Boating.
Boating has always been a much-sought-after pastime. The boat, even as
little children, we were very fond of was one called Noah's Ark. Ours
was filled with cute little animals, and trees, and houses, that gave us
great pleasure to arrange, always taking care to make them walk two by
two, each couple of bears or elephants or cats, or any other animal,
never on any account to put a rat with a cat or a tiger with a goat, as
we were taught that they had to pair off the right way.
Noah's ark was a good old boat. From what I can make out it must have
been somewhat like a present-day houseboat, while the lower half was
like a cattle carrier.
Jolly time Friend Noah must have had to preserve order. Of course, the
fear of being thrown overboard probably kept them behaving fairly well.
Still it must have been a dreary time for all, not like the boating at
Camp.
The Vikings with their war vessels manned by dozens of slaves, some of
them below decks where they had to sit chained together, plying the long
sweeps for dear life--death for them if they failed--death for them at
the end always. Poor, poor fellows! I never read about them but my heart
aches.
What thousands of human beings have been sacrificed to bring our
civilization up to its present humane standard! That was another kind of
boating for you.
We can go on and on, down to the present time, and find in every period
something to interest, to shock, to awaken our truest sympathy for
those who have gone before, but as this is not a history of boats and
boatmen, just an account of our outings, I will not digress any longer.
In the beginning of the season we don't care what kind of a boat we go
out in so long as it is a boat, but in a few days we begin to notice the
great difference between a flat-bottomed boat and a dory, between a
canoe-shaped boat and one with bow and stern. The advantages of each and
every one are quickly mastered, until at the end of the first week we
have pinned our faith to one particular kind, to the exclusion of all
others. Then our usual selfishness begins to show. We charter that boat,
and woe be to the fellow who takes it.
A boat that you are used to is like a friend. You seem to get right in
mood with it, can tell to a second when to humor it, and in return the
boat answers to every move you make. If you like a boat and have been
out in it, no matter whether the wind comes up suddenly or a storm
threatens, you feel perfectly safe. You can take one oar, stand up at
one end and make her go like an obedient steed, ride the waves, turn any
way you wish, fool around as long as you like, then make a home run up
to the dock with flying colors.
You can do that with a canoe-shaped boat, because, if you are turned
around by the current, all you have to do is to turn yourself, and
either end of the boat is the stern, as you wish. But so much for a
rowboat.
Have you ever tried going out in one of those dinky little sailboats?
That is Simon-pure sport for you. When the boat is loaded with her
living freight she is probably about six inches above the water line.
Any little sudden gust causes her to keel 'way over. Between the jolly
captain trying to get the benefit of every puff of wind and the nervous
passengers you have the time of your life. All other boating fades away
compared to being in a sailboat with just enough breeze to send her
along while causing her to keel over at the slightest move. You lie on
your stomach on the bottom, letting any bilge water slopping around
loose soak into your chest. Of course, you have a swimming suit on. That
is advisable, in case you went overboard or the boat turned turtle, a
custom our little boat showed a tendency to do on the slightest
provocation.
She wasn't the kind of boat that you would have wanted to take a nervous
mother out in or any one, in fact, that was not well able to swim; but
with congenial companions, who could take care of themselves, there was
more fun to be got out of that little boat than any in Camp.
Then there were the motor boats; just made for the rapid consumption of
oil. Their motto was: "Maximum of oil with minimum of speed," made out
of deference to the Standard Oil Company. No man not extremely wealthy
could afford to own one of them. Between drinking oil by the gallon and
quarrelling with their igniter they were in dry dock for repairs most of
the season.
The real pets of the Camp were the four-oared barges. You felt yourself
some boatman when you went out in one of them. With a nifty coxswain in
the stern to keep time for you, plenty of room to make your stroke, one
of the best fellows as stroke oar, there was not a pleasanter sensation
going than to go for a good, long row.
Sometimes you caught a crab, that caused some little delay, while you
were spoken to in a real fatherly way by the coxswain. Then again you
persisted in making your time to suit yourself without any regard to
orders. On one side the oars pulled a much stronger stroke than the
other side, constantly skewing the boat, in spite of the best efforts of
our tiller ropes. About the only time you showed any kind of form was on
the homestretch. Then, playing to the gallery, you put your best efforts
into every move of your body, going by the Camp to the landing stage in
a manner to make even the Oxford and Cambridge crews look up and take
notice.
All that was only practice. The real thing that counted was when the
races were planned. Then the boys began to work, to get up early in the
morning for special coaching trips, to train in every way, to leave off
all sweets; and when a boy does that, you may know he is in dead
earnest, until as the day drew near all they could talk, think, eat and
sleep was boat talk.
It is a bad thing to wager on a boat race. Yet what a fascination there
is in boosting your own side up. You feel sure they will win. Haven't
you with heart, soul and mind urged them on for weeks? How can they
lose?
You get out and cheer them along, ready to fight with tongue or fists
for the glory of your colors. You know it is against Camp rules to
wager; yet in the excitement of the moment you promise to forgive debts
if you lose and in every way show your faith in your side.
They are ready to start. With many a cheery word for them you wish them
Godspeed, at the same time feeling a perfect hatred, for the time being,
for your opponents. Gee! if you could only go along with them to cheer
them on the course!
They have started, rowing easily to the starting point. Oh! will they
never get there? And yet you have warned them about taking it easy to
the starting mark. At last they are there, are turning round; the pistol
is fired and they are off. "Come on, come on!" you yell, long before
they can hear you. They seem to be working with might and main, but what
is that? The other team seems to be getting ahead. No; it cannot be. It
should not be. In your wild excitement you fall off the rock you are
standing on, pulling into the water a couple of onlookers with you. What
does a wetting amount to, anyway?
You dare not look when you get back on the rock again, yet, like some
horrible monster that fascinates you, you turn around, to see your
beloved Blues a boat's length behind. If praying would help them, they
can know that you prayed; if weeping for them would have been of any use
to save the day, you had done that, too; what was left but the deepest
despair.
The Reds won, and my whole nature felt steeped in the deepest blue.
The villain came up to me to claim his wager, with a grin all over his
face, making you think of a huge Cheshire cat.
So ended the boat race I had set my heart upon.
"But what is the use of repining,
Where there's a will there's a way;
To-morrow our team may be winning,
Although your team beat us to-day."
--Old Ballad.
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