spectacular recession of the
city, and was vaguely conscious of the people about him, and of the gay
life of the water round the boat. The air freshened; the craft thinned
in number; they met larger sail, lagging slowly inward in the afternoon
light; the islands of the bay waxed and waned as the steamer approached
and left them behind.

"I hate to see them stirring up those Southern fellows again," said the
Colonel, speaking into the paper on his lap. "Seems to me it's time to
let those old issues go."

"Yes," said the young man. "What are they doing now?"

"Oh, stirring up the Confederate brigadiers in Congress. I don't like
it. Seems to me, if our party hain't got any other stock-in-trade, we
better shut up shop altogether." Lapham went on, as he scanned his
newspaper, to give his ideas of public questions, in a fragmentary way,
while Corey listened patiently, and waited for him to come back to
business. He folded up his paper at last, and stuffed it into his coat
pocket. "There's one thing I always make it a rule to do," he said,
"and that is to give my mind a complete rest from business while I'm
going down on the boat. I like to get the fresh air all through me,
soul and body. I believe a man can give his mind a rest, just the same
as he can give his legs a rest, or his back. All he's got to do is to
use his will-power. Why, I suppose, if I hadn't adopted some such rule,
with the strain I've had on me for the last ten years, I should 'a'
been a dead man long ago. That's the reason I like a horse. You've
got to give your mind to the horse; you can't help it, unless you want
to break your neck; but a boat's different, and there you got to use
your will-power. You got to take your mind right up and put it where
you want it. I make it a rule to read the paper on the boat----Hold
on!" he interrupted himself to prevent Corey from paying his fare to
the man who had come round for it. "I've got tickets. And when I get
through the paper, I try to get somebody to talk to, or I watch the
people. It's an astonishing thing to me where they all come from.
I've been riding up and down on these boats for six or seven years, and
I don't know but very few of the faces I see on board. Seems to be a
perfectly fresh lot every time. Well, of course! Town's full of
strangers in the summer season, anyway, and folks keep coming down from
the country. They think it's a great thing to get down to the beach,
and they've