lights in "piffle," and to whom "pifflage" is the
very breath of life, had also her niche in our affairs. She hailed
from Egg Harbor and was an antique guinea hen of uncertain age. When
you are thinking of the "white porch of your home," she will tell you
she "didn't sleep a wink last night!" that "the eggs on this steamer
are not what they ought to be," that the cook doesn't know how to boil
them, and that as her husband is troubled with insomnia her son is
quite likely to run down from the harbor to meet her at the landing two
months hence. Then she will turn to the query by asking if you think
the captain is a fit man to run this steamer; if the purser would be
likely to change a sovereign for her; what tip she should give her
steward; whether you think Mrs. Galley-West's pearls are real, and
whether the Customs are as strict with passengers as they used to be;
whether any real cure for seasickness has yet been found, and why are
they always painting the ship? Not being able to think of anything
else she leaves her victim, to his infinite relief. Oh you! iridescent
humming-bird!

The men who yacht and those who motor are of course anxious to attract
attention. The freshwater yachtsman (usually river or pond), plants
his insignia of office on his cap. It is generally a combination of a
spread-eagle and a "hydriad," surrounded by the stars and stripes.
These things lift him above the level of those who would naturally be
his peers, and effect his purpose. The motorer sports his car duster
on all possible occasions, and thinks his goggles are necessary to
protect his eyes from the glare of the sun on the deck of the steamer.
He has large studs of motors, and always proposes to keep in front of
the main squeeze. The chatter relating to cars and yachts when these
men were in evidence was insistent and incessant. You were never
allowed to forget for a moment that they owned cars, power boats and
runabouts, and that their tours averaged thousands of miles. The man
from the stogie sections does not, of course, fear to fire his fusee in
this company and he always does it--it keeps up the steam.

A row of three extinct volcanoes was frequently to be seen seated side
by side in the smoking-room, where they recounted the scenes of their
youth with evident gusto. One would recall the days of '49, spring of
'50, and tell his companions all about the excitement of mining in
those early times,--"Glorious climate, Califo