"THE WHITE VESSEL AT THE HEAD OF THE LINE to cheering and waving flags and handkerchiefs. Out in midstream lay the training-ship Portsmouth, and we made close up to her, within hailing distance. She was crowded with guests of the officers, and the boys in the forecastle, who were soon to man the yards in the old fashion, were all in their "clean blues." With the assistance of the Portsmouth's launch, we sent aboard some guests from our own craft and proceeded up the river. From the time we reached the wooded slopes of the Riverside Park we passed few vessels. Some yachts lay in towards shore dressed in their best, but in the shade of the trees and in the open, sunny spots that ran from the avenue to the water's edge were thousands upon thousands of holiday-makers. The population of a fair-sized city was gathered there. In some places the grass was covered with reclining figures, and the number increased as we neared the Claremont landing. But the camera people's attention had been attracted by two white objects that lay 66 anchored out in the channel. They were the two floats, "Peace" and "Victory," and as we neared them the interest ran high. Peace," a tall figure made of staff, surmounted a lighter, and, as she was draped in flowing garments, they rippled in the wind and gave a lifelike appearance to the lady with the wreath and palm. But greater attention was attracted by the other that lay farther on. Alas, poor Victory! Owing to the wind or to the rough handling of the tugs that had towed her to her resting-place, she had come to sad disaster. She was in ruin from her waist upwards, and a yawning, ragged hole showed upon what flimsy constructions some of these beautiful figures are erected. Four colossal maidens, biowing upon long trumpets, stood at the corners of her pedestal. The breeze had increased until it was blowing almost half a gale, and the long trumpets wavered to and fro like wands. A figure of Neptune driving his four water-horses to his shelllike car occupied the bows, and on the stern was a huge white eagle gloating The Story of Dewey's Welcome Home over a great white globe. Four or five workmen stood about smoking amid their classical surroundings. But it was not the ruined float that held the most attention. It was the mass of humanity and the sights to be seen on shore. Every now and then, if one listened, there came the sound of a great murmuring down upon the wind, the mingling voices of the multitude, a constant hum, punctuated here and there by the music of a horn, or mayhap a burst of laughter, or a cheer-for on such days as this was, people cheer at anything or nothing. We were first upon the ground, so to speak; except for a solitary police patrol and the training-ship St. Mary's, the stake-boat of the procession, the waters were deserted. A great float that usually carried freight-cars across the river had been turned for the nonce into a battleship, and her sides bristled with the guns of a battery of artillery that were to salute As we lay the Admiral as he passed. there, heaving to and fro in the current, there was one thing that impressed me. It was that all these people had given up their daily work, had left their homes, some of them many miles away, to turn out and give a welcome to a man who little above a year ago had been unknown to them. He had not saved the country 305 from any overwhelming danger, but in a Suddenly, from the south, that had "OUT IN MIDSTREAM LAY THE TRAINING-SHIP PORTSMOUTH " "THERE WERE TWO FIGURES the police boats. The cannons began to thunder from the float; the vessels answered them. From everywhere and nowhere the crowded excursion boats swept in and gathered. The roaring of the whistles was almost deafening from every side. It was impossible to speak and to be heard on the upper deck of the Hazel Kirke, for a small boy had gained admission to the pilot-house, and he hung on to the whistle-rope with grim determination and a smile of joy. One could not help gaining a confused impression of what followed during the next ten minutes. There was so much to see and to take in. Crafts of all kinds loaded with sightseers crossed athwart each other's bows and huddled close together. It seemed a wonder if accident or collision could be averted, for whistled signals were discounted by the roar and turmoil. From one of the great Sound steamers, that held perhaps a thousand or more on her crowded decks, was flying a string of big box kites with the American ensign and a lettered flag high in the sky. The string broke, and away the kites went shoreward, and many stopped looking at the procession to watch what happened. Some small boys in a boat near the Jersey shore secured the runaways. The wind blew harder and in gusts. Hats flew off and floated on the water. In one case a tall silk tile went to destruction beneath our paddle-wheel. People cheered one another and shouted jokes and messages from boat to boat. And all the time the procession of war PACING THE QUARTER-DECK" ships was moving slowly up to the turningpoint. and every one was cheered at and roared at and whistled to. The old Lancaster, a type of vessel that composed our navy but a few years ago and is now obsolete and out of date, was towed up by two puffing tugs prodding her tall wooden sides. She followed the great steel ships like an old fighter whose day was gone but who yet wished to be remembered. Many such veterans did we see on the morrow in the land parade, and somehow when I saw them I thought of the old ship-hale and hearty, but out of the fight forever. We kept on towards the south, passing the parade as it came slowly on. The transports and the trim craft of the revenue service were next after the war-ships and made fine showing. Then came the steam yachts, and probably there were never before gathered together so many playthings of the wealthy. Sea-going vessels, able to make the circuit of the globe, were there in plenty, and the order that they all kept was most astonishing; no trained fleet could have been more orderly; not a vessel was out of line. On the starboard hand, just abaft the quarter of the flagship Corsair, was the Erin of our visitor, Sir Thomas Lipton, three yellow shamrocks on green fields flying in her rigging. Sir Thomas, whether he carries the Cup back with him or not, can never complain of the lack of cordiality in his reception; no vessel passed him without saluting, and the boy at the Hazel Kirke's whistlepull held on so long that it was a question The Story of Dewey's Welcome Home if we should have steam enough left to The Admiral, doubtless longing for it all 307 the starting-point on the Riverside Drive. I walked down the line from Riverside "FIRST CAME THE OLYMPIA BETWEEN THE LONG LINES OF POLICE BOATS" |