The one chance for the broad-beamed old boat, with her small
sail-area, was a gale of wind, for here her wonderful qualities as a
sea-boat came in. I often sailed in races with the Guardsman in a
smaller modern boat, much to the detriment of my nervous system, for
he was incorrigible about taking risks, in which he was abetted by the
soldier-footman, a sporting youth who, being always given a pecuniary
interest in the races, was quite willing to take chances. The
Guardsman, as a hunting man, never seemed to realise that a yacht had
not the same jumping powers as a horse, and that a reef was a somewhat
formidable barrier to tackle.
Owing to Bermudian boats being so "wet," one always landed soaked to
the skin, and in any town but Hamilton, people would have stared at
seeing three drowned rats in white garments, clinging like tights,
making their dripping way home through the streets; but there it is
such an everyday occurrence that no one even turned their heads; and,
as the soldier-footman was fond of observing, "It's comfortable
feeling as 'ow you're so wet that you can't get no wetter no'ow."
Bermuda has its own little Parliament of thirty-six members, the
oldest Parliament in the New World. It really is an ideal Chamber, for
every one of the thirty-six members sit on the Government side; there
is no Opposition.
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