form was slight and delicate. Her
complexion was transparent, but a slight tinge of pink rested upon
her cheek. Her azure eyes beamed with a sweet expression from their
soul-lit depths, while her dark brown hair floated in heavy masses of
glossy curls over her ivory neck and shoulders, waving gently in the
morning breeze, as it floated lightly around her. She was dressed in a
simple white robe, and in her hand held the richest boquet. Her snowy
arms were bare almost to the shoulder, and as she stood looking
out upon the far off sail, or watching the entrance of her fellow
passengers, as they took their respective places in the boat; no eye
that looked upon her but lingered in its gaze to admire her beauty.

Then came a rich man and his lady, and there must be room in the boat
for their splendid equipage, and so his gay horse stood champing his
bitts and curbing his proud head, as his fiery eyes glanced over the
glassy surface of the restless waters.

All was ready, the signal was given, and the boat ploughed her way
like a thing of life, leaving a long path of white foam in her wake.

Men talked of business, of the prospect of the advancing season, the
pressure in the money market, or the perfidy of the opposing political
party.

Women talked about their cross children, unfaithful servants, and
various domestic trials.

The young girls talked of their school, their boquets, and the many
little events in which they were interested, while a group of school
boys, who had entered last, and were obliged to stand in the rear of
the boat, declared they had never seen the fair queen of that party
looking so lovely.

But suddenly there was a jar, a scream, a plunge, and that fairy form
was precipitated into the foaming waters beneath, and the boat was
gliding on with such rapidity that no arm could reach her. She sank
slowly from sight, as her spreading robe buoyed her up for a moment on
the waves. Her long curls lay spread out, tossing upon the surface
by the motion of the waves, then as they sank slowly from sight,
one snowy hand was raised, clutching the boquet with a tenacity so
proverbial to the drowning. She then sank to sleep beneath the surging
waves that danced lightly on over her death cold bosom.

None could tell exactly how the accident happened. The horse, unused
to that mode of conveyance, became restive, and in his plungings to
liberate himself precipitated the unfortunate girl, with all her gay
dreams o