nested, and short winged fledgelings hopped about on the mossy ridge pole chirping their delight. With fading summer, autumnal fires kindled the maples until they flamed with scarlet and gold. Sumachs reddened and wild grapes purpled on the vines. With winter's advent the trees were bared of all save empty nests. Dismantled vines swung listless. The Canadian blasts swept down flurries of snow, and rigid ice plains glistened where blue waves had dash- ed. Such were the scenes which environed this soli- tary but charming retreat. Excepting when a party of fishermen or pleasure seekers beached their boats upon the gravelled shore, or when the owner came to look after the place, few changes save those wrought by the changing seasons varied the monotony of the hermit's life. Having voluntarily chosen this mode of existence however. Uncle Jimmy was presumably satisfied with his choice, finding in solitiude a species of happiness unattainable elsewhere. As years went by and the natural attractions of the archipelago came to be more and more appreciated by 268 " UNCLE jimmy:' visitors from abroad, Ballast Island was purchased by city capitalists. A club house and numerous cottages were built, and in a little while our hero found himself surrounded by gay crowds from the very center of city life and fashion. This innovation must have cost the old man some pangs of bitterness, but the invaders were kindly disposed toward their predecessor, placing upon him but few restrictions. Warmed by courteous treatment the old man exhibited so many good traits, that he eventually became a great favorite among guests during their summer sojourn at the island. Uncle Jimmy had been accustomed to procuring supplies, consisting of provision, wearing apparel, and notions, in the shops and stores of Put-in-Bay, rowing across the channel in a small boat and carrying with him — by way of barter cat-fish, which he had taken on his hooks, or products of the soil. His wants, being few and simple, were fully supplied in this way and these trips to the ''Bay" were. said to have been his only excursions. For years he had not set foot on any of the steamers which constantly plied between island and mainland. One day, however, seized by some un- accountable impulse, or driven by some unusual busi- ness transaction. Uncle Jimmy boarded one of the is- land steamers for Sandusky. Commanded b}- a throughbred captain who knew and could handle her as deftly as a lady handles a fan, this staunch steamer had for years made her accustom- ed trips day after day, had threaded narrow island passages, dodging rock and reef, unscathed in daylight and darkness, in storm and calm. The steamer had proven thoroughly trustworthy, " UNCLE JIMMYr 269 and on ihat beautiful morning when Uncle Jimmy leaned over the railing and gazed upon the fast reced- ing shores of Ballast Island, his mind was as calm and unruffed as the still blue waters, nor among the passengers was there any premonition of danger. How- ever, in the afternoon of that day people of the sur- rounding islands were startled by a jarring report which came echoing over intervening miles of water. Men at work in vineyard and orchard paused to listen. "A blast in the limestone quarries of the peninsula" was the explanation suggested and received, and the men continued their work. At Put-in Bay a knot of men lounged at the door of the telegraph office while the instrument clicked off a message. The operator scanned the cablegram re- ceived and an excited exclamation burst from his lips. 'What is it?" and the gaping crowd closed quickly about him. The message read as follows : Sandusky, O., May i8th, i8— . "At 3:30 P. M. the island steamer blew up off Kelley Island. Nearly all on board are injured or killed outright." At Sandusky ihe wharves were black with crowds of people when the wrecked steamer was towed back to the harbor from whence she had departed but an hour before. Scalded, blistered, disfigured by escaping steam, the dead and disabled were carried ashore. Among the number was Uncle Jimmy, not dead, but scalded almost beyond the consciousness of pain. All was done that human skill could do to kindle anew the failing life spark but to no purpose, and one night a clergy- 270 " UNCLE JTMMVr man summoned to his bedside administered the holy sacrament, and while a prayer breathed from the lips of the dying man, the failing eyes fastened upon the crucifix, held before him and so remained until the light in them faded — a life unobtrusive yet full of un- spoken patnos was ended. The re'Tiains were conveyed for interment to the little burial ground at Put-in-Bay. The deceased was without relatives to attend him in his last moments, or to dii-ect his final obsequies, but among the Ballast Island summer patrons were found friends who, though representatives of wealth and social position, esteemed it a piivilege to gather at the grave of the humble hermit, to scatter choice flowers about the casket, and to mingle tears of tenderness and sympathy with the earth that fell upon it. Among these friends was a prominent represent- ative of Ballast resort, by whom a slab of solid marble was afterwards placed above the mound. Upon it the visitor who may chance to wander through the beau- tiful and picturesque island cemetery may read: O0\@ ^^w;^ ^.o TO THE MEMORY OF UNCLE JIMMY OF BALLAST ISLAND. ERECTED BY HIS FRIEND CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD, Peculiarly appropriate as applied to the island in question is the name Gibraltar, since forming a mass of rugged rock and poised above the surface of Lake Erie within hailing distance of Put-in-Bay, it occupies a conspicuous position in the group — its boldness rendering it an object of striking interest. Gibraltar lies opposite "Peach Point," and aids in forming the placid sheet of water known as "Squaw Harbor." With natural forest and exhuberant vegetation both wild and cultivated clothing its rocks and cover- ing its whole extent, like an emerald gem in a setting of blue appears the island. In its quiet, yet picturesque and striking scenery, Gibraltar takes unquestionably the first place among the islands of the lake — a fact clearly evident to its present proprietor when about thirty years ago it came into his possession, and with the multi-millions at his com- mand he set about fitting it up as the ideal summer abode which it has since become. Especially noted as the summer residence of Jay Cooke — one of Ameri- ca's most noted financiers — is Gibraltar, and his stately villa, crowning castle-like the island's highest eleva- tion, overlooks the treetops, forming a picturesque point in the landscape. 272 CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD. "PERRY'S LOOKOUT'' AND ''NEEDLE'S EYE." All that wealth and cultured taste can su<;cjest combine with natural attractions, and the effect is charming. The surface is broken by rock ledges. Ro'mantic paths wind in and out among trees and shrubbery. Floral arbors, niches and caverns, natural and arti- ficial, with rustic huts, bridges and rockeries, appear. There are boats and boat houses, and ample wharves and ornamental structures of various kinds scattered about the crounds. JAY COOKE. CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD. 273 The shore scenery is marvelously beautiful. Es- pecially interesting are the "Needle's Eye" and the precipitous bluff, from which Commodore Perry watched and waited for the British fleet. The latter, known as "Perry's Lookout," is capped by a flagstaff, and near it is observed a fine monumental design in sculptured granite, commemorating Perry's victory, together with an old cannon used in this historic en- gagement. Probably no portion of the visitor's experience at Put in Bay is so dream like and enchanting as a row around Gibraltar when the harvest moon — newly risen — traces its wide pathway across the wateis, silvering its waves, intensifying the shadows among arched and cavcrned rocks, and bringing into bold prominence every jutting crag. Wierdly white among huge fallen- rocks lie the moonbeams. They thread the "Needle's Eye," pen- etrate the watery cavern at its base and silver the heights of "Perry's Lookout." They Hood the white beaches of cloven shore niches and soften the rugged outlines of the rock masses seamed and rent by vol- canic action an prehistoric times. With a faint breeze astir, may be heard within the chambered passages far under the rocks the reverberations of breaking swells. The tree-clad slope of Gibraltar appears sharply out- lined against the clear sky, and the lights in and around its sheltered villa twinkle through the foliage. Both the public and private career of Jay Cooke has been remarkable. As a "Napoleon of finance" he appears on record as having lost and regained a for- tune within the period of five years. 274 CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD. VILLA OF JAY COOK E-GlBRALTAR. During the war of the rebelHonJay Cooke figured more prominently in the monetary affairs of the nation, undoubtedly, than any other man, and his skillful financiering for the government during its serious embarrassment were such as had never before and has never since been equalled. He was intimately associated in governmental transactions with Secre- tary Chase of the United States treasury, as with his successor Secretary Fessenden, and through his agency the administrations of both were materially strengthened. CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD. 275 ST. PAUL'S REFORMED EPISCOPAL CHURCh — PUT-IN-BAY. Photo by Rev. W. Fred Alleo. Gibraltar and his Philadelphia country seat were bought back. The latter valued at |i,ooc,ooo and still in his possession, is known as "Ogontz," named after a Seneca chieftain of Sandusky bay with whom Mr. Cooke played when a child. The benefactions of Jay Cooke are many, a certain percentage of his annual income being systematically set aside for religious work and charities. A monument of the banker's beneficence along this line is seen in the Put-in-Bay R. E. church and rectory, built several years ago through his efforts. Large quantities of books and pictures are from time to time distributed by him among members of the church and Sunday school, and among the island people generally. 276 CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD. At one time when the government was sorely pressed for the where-with-all to pay its mihtary rep- resentatives in the field, the division known as the Army of the Potomac was paid off with money advanced by Jay Cooke, who received in exchange United States bonds covering the amount. Of Mr. Cooke it is related that once in company with Gen. Bates, Secretary Chase and President Lincoln, he went to see reviewed by Gen. McClelland the Penns3'lvania Reserve corps, which to organize and equip he h-id advanced the money. On another occasion before the fall of Richmond, Jay Cooke, Jr., visited Gen. Grant. Referring to Mr. Cooke's many favors to the government the latter ob- served : "I want you to tell your father for me, that it is to him moie than to an}^ other man that the people of this country will be indebted for the continued life of the nation." One of the great enterprises undertaken by Mr. Cooke was the building of the Northern Pacific rail- road but before the work was fully begun, and the ^50,000,000 bonds for the same deposited in Europe, the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and compli- cations in European finances arising, forced Mr. Cooke into bankruptcy. To his creditors he turned over every dollar of his property, including his Philadelphia homestead and his summer residence at Gibraltar. However, through native sagacity, energy and enter- prise, the unfortunate banker regained all that was lost, and was again upon his feet, having paid every dollar of his indebtedness. CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD. 277 SPHINX HEAD— GIBRALTAR. Twice a year during the spring and fall bass fish- ing seasons, Jay Cooke visits Gibraltar for the purpose of indulging his piscatorial fanc}'. He is known as a veteran at the rod and reel, and can catch more bass in a day than any patron who visits Put-in-Bay. Un- like the average bass fisherman. Jay Cooke never fishes on Sunday, but may always be found in his pew in the Put-in-Bay church. Excepting when on piscatorial excursions, he seldom visits his island resort, but its doors are nevertheless open throughout the summer 2'78 CASTLED GIBRALTAR AND ITS LORD, season to his children, grandchildren and friends, in- cluding the Barney and Butler families and the families of Rev. Harry Cooke and Jay Cooke Jr. Rev. Cooke is a devoted young man who is giving his life to the ministry, not because of its returns as a means of sup- port, but because his heart is in the work. JOHNSON'S ISLAND; Burial Gtound of the Confederate Dead* Next in historical importance to Put-in-Bay ranks Johnson's Island, rendered famous during the Southern rebellion as a place for the confinement of Confederate prisoners, 3,000 of whom — all commissioned officers — representing the flower of the Southern army, were held in serveillance. Johnson's Island is a strip of land one and one-half miles in length, and containing about 275 acres, lying near the mouth of Sandusky bay and three miles from Sandusky city. In early days this body of land was known as "Bull's" Island, E. W. Bull, a pioneer of the lake region, having been its original owner. In 1852 it became the property of Leonard B. Johnson, and from that date has borne its present name. During the war with the British and Indians in 1812, and in the struggle of the Canadian "patriots" in 1838, Johnson's Island figured more or less conspicuously, but it was not until the war of the rebellion that the place achieved historical prominence of a national char- acter. In 1862 the island was first used as a military prison post. The extensive grounds serving this purpose were enclosed by a fence or wall twelve feet high, with a parapet around the top, along which sentinels paced night and day. 280 JOHNSON'S ISLAND. Lines of barracks for the prisoners, headquarters for officers of the <^uard, a fort, a prison hospital, and last, but not least in melancholy importance, a burial ground, became adjuncts to the military occupation of Johnson's Island. In addition to a strong guard of Federal troops placed over the prisoners, the United States gunboat Michigan was detailed for duty and la}' at anchor in the bay with her guns primed and ready at a moment's alarm to sweep the prison grounds with a full broadside. No complete history in detail of prison life at John- son's Island has ever been written, but judging from the many articles and sketches of a fragmentary character which have appeared from time to time in newspapers and periodicals, a narration of the reminiscences to which its possession by the United States government as a military prison gave rise, would fill a volume. The one absorbing thought naturally uppermost in the minds of prisoners thus exiled, was comprehended in the word — freedom. The remote little isle, lav^ed upon every side by the bay waters, afforded meager chance of escape, for were the prisoners success- ful in evading the guards and in scaling the stock- ade, they could get no farther than the shores. The only possible opportunity afforded for reaching the mainland was in winter when bay and lake were frozen. Inventive genius was then exhausted in devising plans of escape, but which, though cleverly laid, miscarried in almost every instance. An exceptional case is re- corded as follows: "The frigidly cold night of Jan. i, 1864, is remem- bered by the prisoners, when the mercury sank to 26 JOHNSON'S ISLAND. 281 degrees below zero. The coal oil in the lamps lighting the prison grounds froze and the lights were all extin- guished. "The five daring men are also recalled who that night mounted the walls and crossed over the ice to San- dusky city, three miles distant. Two of the men were so nearly frozen to death as to be compelled to lie over at the houses of citizens and be recaptured, the remain- ing three having reached British possessions, thereTay achieving liberty. They then traveled 500 miles over deep snows to the mouth of the St. Lawrence, where they set sail for Havana, from which point they ran the blockade at Wilmington and joined their commands. Col. John R. Winston of North Carolina was the leader of this adventure.'' At Johnson's Island, in 1864, was enacted the lead- ing events of a notable conspiracy to which reference has already been made in this work, namely: The at- tempt on the part of the Southern Confederacy through its agents to capture the United States gunboat Michi- gan and lake transports of the Detroit, Island and San- dusky lines, and the simultaneous release of the rebel prisoners confined at Johnson's Island, at Camp Chase near Columbus, at Camp Douglass near Chicago, and at Camp Morton near Indianapolis —in all about 26,000 men. Hatched at the Confederate capitol, this plot was carried forward by a few sworn adherents, chief of whom were Colonel Cole, an officer in the army of Gen- eral Lee, and John Yates Beall. The former was called to Richmond and there entrusted with this secret service. Colonel Cole "is said to have been a man of 282 /0/LVSOJV'S ISLAND. wonderful coolness and courage, as well as of ample re- sources, though to all appearances a coarse, uncultured man. Beall on the contrary was a handsome, well educated young man, a West Virginian, and an officer in the Confederate vidi\y. The "woman in the case" was Annie Davis, a fe- male spy, who played skillfully her part in the drama. The first move on the part of Cole was to open a correspondence with one of the Johnson's Island prison- ers — Major Trimble. This correspondence was car- ried on throujjh ink-written letters interlined with im- portant messages written in starch, and afterwards rendered visible by an application of iodine. Through Major Trimble was organized among the prisoners a society known as "The Southern Cross," having for its emblem a wooden cross twined with the Confederate colors. Its members were bound by iron- clad oaths, administered on the open Bible, to hold themselves in readiness, when the time came, to strike at once a blow for personal liberty and the Southern cause. They were also bound to the most solemn secrecy. While Beall and about twenty picked men were detailed to capture by strategy the steamers Island Queen and Philo Parsons, Annie Davis, then located at the West House, Sandusky, was industriously work- ing up the plot's initial feature — the capture of the Michigan — by first capturing by the wiles of coquetry her officers and eliciting from them information con- cerning matters military at Johnson's Island and San- dusky. Woman, no<^ only, but wine was employed by JOHA'SOiVS ISLAND. 283 sagacious Colonel Cole in addling the brains and draw- ing into his meshes the unsuspecting naval officers, and a champagne supper served by him aboard the Michi- gan on the night set for the culmination of the con- spiracy came within an ace of placing the vessel and her command in the hands oi the rebels. The convivial cup had gone its rounds until as the hours of night wore on, the party had become mellow and merry. For the closing draught, however, was reserved a potion heavily drugged, which Cole was about to deal out, when suddenly confronted by the commanding officer, who had been absent during this time at Johnson's Island. Advancing, the officer laid his hand upon Cole's shoulder. "You d — n rebel spy! You are my prisoner!" he hissed. "Sergeant-of-m irines, arrest this man and put him in irons!" Had a torpedo suddenly exploded under the Mich- igan her officers could scarcely have been more com- pletely dumfounded. Having successfully performed his allotted task and obtained possession of the two island steamers, Beall on board the Philo Parsons awaited off Cedar Point the signal agreed upon — a cannon shot from the Michigan — to attack and capture the gunboat and to assist the prisoners at the island, who were to rise at the same time in insurrection, overpower the guards and make good their escape. The signal came not, however, and realizing that 284 JOHNSOX'S ISLAND. THE REMAINING BLOCK HOUSE, the plot had failed, the Parsons, at Beall's command, was put about and headed with all speed for Canada. Up to the afternoon of that day every part of the bold project had worked like a charm, but as after- wards generally learned, the plans of the conspirators were given away when nearly completed by one of the prisoners. Cole was closely confined and guarded at Johnson's Island, and later was tried by a military court martial and sentenced to be shot, but ultimately through influ- ential friends obtained pardon. While leader of the conspirac}', and as such more deserving of punishment, Cole went free, while his abettor, cultured and courteous Beall, was executed as a spy at Gouverneur's Island in New York bay. JOHIVSOA'S ISLAND. 285 Not much now remains on Johnson's Island to re- mind the visitor of the tragic scenes there enacted, save a few stragghng remnants of the prison buildings and the cemeter}' where lie buried 206 Confederate dead. Georgia marble headstones, inscribed with the name, age, company and regiment of each, were erected over these graves in 1890 through the instrumentality of Mr. John T. Mack, of Sandusky, and a party of Georgia newspaper rrien and prominent horticulturists who visited the place in 1889 and saw its neglected condition. Previous to that time the burial site presented a scene of neglect. The writer was privileged once to view the spot before the ertction of these tablets, the occasion beincr the decoration of the irraves on Memorial day by a detachment of McMeens Post, G. A. R. of Sandusky. After a run of twenty minutes the steamer upon which we took passage landed her passengers at a little dock that put out from shore. Headed by a drum corps and a flag bearer, the detachment took up its line of march for the ^burial place, distant nearly a mile, fol- lowed by a procession of people. There was no path, save that trodden by those who led. Following the shore bend, with the blue waters of Erie to the right, on the left a sloping sweep of grass land rolled its billowy verdure to the edge of a distant timber belt. This grassy plain was the site upon which had once been located the prison grounds. Remnants of the old barracks and other buildings were pointed out. The windows were broken and their exterior appeared weather beaten and ghostly. Startled by clang of drums and flap of flags, 286 rOHNSOiYS ISLAND. ?'■ 1 i -m ft^^^pamPB r 1^^^^ ^MMl w l^W P|: ^'fe > •^**- h^m'-'" 1 POWDER MAGAZINE. a few horses and cattle grazing amidst the deep grass scurried away to the farthest bounds of the pasture. The procession continued its march, beating through rank grass and over piles of drift wood and ridges of gravel, which the high seas of recent storms had lodged in the edge of the meadow. Leaving the shore line the path swerved a little to the left, leading throfigh a thicket so dense that a passage would not have been practicable but for the opening previously made with ax and scythe. The underbrush finally merged into a strip of forest and here in a spot as lonely as was ever selected for the burial of the dead, under branches low bending, amid shadows and silence, appeared long rows of sodden mounds, marked only by wooden headboards bearing each the name and age of deceased, together with the number of the command to which he had belonged. These head- JOHNSOA'S ISLAND. 287 I ^ V'^ '"•■ 1 ■■ ■— ■ 'i nB^T*^ — j-'jf — ^ v\. V ,0^ \ ■W^V'^^^'^^^-^^^^-- ^ \ \ r^ .: ^f Tj^jter^ *, .- / * si V / W\^^' ' p V - -V ft ^^4Z^ ^' , r^V^^lr -jJJfe^^^^^ // y , \ '■' \ /^MB LJa'^P^v^ &■' M /fh "^^^^y E 1; :'^^^^m^ U® ?^t'^ i' ^|.^r^ ife VBM ^^IH^^'^t' -. Vj^.,.,. w^^^^Bk HI i^'v/i ^.^"''' '^^K^^k E 1 ^^^MHW-' ' lll^^l 1 p H^^^^^^^H n^i BURIAL GROUND, SHOWING WOODEN HEADSTONES ORIGINALLY ERECTED. boards had been pcinted white, but the storms of more than a quarter ot a centur}^ had worn them grey, and most of them had fallen to the ground. Though dim, nearly all tlie inscriptions were still legible and a mourn- ful pathos breathed in the language thereby spoken- Gazing upon the scene, visions of homes amid the orange and magnolia groves of the sunn}- southland appeared, desolated by the removal of those who rest in this little isle far from the ministering hands of kindred and friends, with only the northern tempest's beat and the breaking waves of a northern sea lulling them to the sleep that knows no waking. 288 JOHNSOA'S ISLAND. With uncovered heads, in which the grey freely mingled, the veteran band gathered about the graves of those with whom they had once closed in deadly conflict. There were empty sleeves and scars that told of bitter strife and bloodshed, but the bitterness was gone, the blood stains wiped out, and only peace and charity and a feeling of common brotherhood now dwelt within the hearts of the survivors. The stars and stripes waved not triumphantly in the still air, but drooped silently, lettmg fall its silken folds where slept the brave but misguided sons of the South. Fair flowers were placed by fair hands upon the mounds already sprinkled with wildwood blossoms. A prayer, a brief address, a benediction, and the dead were again left to the shadows and the silence. ^ "BROWN SUGAR." A Reminiscense of Sandusky Bay. On a tiny projection an isolated dwelling reared its unpretentious walls. Though deeply sequestered, the spot was highly romantic. Above low levels of swamp land and stretches of black water, the point rose perceptibly with suggestions of an island, which it had undoubtedly been at no very remote period when the bay extended farther inland. The broken edges of the little plateau were edged about with the tall, feathery plumes of the wild rice plant, intermixed with rank reeds, rushes and "cat- tails." Willow copses and a few forest and orchard trees covered most of the remaining portion and seen through foliage of mixed greens, the black roof and weather-stained walls of the dwelling appeared strik- ingly picturesque. It was deeply banked with Golden Rod, now all aflame, and wild Rose of Sharon in full bloom, and the brilliancy and prodigality of color dis- played blended in pleasing effect with the surrounding greenery. Close by the house a winding pathway led to a rude dock beside which two or three boats rocked in the sunshine. Directly ahead and to left and right glinted the still dark waters, broken near and far by numerous small capes and promontories everywhere clothed with the rankest vegetation. Acres of wild 290 '• BROWN SUGAR'' rice and reeds piicked above the surface, and vast floating islands of water lillies bowed gracefully their broad leaves and creamy blossoms to the incoming swell, which like a gentle tide rolled far up the bay when the wind was easterly and Lake Erie m com- motion. Marine plants flourished luxuriantly under the water, and trailing masses of weed, vivid green in color, floated to the surface and frequently impeded the paddle wheels of the small tugs and steamers that ventured through the upper bay to the river beyond. A line of buoys marked the winding, deep water channel without which these craft would have been lost in the mtricate maze. The waters were alive with fish, and turtles, tad- poles, snakes and frogs abounded. The dense tangles formed a rendezvous for wild duck, marsh hen, loon and bittern. Troops of birds frequented the shores, and game of every description was plentiful. Tlie whole region up and down the bay formed a favored resort for hunters and anglers, and boat loads of these sportsmen were constantly abroad. The house on the little promontory was the only human habitation visible. It was the home of Pete Mathews, a bay shore farmer. Mathews owned a large tract of rich farming lands adjacent, but had chosen to build in this lonely place. Of neighbors, such as they were, he had plenty. Gulls and eagles ' screamed over his roof by day, and owls hooted him to sleep at night, but he had prospered, and from humble beginnings had evoluted into a producer on a large scale of wheat, corn and potatoes which an- nually yielded him abundant crops. " BRO WN SUGA R." 291 He kept a hired man the year round, and his wife a hired girl during the summer months; for a thrifty- housewife was Mistress Mathews, and she made stacks of butter, besides entertaining summer boarders — sportsmen and rusticators — from the cities who came to hunt, to fish and to run wild. The weather had been wet, with intermitting hot sunshine, and the weeds were threatening to choke out the garden vegetables, and Pete's wife had been trying to head them off. Weary and overheated she turned at last toward the house, left in charge of Cassie, the hired girl. She found the screen door open, the kitchen full of flies and mosquitoes, a kettle of bean porridge scorching on the stove, but no Cassie. It was twenty minutes to six, Mr. Bronson, the boarder, Pete the householder and husbandman, and Philander, the hired man, would soon be in to supper and not even the kettle over. "I declare to goodness if it don't beat all with' that girl!" . "I don't see what's comin' over her to be so ker'less and shiftless all to once." "She's out front flirtin' with them city fellers" — said Pete enterinij at that moment. For half an hour, Cassie had watched so intently the path leading to the dock as to completely forget her household duties. Going to and fro between the place where their boats lay, and "Walton" Hotel at which they sojourned, — a mile back from shore, — two sportsmen had passed the house frequently of late. To all appearances they were gentlemen. Both were 292 " BRO WN SUGA Rr extremely polite, and one of the number had paid esoe- cial deference to Cassie. Now Cassie — pretty, piquant, and saucy — was not averse to an occasional flirtation. Though of irreproach- able character, a simple, unsophisticated country girl was she, easily flattered and imposed upon, and the smiles and graceful gallantries bestowed by Mr. Frank. Harrow were most effective in turning her little head besides giving Philander a world of trouble, since for months past the poor fellow had been assiduous in his attentions to the girl and she had given him reason to hope. Having put over the tea kettle, Mistress Mathews stepped to the front window. "Cassie, Cassie !" she called. The girl was leaning against the pump, her blonde frizzes fivinnr all about, her cheeks a rich bloom. In a lively tilt with Harrow she was flinging shrewd repartees with rapidity and effect. "I must go" — Mrs. Mathews' im.pierative voice had at last recalled Cassie's wandering-thoughts. "Take this then with my compliments" — said Harrow tossing her a water lily. He lifted his hat, and with a smile and graceful wave of the hand pass- ed on. Hiding the flower under her apron, Cassie hurried into the house where she made peace with her mis- tress as best she could. Tenderly nurtured, that lily continued for several days to exhale its fragrance, Cassie having placed it in a vase of water in her room. Again and again they met, he the handsome, " BRO WN sugar:' 293 faultlessly dressed, affable, and agreeable city man, she the pretty, but crude and inexperienced country girl. One day while hanging out the week's wash, a boy from Walton Hotel delivered to her a letter. The missive was scented with Attar of Roses and enclosed within a dainty envelope. Hastily opening, she read as follows : Walton Hotel, Sept. i8th, i8 — . My Dear Lit lie Girl: "You will doubtless think strange that I should ad- dress you, but the fact is I am writing because 1 can't help it. If you could only realize what a lovely little witch you are and how perfectly irresistible to me you have become, you would understand and excuse lan- guage which might otherwise seem extravagant." "Now that you have so completely charmed me, my bonny bird, I must beg the pleasure of your further acquaintance." "When the moon casts her pale light over the bay and the stars blink forth, will you not meet me down at the boat landing about eight o'clock, say. To- gether we will row over the glistening waters and for- get all else save each other, then will I tell you of all that is in my heart. Yours devotedly, "Frank Harrow." With puzzled look and flushing cheeks Cassie entered the house. A few hours later Harrow and Duffree, his companion, passed by on their way to the dock. Harrow cast furtive glances toward the house but failed to get sight of Cassie. He looked disap- pointed, and on reaching the willow thickets proposed halting under the cool shadow, for the day was sultry. 294 " BRO WN SUGAR." Seate.l on a log in full view of the house, each lit a cigar, but Cassie very obstinately kept out of sight. "What's amiss up yonder, Harrow?" queried Duf- free. "Oh, the pretty dove is 1 iding out of sheer modesty, that's all," i-eplied the other carelessly. "You are really mashed on her then?" "Well, yes I suppose that I might as well make the admission." "And how about the dreamy eyed Creole. You don't propose this little rustic to take her place?" "Of course, Nita and I have had frequent quarrels of late, and to tell the truth she has lost her hold upon me. But there'll be hearts enough open to receive a woman of her imposing style." "But don't you know that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. You might experience some difficulty in gaining this girl's confidence." "Leave me alone for that, Duffree; she is is of a simple and confiding nature, you know. It would be quite an easy matter to make her believe the moon is made of "green cheese." "By the way, I've just thought of a name that ad- mirably fits my new divmity." "And what might it be?" "Brown Sugar." "And the application, or signification?" Don't you comprehend?" "I call her Brown Sugar because she's sweet but unrefined." "Ah !" and Duffree laughed. "How about your wife, Harrow?" '^BROIVN SUGARr 295 "Arn't you afraid she'll get an inkling of your little escapades some time?" "Oh no, I guess there'll be no danger. I've always posed as a dutiful and indulgent husband and she's a trusting creature." "You dog !" "Well, if I'm a dog you're another." "Yes, but I have no wife." "But for existing circumstances I should be glad if I had none, but my wife holds the ducats, you know, and to kick out of the matrimonial traces would make it bad for a fellow who has nothing of his own, see?" "I will find some agreeable position for my little country girl and my wife will be none the wiser." "First catch your bird/' returned Duffree. "Oh, there'll be no trouble. These green country girls are the most credulous beings in the world, as well as the most devoted," "I'm not so sure of what you say. It strikes me that your new fancy has a mind and will of her own." This was part of a conversation, supposed to be confidential, held between the two sports. They little dreamed of a listener, but by chance it happened that Philander was on the opposite side of the copse mend- ing gill nets and had heard all. As soon as the men left the place he hastened to Cassie with his newly acquired information. When he had concluded the re- cital Cassie went up stairs and threw the unoffending water lily out of the window. That night at eight o'clock when the moon rose over the bay, Frank Harrow paced back and forth over the rough planking of the dock, but Cassie did not 296 " BRO WN SUGA Rr come. A long time he waited, but finally retired vexed and disappointed. For successive days he saw nothing of the girl, but not to be outwitted, he resolved to make her a call. Supper was over at Pete Mathews'. Cassie had washed and put away the dishes, and arrayed in a blue gingham sunbonnet was starting for the barn to feed a late spring calf there ensconsed. With a pail of bran and milk, thickly stirred together, in her hand, the rustic beauty was suddenly transfixed by hearing Frank Harrow speak her name. "How do you do. Miss Cassie, I hope you are well." There was an ominous pause. "Not having seen you for some time, I thought I would call and inquire for your health." A sudden redness flashed over Cassie's features. For answer her pretty, but athletic arm gave a convul- sive swing and the contents of the pail went full into Harrow's face and ran down his enamelled shirt front. Splashes of the mixture decorated his beaver and coursed sluggishl}^ down his coat sleeves, vest front and trouser legs. Never in all his experience had Harrow received so complete a surprise and he was struck speechless with amazement. Having rubbed the gluten from his eyes and dripping moustache he at last found his tongue. "What in thunder do you mean?" he roared. "What have I done to deserve such villainous treatment? You hussy, how dare 3'ou perpetrate such an infernal outrage? " "That comes of mashin round 'green country' girls," said Philander significantly. " BRO IV N sugar:' 297 "Next time you and your pal talk over j'our love affairs, you'd better look on 'tother side of the copse to see if there be any to hear." The air of offended dignity which Harrow had as- sumed now gave way to a look of blank dismay. "Better take yourself off, mister, fast as yer legs'll let you, ef you don't want damages to the extent of a broken head." Harrow took one look at the burly six footer and hastily quitted the scene. The next morning he bade adieu to Walton Hotel. "Business," he explained, called him back to the city. "How's sporting up the bay, Harrow? " queried an acquaintance whom he met on reaching his destination. "Tame— played out, in fact," was the moody reply. "Ah, indeed ! " Then assuming a confidential tone : "By the wav, pard, what's wrong between you and your wife? " "Me and my wife?" "Not anything, man!" "Then I guess you haven't heard the news. She's filed a petition for divorce." "What! no, that can't be possible!" "But it is possible." "On what grounds?" "Don't know. I hear there's a woman in the case as usual, also a letter; that's all I know." It was with some misgivings, cloaked under an out- ward guise of nonchalance, that Harrow reached his home on the avenue and confronted his wife. That Nita had made trouble was his inward thought. To his wife, however, he coolly put the question : 208 ''Brown suGARr "What's the row?" For answer she quietly handed him a letter which read as follows: "Wild Duck Point, Sept. 2, 18 — . '■'Dere Mrs. Harroiu: "I write these few lines to let you know something what I think you ought to kn.w. Our border, Mr. Bronson, says he knows you and Mr. Harrow both: He says you live close to where he does and that you air a real nice woman, and he is sorry that you have such a skalawag for a man. "I send you a letter what Mr. Harrow wrote me yesterday, by which you can see how he carries sail when he's away from home. If you want to know any more. Philander Smith, our hired man, can tell you a lot about him. Yours truly, "Cassie Hart." Harrow was visibly agitated when he had finished reading. "And where is the letter enclosed? " he asked. "In the hands of my attorney; but here's a copy." Harrow was thus afforded an opportunity of pe- rusing a reproduction. of his epistle to Cassie. The next outing season Frank Harrow was not among the guests at Walton Hotel. With the assist- ance of Philander and Cassie as principal witnesses, Mrs. Harrow had procured a divorce and with all her possessions had forsaken her lord. As a second rate clerk in a lawyer's office Harrow was now afforded an opportunity of making himself "useful as well as orna- mental." " BRO WN sugar:' 299 As to morals, he finds it easier living up to the com- mon standard of virtue on a small salary than it had been with an unlimited supply of "ducats" at command; but any reference to "Brown Sugar" makes him visibly wince. Cassie's summer time fancy was effectually dissi- pated and she returned at once to her allegiance. A month later Philander and Cassie were legally and securely knotted. WHAT THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE A fog— the densest ever known in the archipelago — shrouded lake and land, shutting from view sur- rounding objects. Condensing vapors dripped drearily from grey gables and naked boughs; and a silence impressive and profound as if all the world were dead reigned unbroken. It was early spring and the ice was breaking and sluggishly running in the island passages, carried along by shifting currents though scarce a breath of wind stirred. A more dismal day had never dawned upon "Wil- low Point" — so at least thought Mittie McKay, while seated by the kitchen window she knit lace, and watch- ed her father at work as with ax aswing he whacked away at the long, strong bolts and oaken timbers of an old wreck — a dismasted schooner — that lay amidst the driftwood and debris brought in by the waves and piled into winrows. In vain had Mittie tried to pierce with her sharp eyes the obscurity. She could not see even the big, black buoy on Chenook reef. So nicely scumbled and blended by the fog were sky and water that the whole perspective seemed a single sweep of sky that reached to earth, and the only animate objects visible in all the illimitable expanse were the nearer floes adrift in the dark water and appearing like white WHAT THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. 301 clouds on a leaden background. The effect was strik- ing, but too devoid of life for a girl like Mittie, and she withdrew her gaze from the colorless scene to that in the foreground representing her father, his swinging ax, and the broken and denuded ribs of the wrecked schooner. Mittie's mouth had a perceptible droop at the corners, and her eyes a misty expression borrowed from the fog, and once when the thread kinked form- ing an obstinate knot, a frown wrinklfed her smooth brow. Mittie's feelings were evidently in sympathy with the weather. For her on this dun colored day the old wreck had a peculiar fascination. Nameless, it had come ashore about a year pre- vious, on the sweep of a mighty storm, from whence nobody knew. "What a fit emblem of life is that old hulk" — soli- loquized the girl. "We launch forth with fair prospects, and further- ing gales only to fetch up on some desolate shore hope- lessly broken and battered." The sad case of the beached wreck seemed anal- agous to her own, and her eyes filled with tears at its contemplation. Now, considering the fact that Mittie was a bright, pretty girl of only twenty 3'ears, the idea of comparing herself to that old bare-boned carcass seemed absurd. Nevertheless, she was just now very, very miserable. It was all in consequence of a quarrel between her and Santa Smith. Mittie and the young man had been af- fianced lovers when ;; xisunderstanding occurred. Pride and resentment on both sides widened the breach 303 IVHA T THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. finally resulting in complete enstranfjement. To make matters worse, Santa had begun paying attention to Stella Pierce, the Willow Point school mistress — a-flip, flirty, frizzle headed girl of eighteen; smart enough and good enough looking, but given to gush and a pro- nounced giggler. This girl, who had gained the young man's prefer- ence, was two whole years younger than Mittie — a circumstance which caused the latter to feel very much like an old maid, and probably suggested the doleful analogy between herself and the old wreck. As the thread continued to knot, Mittie continued to frown, until she suddenly caught a reflection of her face in a mirror. What a fright she was making of herself! Petulance then gave way to more tender feelings and she began to cry. She couldn't help it with the day so dull and her heart so heavy, for in spite of her linger- ing resentment she still loved Santa truly, devotedly, and he cared naught for her. While in this tearful plight, her father, Mike Mc- Kay, entered with an armful of firewood. J, A March fog Will freeze a May dog'" — Sagely quoted the old man. "My, what nasty weather!" He was damp and shivering from the chill fog without, and cramming the stove with wood spread his hands in front of the open hearth. "Hullo there, what's the matter.'^" he queried catch- ing a view of Mittie's tear stained countenance. "Mourning over Santa Smith, Santa Mariah or some other Santa— as I live. WHAT THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. 303 "No. I a'int,"— she replied testily. "But I know you are." "Never mourn over such a circumstance, girl, for don't you know — " 'There's plenty of fish in the sea, As good as ever were caught." Seeing that the subject was painful to his daughter, Mike thought best to change it. "Heigh oh! we're getting a breeze at last. Hear the wind roar. Now I hope the fog '11 lift." At this moment the sound of a bell was borne to the ears of father and daughter. It was a church bell at the port a mile distant. Its tones were sonorous, and as it continued ringing the listeners looked inquisitively at each other. "Some one lost in the fog," suggested Mittie. "Must be so," returned the father, "Most like it's the mail carrier and party. Pete Mooney said the mail hadn't arrived yet when he left the harbor and it was then two hours overdue. Pete went by about fifteen minutes ago." "The carrier had a compass along, of course, but what with the currents and running ice, it might do him little good; for should the boat drift out of her course so as to miss the island, the compass would only guide him out into the open lake." "How dreadful to be lost in such a fog and the ice a running and night coming on," observed Mittie with a shudder. An early twihght was perceptibly deepening the gloom which had hung all day long over land and water; and the prospects of a night of blackness, such as 304 WHAT THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. no gleam of beacon light could penetrate, served to in- crease the anxiety felt by Mike McKay and his daugh- ter and was shared by most of the dwellers on that lonely isle. It was now definitely known that the car- rier and party were astray on the lake and what might be their fate none could determine. At regular intervals the bell pealed forth its signals, but the sound fell with a dirge-like cadence. Vaguely seen through the fog-veil and darkness, trees, rocks and other objects near the isolated old dwelling appeared strangly wierd to Mittie'. The naked ribs of the wrecked schooner suggested the skeleton of some huge animal, and the dead-white floes piHng the beach reminded her of marble slabs and shafts swept together from some abandoned graveyard. A nameless dread possessed her and a foreboding which she could not control. In hours of melancholy such as these Santa's genial presence had often cheered the motherless girl and dispersed the gloom of her surroundings, but all that was now in the past. Her lover and friend had left her and she knew not where he then was. Some said that he had gone to Michigan, there to remain for a year or more. Had he been on the opposite side of the globe he could not have seemed more distant. Darkness came on apace and shut out the fog phantoms. The wind had continued to freshen until it blew a gale, and the gale increased until it blew a hur- ricane. This caused the fog to lift and lights became visible, though inky blackness covered all the sky. In more than one cottage on Willow Point lamp- light gleamed from windows looking lakeward, placed WHAT THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. 305 there by anxious watchers with the hope that the rays shed abroad might guide landward the carrier's craft, if happily it were still afloat and able to outride the storm and crushing ice. Within the McKay abode well seasoned driftwood crackled briskl}', the kitchen stove grew ruddy with heat and the room was cozy and comfortable. Seated at a table Mittie knit lace, but showed little interest in her work. Mike McKay divided his attention between some torn gill net twine — which he was stitching up with a wooden needle— and the weather. The old man felt anxious concerning the missing boat and opened the door many times to scan the sky and the tumultuous sea rushing on the beach. The wind's howl over chim- ney and tree tops and the crash and grind of ice on the shore were terrific, and he shook his head as he calcu- lated the slim chances of any boat or crew on such a night. Nine o'clock was late bed time for Mike McKay; anxiety had kept him up, however, until after that time; but realizing the futility of further watching, he pre- pared to retire, first repairing to the beach to again look at the lake. Ice in pulverized masses and in floes big as the side of a house — tossed up by the waves — formed a wide, whijte ridge covering all the beach and still piling higher. The wind blew with a violence which the old man cared not to withstand. It cut his face and chilled him through. He had turned toward the house, wh^n above the crash and roar he thought he heard a shout. V^ery 306 WHAT THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. faint indeed; perhaps he was mistaken for the voices of contending elements pitched in myriad keys strangely commingled and were liable to deceive. Mike was about to enter his dwelling when he again heard an outcr3\ This time he made no mistake. It was close at hand and came from the lake. Rush- ing into the house he hastily lighted a lantern and hur- ried to the beach whither he was quickly followed by his daughter. Over bristling ridges and through pommaced heaps of ice the}' clambered until near the line where break- ers gleamed white in the lantern's glare. At a short distance from shore a large mass of ice had grounded upon sunken rocks, and through the gloom was dis- cerned the outlines of a boat fast upon the obstruction and a yeast of waves breaking over it. "Hulloa there! Give us a line — for (Jod's sake be quick!" "Aye, aye," answered Mike. He turned to Mittie. "Run and get that coil of rope which hangs above the locker. Fly! Your limbs are more supple than mine." Mittie started on her errand, instantly returning with a long, strong rope to one end of which was at- tached a piece of lead. Having given the signal, Mike with well directed r.im flung the lead and line into the boat. He was then directed to make fast the shore end, which he did by carrN'ing it over the ice ridge and tying it to a tree. By this means tlit boat was freed from her precarious sit- uation and gotten ashore, but would have been crushed WHA T THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. 307 in the operation had it not been especially built for con- tact with ice. It was armored with steel and proved to be the island mail boat. After a hazardous exper- ience the carrier and his assistants had gained the shore, but were so numbed with the cold wind and dashing spray that they could hardly walk. "Come right up to my house !" exclaimed McKay hospitably. "No, no, not yet," returned the carrier, "We've lost a man overboard — a passenger — we must look for him." "He was standing at the stern, helping us with a pike pole to shove the boat off yonder rocks, when a big wave heavy with ice drift carried him into the lake." "I'm afraid its all day with him. He was nearly dead from cold and fatigue before he went over and would hardly be able to make much of a fight." "Who was the man?" queried Mike. "It was Santa Smith." The words rang confusedly through Mittie's brain. She was dazed but uttered no sound, and only for an instant paused with hands uplifted. "Let us look for him, let us find him !" she ex- claimed. The wind was driving everything shoreward, and dead or alive the man might be brought in on the breakers. A dark object floating in the water soon attracted attention. The object was gotten ashore. It proved to be the inanimate form of Santa Smith. The lantern flashed into the white, upturned face as they gathered about to examine the body. 308 WHA T THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. "He is dead," said one of the men reirretfullv. "There may be Hte in him yet, bring him into the house," suggested McKay. Santa was stretched upon a lounge, vigorous stimulants were applied to the skin and administered internally, but as no responsive sign was visible they sadly shook their heads. Just as the last hope had been abandoned, how- ever, a faint movement of the heart was detected. Efforts were renewed, and the men were speedily cheered by indications still more hopeful. Mittie was tremulous with emotion as she flew about procuring towels, blankets and other articles called for by the workers. After a time Santa opened his eyes. At that mo- ment Mittie was hovering near; the first face that he recognized was hers, and the tirst word that passed his lips was her name. She came near and in a moment their hands were clasped and she was weeping for joy. The carrier and his men had now performed their part, and after partaking of some needed refresh- ments, they loaded upon a wagon procured for the purpose the U. S. mail bags and other matter in their possession, and hastened on, leaving Mike McKay and his daughter to nurse the resuscitated Santa into full activity. Said the young man when he and the girl were alone: "I was on my way home with the mail when we got astray in the fog. I came back because I couldn't stay any longer and wanted to make up with you^ will you forgive me?" IVHA T THE DRIFT BROUGHT ASHORE. 309 "But how about Stella Pierce?" "O, I just went with her because 1 was mad at you and wanted to show my independence. Stella knew it and accepted my company because she thought it fun to make you jealous." "The hussy!" exclaimed Mittie. "Will you forgive me?" For answer Mittie kissed his brow, and the old sweet confidence was restored. AN ISLAND ^^ FAMILY ROBINSON/^ CHAPTER I. Isolation A mere speck on the bosom of Lake Erie lay the little island where opens the scene of our story. It contained but a few acres and the rough limestone which girt its irregular shores was carveninto grotesque shapes by the action of waves. Huge rocks split off from shore lifted their heads capped by gnarled cedars, the roots of which had taken so firm a hold that the fierce storms of wind and dashing surf had seemed to render them only more tenacious. Straggling trees and low scrubby bushes feathered the shores and in many places overhung them. From the far mainland shores west and north, blue lying in the haz}' distance, to eastward, far as the eye could reach, stretched the great ice plains, undulating and rough with their white and grey drift piled in con- fused masses. The scene presented was at once grand, yet bleak and desolate. In the center of the island was a single dwelling sheltered from raking winds by a thicket of trees. Within a cove, approached by a rock}' path, stood a roughly built shanty used for storing nets, buoys, ropes and other articles belonging to fishermen's tackle, and drawn up on the beach lay a boat. These two buildings were all that the island contained. Its in- AN ISLAND ''FAMILY Robinson:' ■ 311 habitants were a fisherman, William Gerald, and family consisting of a wife, a grown daughter and a little child. A man who had been employed to assist in fishing operations during the preceding autumn lived with them. None of the adjacent islands were at that time inhab- ited and very often in stormy weather and when the ice was unsafe these people were entirely cut off from the world and communication therewith. Though they had suffered man}' disadvantages and even hardships and had resolved never to spend another winter on the lonely spot, yet undoubtedly they had been as happy and as contented as mankind in general. However, a shadow had crossed the cottage thres- hold and darkened its hearthstone. Little Charley, the pet of the household, was taken suddenly ill. The anxious parents did all that lay in their power, administering such medicines as they had, which they thought might prove beneficial, but their efforts were unavailing and the boy grew rapidly worse. "In the morning," said Gerald — for the child was taken ill in the night — "In the morning I will start for the mainland and try to procure a doctor." "I fear that it will be hard to find a doctor willing to risk traveling so far upon the ice," replied the wife. "I do not think the risk great, as the ice appears quite solid," answered the husband. When, however, the first beams of the winter sun illuminated the eastern verge of the great ice plains and shone through the cedars into the window, they fell upon the rigid face of a dead child. Little Charley had breathed his last. 312 AN ISLAND ''FAMILY ROBINSONr The parents were stricken with grief. Isolated as they were, death had found and had borne awa}- almost without warning their treasure. Long and dreary was the day following that night of anxious watching by the bedside of sickness and of death. The sun veiled itself in clouds and the skies bent in cold solemnity. Dressed in a robe of spotless white the dead child lay in his crib. The room was partially darkened and through the house, which had echoed his ringing laugh and childish prattle, reigned a silence unbroken save by soft footfalls and low voices, mingled with a sound of weeping. To the hearts of the mourning parents now came the question : "Where shall we find a grave for our boy? " "Shall we bury him in this desert little isle which holds no other grave and leave it alone and neg- lected with only the rain and dew to weep over it, and the voice of wind and wave alone hushing it to the sleep that waketh not?" "No," the thought was unbearable. Then they re- membered a burial site with white headstones, envir- oned amidst shrubbery, flowers and drooping willows across on the Canadian main where rested friends and relatives. In this spot they resolved to inter the re- mains of little Charley. "If we carry him to A -," observed Mr. Gerald, it will be necessary to set out as soon as possible. The trip over and back will take two days. The ice seems solid, but it is uncertain how long it will remain so." "Reuben will be ready and willing to accompany me and I think it best to start early tomorrow morning." AN ISLAND ''FA MIL Y ROBINSONS 313 "I hardly dare think of your going. What if any- thing should happen you?" said Mrs. Gerald. Then she thought of the void soon to be made by the removal of little Charley. "Oh! how desolate would be the darkened home." Mingled with her grief were misgivings con- cerning the safety of her husband, such as she had never before felt, for she was a courageous woman and seldom gave way to feelings of timidity. Long hours must elapse before she should again see her husband. He would be exposed to danger in crossing the bleak ice desert, yet this danger would not be greater than others to which he had often been exposed on previous occasions. Calling to the test all her forti- tude, she refused to listen to the promptings of fears which she endeavored to persuade herself were ground- less, and quietly acquiesced in her husband's plans. A strange funeral procession was that which earl}^ the next morning moved from the door of the fisher- man's home down to the cove where lay the boat. In his arms Gerald carried the dead child, wrapped in a blanket. He was followed by his wife and daughter and his hired man, Reuben Starr. The boat had been provided with runners and ropes fastened to the bow, so that it could be drawn like a hand sled. Reuben Starr carried a small box which he placed in the boat's stern, and within it was laid the body. The little group gathered around it and re- mained standing for a few minutes, while the mother and sister took a last look at the dead boy. Tears flowed freely and the silence of the parting was broken only by sobs. The sky was covered with sombre 314 AN ISLAND ''FAMIL V ROBINSON:' clouds; a settled gloom rested upon the underlying shores and pervaded the hearts of the stricken family. The little face was then covered away from sight. With a few parting words to those left behind Ger- ald took his place beside Reuben Starr, who held the ropes, and together they set forward drawing between them the boat and its burden. Once again an indefin- able dread of some ill befalling the two adventurers took possession of Mrs. Gerald and divided the grief she felt at the death of her child. She said nothing to her daughter in regard to these feelings and sought to drive them from her mind. Over the lake toiled the two men. There were smooth, slippery places where the ice looked blue and firm. Then they cime to narrow seams where water appeared. In one place a long rift of open water about fifty feet wide obstructed the way. Here they were obliged to launch the boat and pull across to the opposite side. In some places great cakes of ice lay heaped in confused masses. At other points they were gorged together in shattered, splintered confusion. Meantime the clouds grew darker and the air warmer. Gerald, with a slight feeling of uneasiness, glanced at the lowering sky, while Reuben wet his finger and held it up in the wind to note its direction. "I wish that we had brought a pocket compass," observed the latter. Gerald made no reply and the men pushed forward as rapidly as the peculiar roughness of the way and the dragging weight of the boat would permit, toward the faint, blue line which marked the Canadian shores. However, the men were apprehensive of a danger A N IS LA ND ''FA MIL Y ROBINSONr 3 1 5 which those of less experience might not have foreseen. The wind was not blowing hard, but it had changed from the northeast to due west and the dense, black clouds along the western horizon had turned to a whitish grey. There were indications of a storm. Nearly three hours had they been on their way and the shores of the island were growing dim m the distance. Once they stopped and deliberated as to whether they had not better abandon the undertaking. Gerald seemed inclined to turn back, but Reuben Starr, who was auj. old sailor and had roughed it for many a year, insisted upon going forward. He had become hardened by ex- posure, was reckless of danger and his reputation for bravery was now at stake. After a moment's hesitation Gerald yielded to the old sailor's wishes and again they pressed forward with an energy that brought the per- spiration to their faces. Suddenly the wind arose. The heavy, grey clouds swept up from the horizon in a solid body, preceded by clouds as black as night, broken and flying in wild con- fusion. "Look yonder!" exclaimed Gerald, pointing west- ward. A dense, filmy line of snow was sweeping toward them over the lake. The men came to a sudden stop. Gerald's face was pale and anxious, and that of his companion showed deeper concern than he cared to express in words. In a few moments the storm burst upon them. The air was filled with whirling snow flakes driven before the fierce blast. It enveloped them as with a shroud. The island which they had left be- hind and the shore line toward which they had traveled 316 AJV ISLAND 'TAMIL V ROBINSON. " were entirely blotted from view. Not a point or land- mark remained whereby they could determine their course. "If we only had brought a compass," repeated Reu- ben, but they had not and now what was to be done? If they journeyed on without a guide they would in all pro- bability lose the direclion of the shore and perhaps wan- der from the confines of the islands- out toward the open sea. They decided to remain where they were. The storm might soon abate and they could then pro- ceed. But there were no indications of the storm abating. Not a break appeared in the solid mass of clcuds that covered the sky. The wind blew a steady gale. Their situation was becoming perilous, for if the wind continued at its present violence the ice was liable to part and break up at any time. A knowledge of this fact was the principal cause of anxiety on the part of the two men. Buttoning closely about them their overcoats they seated themselves on the edge of the boat. Having eaten nothing since early morning, Gerald opened a basket he had brought with him containing provisions, set it between them, and the two partook of its con- tents in silence. With the snow whirling around them they finished their repast, after which ihe time was oc- cupied in watching the sky and in pacing backward and forward near the boat's side. The hours dragged wearily, and impatient of their length, Reuben asked for the time. Gerald took out his watch. It was just half past two. Dropping it into his pocket, he once more glanced at the sky. It looked sullen and the wind was increasing. A.V ISLAND 'TAMIL V ROBINSOX:' 317 CHAPTER 11. In the Clutch of the Tempest, The winter days ware short, and by five o'clock it would be dark. Had the storm then cleared the re- mainder of the afternoon would not have been more than sufficent for them to have reached their destin- ation. What if it continued snowing, and they should be compelled to remain all night in their present ex- posed situation. With such a wind it seemed no ques- tion with Gerald but that the ice must break up be- fore morning. "Should the snow cease falling might they not be able even in the dark to find their way by the aid of some friendly light," was the thought of Gerald. Then he remembered how wild was that portion of the Can- adian shore, and how few inhabitants it contained. He could not remember having ever seen a light upon them. Gerald glanced at the snow covered heap in the stern of the boat, thought of his dead child, and wondered if they might not find a grave together in the cruel waters that lay beneath. Still the snow descended, the wind increased and hope grew faint in the hearts of the solitary watchers. The suspense became unendurable. "It seems useless to wait," said Gerald. There may be a chance of making land at some point, and if we do not, we can certainly make our situation no worse than it is. Reuben expressed the same opinion, and they con- tinued on in the direction towards which the boat still headed, but as to whether they kept their course or 318 AN ISLAND ''FAMIL Y ROBINSONS gradually deviated and wandered from it they never knew. Wearily onward they trudged through the snow which was getting quite deep, but thought not of rest, nor lingered for a moment. The increasing gloom warned them that night was coming on. Thick and fast fell the shades. They stumbled blindly over rough surfaces, with the relentless flakes flying about them like vultures. Who could tell, perhaps each moment bore them farther away from the shore which they were striving to reach, out toward the open where storm and darkness centered. Suddenly, an ominous grinding roar was heard. The men glanced quickly at each other and stopped to listen. Again the sound was repeated. "It is coming," said Gerald. •'We may as well prepare for the worst." Night impenetrable with snow, and darkness shut in this desolate scene. The demons of the storm were abroad and unrestrained were their orgies. The travelers had come to a dead halt, when they felt the ice lift beneath their feet. There were grating, crushing noises upon every side. The worst had come. The ice had parted and they were adrift. Reuben seized a hammer, loosened the temporary runners from the boat, and got it in readiness for use at a moment's notice. The din of crashing ice grew louder. They could not determine the size of the floe upon which they stood, but it was moving rapidly; ris- ing, falHng, quivering beneath them, like the deck of a storm tossed vessel. They drifted for an hour or more when the floe upon which they were, broke, but a com- AN ISLAND "FAMIL Y ROBINSON'' 319 paratively small piece holding intact. They took their places at the oars, and prepared for a contest with the crushing ice and thundering waves. Showers of spray filled the air. They were lifted upcn the crest of a gi- gantic billow, then plunged again into the trough of the sea. The remainder of the floe was shivered to pieces and the boat nearly capsized. When it righted again they were tossing in the midst of the waves. It would be aifficult to describe the fierce struggle that ensued, or to recount the horrors of the long night that followed, durmg which the frail boat was driven by the tempest and threatened momentarily with de- struction by the drifting ice. As by a miracle, how- ever, they weathered the storm until the dawn of morning. About mid-night the snow had ceased falling, and stars came out into the sky, but the wind continued blowing as furiously as ever. They had been drifting with the ice down the lake all night; and now clearly outlined made out the rough, dark shores of a projecting headland some two miles distant. The oil suits of the two men were covered thick with frozen spray. The water had penetrated their undergarments, they were numbed with cold, and al- most exhausted. With their fast failing strength was it possible to pull through the gleaming white breakers and icy drift and reach shore? The wind was in their favor, though the sea was tremendous. Sighting a low sandy beach indenting a line of broken rocks, they exerted all their remaining strength, and pulled towards it. About half the distance was accomplish- ed, when they were struck by a huge wave, ice loaded. There was a crash, and the shattered boat capsized. 320 AN ISLAND ''FA MIL Y ROBINSONr A cry rose from the water. The men were struggling m the merciless waves. Gerald seized the railing of the boat and looked for his companion, but saw only the shrouded form of his dead child float away and disappear beneath the wav^es. The stark, white face was turned towards him, and in that instant Gerald realized that the living and the dead had alike found graves beneath the relentless waves. A chill of horror froze the blood in his veins and his heart stood still. He clutched the boat with both hands, and his stiffening fingers held on with the terrible grip of the drowning. Blindness came over him. A confused din was in his ears which growing fainter died away. Gerald was unconscious. ^ ^ ^ -l^ ^ ^ On the etremity of L Point stood a hut where lived an aged hermit. The morning after the storm the old man had risen early and repaired to the shore for a pail of water. The rocks were high and the waves beat up against their base. With a rope he let down the pail and drew it up filled with water. He set it down for a moment to watch the driving surf, when his attention was attracted by a broken boat washed upon a narrow beach at the foot of the cliffs. A strange, dark object was fastened to it. Clambering down the icy rocks, he approached the boat. Clinging to it with both hands was the apparently lifeless body of a man. On examination, the old man thought that he detected a faint flutter about the heart indicating that life was not altogether extinct. There was an ugly cut on the side of the head, and blood had frozen in the hair. He unfastened the closely locked fingers from the AN ISLAND ''FAMILY ROBINSONy 321 boat, and half carried, half dragged the man up the rocks, stopping at intervals to rest for the ascent was laborious. A hot fire blazed on the cabin hearth, and the old man laid his burden on a couch close beside it. For some time he worked over his charge, using every re- storative at command, and by degrees the patient re- vived and began breathing regularly. He opened feebly his eyes and spoke a few words, but they were discon- nected and denoted mental derangement. For twelve weeks William Gerald —for he it was — lay in a critical condition, suffering from injuries that threatened both life and reason. He raved day and night, and talked in- cessantly and incoherently. At last there came a lime when the fevered state of his mind grew more calm, and a deep, long sleep sue" ceec'ed. When he awoke, reason was restored and with it the remembrance of events which had occurred? and through which he had been brought to his present condition. His first inquiry was for Reuben Starr, but they could tell him nothing concerning his companion's fated. On the following day a child's remains, with the tattered fragments of a white shroud clinging to them were washed ashore. They were brought to the cabin, and although much disfigured were recognized by Gerald as those of little Charley, and subsequently buried in a little graveyard on the point. Despite his restlessness, the invalid grew stronger each day, for he was deeply concerned about his wife and daughter alone and in exile all those dreary weeks and months. 322 AN ISLAND ''FAMILY ROBINSONr Yielding to t^ e continued petitions of liis patient, the attending physcian gave him permission at last to return to his island home, after cautioning him to be very careful. Before starting, Gerald visited the new made grave and planted flowers upon it and a tree at its head, for spring had come. * * * * * * * The anxiety and suspense endured by the two women in their lonely situation during those long, winter months, can well be imagined. The terrible snow-storm, with the breaking up of the ice coming when ii did, had aroused serious appre- hension for the safety of the absent ones. As days went by and weeks succeeded, the fears that haunted the two women increased. That the men were lost in the ice grew into an awful certainty. Had they been living they could and would have re- turned. All hope of ever seeing her husband died from the heart of Mrs. Gerald, and now as their winter's stock of provisions was nearly exhausted, how were they to obtain help? Not a sail as yet had come near. One bright Aiay morning at last, on glancing from the window, Mrs, Gerald sighted a small schooner standing directly for the island. She was overjoyed, but after a moment's reflection concluded that the ves- sel must be on a long tack and would soon shift her course. Fastening a white cloth to a pole the woman ran to the shore, determined, if possible, to signal those on board. The schooner was still several miles distant, but the wind was fair and blowing fresh and sharp and AN ISLAND ''FAMILY ROBINSONr 323 she bore down without deviating a single point. In a short time she lay just off the island. The white cloth fluttered from shore. The ves'sel hove to, let go her anchor and lowering a boat, a number of men climbed into it and pulled for the island. Did her eyes deceive her? Who was the man in the bow of the yawl bearing so strong a resemblance to her dead husband? With her daughter she hurried to the spot where the boat was about to land. As it touched, the man in the bow sprang ashore. "William!" Mrs. Gerald rushed toward her hus- band — for it was he — and fell fainting into his arms. Gerald had taken passage on a vessel bound for the upper lakes. Having previously stated his story to the kind hearted captain, the latter, touched with sym- pathy, agrd*ed to land him upon this island, although it lay wide of the vessel's course. However, the joy of the meeting between those so long separated by cir- cumstances, so fraught with danger and uncertainty, more than compensated the good captain for his trouble- As soon as he could make the necessary arrange- ments, William Gerald removed his famil}^ and effects to Canada. Trusting no longer to the uncertain chances of wind and wave, he became a well-to-do farmer. The family liv'ed happy and contented among relatives and friends, but the recollection of experiences here narrated sometimes came back in hideous night-mare forms to haunt their sleeping visions. Since then many a long year has passed. Times have changed and life seems everywhere; yet, lying on the bosom of this inland sea, the little island remains the same isolated speck, lonely and desolate as of yore. CASTAWAY. A Story of Rattlesnake Island. It is remarkable what large sized romances small bits of territory are capable of producing under favorable conditions. Though containing but ten or twelve acres, Rattle>