"So the driver and the horses have to toil to git sinners to meetin' on the main land," sez I. And he said, "The steamers would make noise and confusion, and disturb the sweet Sabbath calm." I felt there wuz some truth in this, though it wouldn't make nigh so much noise as the thousands of church bells clangin' out church time in cities and villages. Sez he, "If we allowed boats to land here we should be overrun with excursionists who don't care for Sunday as a day of holy quiet and rest, and our peaceful Sabbath would be turned into a carnival of pleasure seekers, flirtations, giggles, brown paper parcels, egg shells, cigar smoke and sandwiches." And I sez, "Like as not that is so." And I felt that mebby he wuz in the right on't. But some don't like it and feel that they'd ort to take the resk. CHAPTER TEN WE HEAR A GREAT TEMPERANCE SERMON, BUT JOSIAH STILL HANKERS FOR CONEY ISLAND CHAPTER TEN WE HEAR A GREAT TEMPERANCE SERMON, BUT JOSIAH STILL HANKERS FOR CONEY ISLAND Ever since I had been to the Thousand Island Park, my mind had roamed onto that idee of the Tabernacle with a sort of or. It is a big impressive word and one calculated to impress a stranger and sojourner. And so when we made up our minds to attend to it I almost instinctively put on my best alpacky dress (London brown) and I also run a new ribbin into my braize veil and tied it round my bunnet so it would hang in graceful folds adown the left side of my frame, I also put on my black mitts and my mantilly with tabs; of course I carried my faithful umbrell. I looked well. Faith had a bad headache, I guess the job of gittin' that information into Mr. Pomper's head had tuckered her out, so I and my pardner sot off alone. All the way there my mind wuz real riz up thinkin' I wuz goin' to see sunthin' very grand lookin' and scriptural, and I said over and over to myself a number of times with deep respect and or, "Tabernacle! Tabernacle!" Yes, I felt some as if I wuz the Queen of Sheba and Josiah wuz Solomon, though I might have knowed, my pardner lacked the first ingregient in Solomon's nater, wisdom. And I probable wuzn't so dressy as Miss Sheba, 'tennyrate I hadn't no crown or septer, a brown straw bunnet and umbrell meetin' my wants better, but not nigh so dashy lookin'. But my feelin's all come from the name of the place we wuz bound for, and the patriarchical, Biblical past my mind wuz rovin' round in. Yes, my mind wuz rousted up and runnin' on the trimmin's of the Ark and Temple. I thought like as not I should see purple curtains hung on shinin' poles, jest so many cubits long and high, and gorgeous carpets to walk on and ornaments and fringes and tossels.