He would perhaps be bewildered, while he could not fail to be impressed, by the spectacular display of steam craft of every description, from the smallest launch that darts shoreward from the side of some trim yacht or imposing war vessel, to the ocean liners that move majestically from their piers and succeed in preserving an imposing dignity of demeanour in spite of the hustling, bustling, rowdy tugs to whose escort they have been committed. The ubiquitous tug is the irreclaimable tough of rivers and harbours: a swaggering, swearing, cock-sure rufhan, who respects neither age nor rank. It will tackle an Olympia with

THE rilinriTOUS TUG (From a draining iy the author)

The Passing of the White Wings 103

as little ceremony as it would take hold of a Yucatan tramp or a Duluth whaleback, and would swing out an ocean gre>'hound with a saug frotd that smacks of lesc majcste. The tugboat acts upon the assumption that he has an unexpired lease upon all rivers, and to avoid "entangling alliances," other boats by common consent give him the widest possible berth. We say "he" advisedh'. All vessels are feminine except this cockerel of the brackish w^aters. The ferryboats -- floating towns that hurl themselves from side to side of the river, transporting poptdations -- are the w^onderful i:)rogen}" of the little steam ferryboat that Col. John Stevens set afloat between New York and Hoboken in 181 1. Now the huge arks pass and repass, some to the point most nearly opposite, others crossing their course diagonallv, bound for a distant slip, and all engaged in what would seem to be a leviathan performance of Sir Roger de Coverley. The freighters find their way among the throng, some light and riding high, with the rusty red of their under hulls dropping sanguinary reflections on the waves; others ploughing deep.