University of Oregon monthly., March 01, 1908, Image 17

20
- ; U N IV E R SIT Y OP OREGON MONTHLY
and warm. After a plunge in the fiver, a steaming cup of coffee,
and a small mountain of flapjacks, we tOok our chairs out on the
porch for a sUn bath. The warm Indian summer sunshine,- combined
with the'.gentle locking of the boat, produced a feeling far-from dis­
agreeable. ’ Our house lay facing the open rivec? with the sidewalk
jutting out like a miniature wharf on the-.s-id'e.? All the ScowS lay
either' alongside or eise- facing one of these’ walks. There • were
houses of various "sizes and designs from the log bottom fean-td,
built of-Scraps -of corrogated tin and the frame “ftoatfer” ’to the more
pretentious "sKow/’>\*'Not a few show-fed Clearly .that they ,had been
designed in accordance * with th e " material at-.hand rather than by
an architect’s^ plans*;” The builders .had each worked ou-t his own
design ¡as he built and the tfesMLt was a -queer conglomeration of
floating htrfeb Some 'Were painted a gaudy colors sotrie a dark
greeny an d -a goodly number-Without any paint a-f- all. All were
surrounded with porches, and on this ‘ particular morning the scow
dwfeflfef^ C ^ ^ edvto’ have- followed brif example for alm ost,'¿very
porch waS-’? occupied. Beaumont felf to telling me £otne of the,
characteristics' of his'neighbors., This man hever worked, but lived
a-life of Insure and comfort while his "wife' supported the family;
that orie was oUt of a job and his family was scraping along as
best they ^coUld with little or nothing. This man was an invalid
who a coUple of years before had held a good position as engineer
bn one of the railroads and had lived in a comfortable cottage in
one of the suburbs, but through sickness had been forced tp give
up his position and had been pulled, down till now he was in the
lowest Stagfe of poverty.
As I sat looking about me a t the various men and women and
listening to my friend’s comments bn their lives and habits^ d could
lio t’ help' thinking bi- t h e ’great ¿rid mighty ocean -of life w ith its
undertow, dragging th e weak and careless down and down to the
ehd. Hefe were families of eight or .ten persons, all living in two,
or at the most three stuffy .rooms out on the water. It seemed as
If ¡they werfe tottering, for an instant, as it,Were, ton ithe brink of
bottomless' depths, and if through carelessness of some grave mis­
fortune, they Should be unable to pay the meagre rent, demanded
by the’ gfeedy landlord, or should fail <t© fill the meal -bin, the
strong and merciless current would unbalance them and the under­
tow w ould'carry them under and but of this selfish world of ours.
” ■ My thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a.stranger.
l i e was a tall fellow but badly stooped, and his features, though