The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-08-28
LETTER FROM BOSTON.
BOSTON, Aug. %, 1885

Boston, Aug. 20, 1s0o.
To the Editor Of the Press:
About two weeks ago, the dwellers IN tne
great city were suddenly wilted by an alnDl-
tious rise Of the mercury "coof edi'of'
who wrote in deliciously shaded sanctum
with well-sprinkled floor, and glass OF lceu
lemonade beside him, complained Oh tne M
tonsa heat with the q thermometer at 90 !" In
tl,a sbadiest and most salubrious corner of
INV attic. the mercury stood persistently at 90.
Other penny-a-liners agree with the latter
record =
OF course everybody took instant alarm, and
went into the country, and to the seaside, -
ergo: there is not a farmhouse, way-tavern
or hotel in the coaeatsy but contains its repre-
sentatives of the metropolis ruralizing. In fact,
this going into the country has become such
a fashionable mania, that the only citizens re-
naming in town appear to be those whose
actual, urgent business, or limited financial re-
sources win not permit them to leave ;;--for
both reasons this letter is not dated from Nj
agara, Saratoga, Newport or elsewhere ar
Newspapers are flooded with the correspond
ence of scribbling tourists, who have nothing
else to do, or 1t may be they wax philauthro-
pic in the haunts Of nature, and seek to i'm
part their enjoyment to the poor stay-at-
homes, through the medium of the press; but
rather incline to the opinion that these epis-
tolaly illusions are the natural efer' escence OF
volatile spirits exposed to the open air. SO
II is quite entertaining, however, to a phi
losophical man, to observe the varied effect OF
this rural retirement upon different minds, as
expressed in this yolunIinous correspondence.
"Tom is in a state of profound intoxica-
ton at West Campton, N. H,-completely be-
wildered with the g rare sunset among the
m untains, which, swith its shifting splendors,
weird suggestiveness and sorcery of color,
Tansfgured the lovely mountain forms, and
shook the superdnx to them.na The ecstasy
with which he explores sheep paths, Z gazes
into sroiI-ponds,n with their ''twinkling birch
logs, studies squirrels, and struggles through
tangled underbrush, leaves no doubt as to the
truth of the above statement. isao9 ahi1a +
A dysreptic writer at Mt Desert, emerges
from his sea bath "bluer than the bluest indi-
go" in state of temperature to which sice-
bergs" are mild as the South wind; while "a
e." at the same place, finds the bathing de-
lightful, and his appetite in the heartiest
sympathy with the bill of fare at Clark's Ho-
"B.," at the International Hotel, is gradual
ly becoming convinced by mathematical calcuF
lations that Niagara is enormous. W
One; complains that young folks bring the
city into the country Elegant turn.outs, balls,
receptions and waterfalls. ,4aaot liz s,asq /
Another is disguised with frowning rocks,
because they are Inscribed below with IS s T
1860 x" ,nlass gsg ,sssaH2naI
i While one whose honeymoon has not yet
begun to wane, sees only beauty and grandeur
and loyeliness in the elsie of Shoals."iaoa
And "Tom" writes prose .pastorals, beside
which Curtis "Lotus Eating fades into the
merest commonplace of enjoyment.
So we-who live in attics, and who stay in
attics, through all the glory and splendor of the
sunmer-time flourish a palm-leaf fan, read
the papers, and let imagination lead us to all
these favorite retreats. We feel the spray of
Niagara on our brows, and awe and solemnity
steal over us; we hear the choral of the sing
ing pines and birds upon the mountains; and
drink the delicious perfume of the gardens of
Nature; we stroll upon the sands of Newport
and Nahant, and feel the ocean breeze upon
our hair ;-or is it the palm-leaf fan !?
We sigh, of course, alighting from our wan
dering Pegasus, but we know that, by and by,
the patient and the true, who live in attics,
and toll in the dusty highways Of duty, shall
rest in Everlasting Gardens, whose beauty
land grandeur and loneliness, not even all these
summer tourists can conceive inagA /
Notwithstanding picnic parties prevail to a
wonderful extent and sea-bathing is as de-
ightful as ever, we are glad to see fire on
the hearth at evening-or rather in the stove,
we have no hearths here-and shivering men
are anxiously inquiring the prices Of fur coll
lars and overcoats; and the ice half an inch
thick on Mt. Washington. ..l X as & s.saf
Itseefns rs If summer suddenly went out in
that one fiery flash of garish brightness-so
suddenly that we win not believe it is gone,
and say it is not so, though our teeth chatter
all the while. g5,o ssa.zs Els
If the weather moderates, Il shall go into
the country, some day in the horse-ca or
down the harbor-" among the islands," they
say, but a Portlander would say, II don't see
the islands" L. A. b. I
7