"I was thinking of something," said Charles, a little while after they had landed their pa.s.sengers.
"What was it, Charley?" replied the commodore.
"That we might invite the boys of Oaklawn to spend a day with us on the lake."
"Capital!"
"We could give them a picnic on Center Island."
"We will do it; and now that we know the river we can easily come up as far as the grove after them."
"Or up to the rapids; there is no danger this side of them."
This plan was discussed in all its details, and everything was agreed upon by the time they reached the lake. The pa.s.sage down the river had been much quicker than the upward trip, and before sunset the boats were all housed, and the clubs had separated.
On the following week the courtesies of the club were extended to the boys of Oaklawn, as arranged by the commodore, and a very fine time they had of it. Their guests, numbering over forty, were entertained in every conceivable manner--the day"s sports concluding with a grand race, in which all the boats were entered, and in which the b.u.t.terfly won the honors.
A new program was made up every week during the vacation. Lighthouses were built, channels surveyed, sh.o.r.es charted; indeed, everything which the ingenuity of the boys could devise was brought forward to add fresh interest to the sports of the lake.
And thus the season pa.s.sed away, and winter came again. The fleet was laid up, and the useful and pleasant recreations of the club rooms were subst.i.tuted for the active excitement of boating. Lectures were given, essays were read, debates held, every week; and the progress of the boys out of school, as well as within, was highly satisfactory to all concerned.
CHAPTER XXI.
CONCLUSION.
I suppose, as the present volume completes the history of the Boat Club, that my young readers will wish to know something of the subsequent fortunes of the prominent characters of the a.s.sociation. It gives me pleasure to say that not one of them has been recreant to his opportunities, or abandoned his high standard of character; that the moral, mental, and physical discipline of the organization has proved salutary in the highest degree. The members of the boat clubs are now active members of society. Each is pulling an oar, or steering his bark, on the great ocean of life. Some are in humble spheres, as in the little Dip; others are in more extended fields, as in the majestic twelve-oar boats.
Frank Sedley is a lawyer. His father has gone to enjoy his reward in the world beyond the grave; and Frank, who was married a year ago to Mary Weston, resides in the mansion by the lake. His brilliant talents and unspotted integrity have elevated him to a respectable position, for one so young, in the legal profession; and there is no doubt but that he will arrive at eminence in due time.
Uncle Ben is still alive, and continues to dwell at the mansion of the Sedleys. The boats are still in being, and are manned by the boys belonging to the school--under the direction of the veteran.
Tony Weston is a merchant. At the age of seventeen he was taken into the counting-room of Mr. Walker, and at twenty-one admitted as an equal partner. The man is what the boy was--n.o.ble, generous, kind.
Strange as it may seem, only one boy of the whole number has become a sailor. Fred Harper went to sea when he left school, and was recently appointed master of a fine clipper ship, bound for India. Little Paul is a journeyman carpenter. He is in a humble sphere, but none the less respected on that account. His father, who recovered his health, paid the notes he had made to the clubs. The money was applied to the purchase of books and a philosophical apparatus, which rendered the winter evenings of the clubs still more attractive.
"Squire Chase "worked out his destiny" in Rippleton, and finally was so thoroughly despised that he found it convenient to leave the place.
Perhaps my readers will be a little surprised when I tell them that Charles Hardy is a minister of the gospel. He was recently settled in a small town in Connecticut. The boat club changed his character,--purged it of the evil and confirmed the good,--and he is now a humble and devoted laborer in the vineyard of the Master.
Wood Lake is still beautiful, and the remembrances of former days are still lovingly cherished by Frank and Tony, who reside on its banks. The Zephyr and b.u.t.terfly, though somewhat battered and worm-eaten, are occasionally seen, near the close of the day, with a lady and gentleman in the stern sheets of each. The youthful crews are happier than usual, for one bears the ex-commodore and lady, and the other the hero of Rippleton Bridge and his lady.
THE END.