A WELLINGTON BOATING PARTY.

Evening Post, Volume XLIII, Issue 61, 12 March 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

A WELLINGTON BOATING PARTY.

There weve four of them,, too men and two beautiful young girls, seen dimly through the gloom as their boat glided quietly a.way from t\ iQ I landing plage., Jt was a moonlight I nigh,!},' but" the great purple dome of the a^ was fillod with. Vondrous stars, grow, the lighted tower of the clock the bell we' d tolllfcg the hour of eight, and ep'oiewhere in the town men were plr.ying a waltz upon the harp and virgin, and as the boat sped swiftly through the smooth, dark water. ; the girls took up the melody, the oars keeping time to its sweet ref vain. Surely such a perfect night as this _ might make the saddeßt heart rejoice, might quiet for a moment the moist, restless spirit, and cause all wild and unholy thoughts to be folded in peace like the wings of a dove. The man who pulled stroke was young and handsome, and foreign looking, with a pointed brown beard and mysterious unfathomable grey eyes, in which were untold possibilities either for good or evil. Insensibly one associated him with romance of some kind, with Italy, and gondolas laden with flowers and fruit gliding swiftly through dark waters beneath the shadows of ruined palaces, to the accompaniment of music and the soft laughter of women. There was music and there were women here ; but the music was a modern dance tune and the women splashed him with phosphorescent water and jarred his nerves with colonial slang. Calmly and softly thoy glided through tbe smooth, dark water; throbbing stars above them reflected down below. Soon was their laughter pushed a little, and oven the merry voice of the sailor Jack grew quieter, as a tenor voice rose clear and thrilling into the night air. " Sleep gentle sleep," it sang, and all earth and sea and sky seem holding their breath to listen ! Suddenly the sweet voice ceased, and the singer raised his oars out of the water, the drops flashing like diamonds in the starlight. His face was ghastly and horror-stricken. " Jack !" he cried, " Jack !" and the singing and the laughter were hushed, and a silence fell upon the merry crew; then Jack's voice rang out like steel upon the still, night air "Pull!" he cried, "Pull boys, for our lives! 'A whiff off Kaim ™ ! ! I' 2 Awn.

A ruffian, belonging to a gang- of thieves, who live by getting up quarrels at London railway stations, caused the death of an moffensivo travollorby stabbing him in tho eye with an umbrella. For this fearful crime he was sentenced to only 12 months.' imprisonment. An American watchmaker has just 6it upon a contrivance by which, a couple of hours before a clock runs down, tho words Please wind mo up" will appear at an opening in the dial.