Athletics and manly sport . court-house, on the political situation. Youwill have an immense audience ! This was the first word that impressed itself onmy mind. We could not laugh, and we couldnot boorishly get into our Ijoats and paddle away ;so we weakly listened to the voice of the seducers,who would draw us from our beautiful rapids andwoods and hills into the narrowins; wrano^le ofworldly ways. But the editor was such a cleverand earnest fellow, and the chairman of the com-mittee was so genial and hospitable, that, afterhours of entertainment and enjoyment, we compro-mised : we promised t
Athletics and manly sport . court-house, on the political situation. Youwill have an immense audience ! This was the first word that impressed itself onmy mind. We could not laugh, and we couldnot boorishly get into our Ijoats and paddle away ;so we weakly listened to the voice of the seducers,who would draw us from our beautiful rapids andwoods and hills into the narrowins; wrano^le ofworldly ways. But the editor was such a cleverand earnest fellow, and the chairman of the com-mittee was so genial and hospitable, that, afterhours of entertainment and enjoyment, we compro-mised : we promised to return two days laterand make political speeches in Wilkesbarre ! Itwas then noon of ]\Ionday; we would go on ourway down the stream, and come back for Wednes-day night. From that moment we knew that a beauty haddeparted from the river. It seemed to sink andbecome commonplace. Some charm of fidelityor sympathy was broken. We were disloyal tothe Susquehanna; we could not, as yesterday,look the beautiful river in the DOWN THE SUSQUEHANNA. 291 But we went along, and, in keeping with ournew prosaic feeling, we hooked on to a littlesteamer running down to Nanticoke, and escapednine miles of paddling. At Nanticoke we couldnot cross the dam, — so we went into the canalwhich begins there. Deeper and deeper we weresinking into the prosaic; and the sense of adeparted sympathy made us silent and almostirritable. I heard Smith repeating to himself thesad lines of Wordsworth : — The moon doth with delightLook round her when the heavens are bare;Waters on a starry nightAre beautiful and fair;The sunshine is a glorious birth;But yet I know, whereer I go,That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. We regretted the promise that bound us toreturn, and necessitated at least ^ome resolved to telegraph back recalling it. Butthere was no telegraph-office for a long distancedown the canal. The current was slow, but inour favor. We paddled steadily ahead, almostsile
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgames, bookyear1890
