The Mayor’s Disastrous Canoe Exhibition

Mayor K. K. Nichols and Mr. Walter Granger spent several days in the mountains last week and finally wound up at the Yakima camp on Lake Natchez, where, on account of their winning ways and attractive presence, they were the cynosure of the ladies' eyes. They vied with each other in the matter of entertainment until Mayor Nichols, finding himself a neck behind, hit upon a scheme to distance Mr. Granger in this friendly rivalry. Announcing that he would give an exhibition of skill in canoe management, he found an Indian dug-out, and at the time announced, when all were gathered on the banks of the lake, he suddenly shot out from the shore and with a flourish paddled his craft directly in front of his admiring audience. But, alas! as the poet says, 'The best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee,' for instead of kneeling in the canoe Indian fashion, Mr. Nichols had rigged up a seat, and when the treacherous boat lost its momentum it suddenly careened and, McGinty-like, the occupant went to the bottom of the sea. He was rescued without difficulty, but limp and bedraggled, his spirit was crushed, and Mr. Granger held undisputed sway among the petticoated campers.