The Portland daily press., 1869-08-12

forty feet" Fa - 9
The Scenery OF shs Upper Keausbse-.Ths
Massacre at Nerris Eeweek--Ns We'll
esme 20 the Lecsmsfivc.u ~ tbl. 81.
a OLD POINT, Norridgewock, Aug. 10, 1859. q,
TO The Editor Of le Press: 10 ...af.ss IL sst. ,,,
The eloquencs with which in . recent num-
bero your paper you set fsrth the "miseries Of
summer tourists must certainly awaken
. responsive throb Of sympathy in many breasts.
An experience similar to that which You de-
scribe has led me, for one, to feel the force and
ntness OF all your objurgations against the
shingle hotels, the hot bedrooms the extor-
tionate hack drivers and importunate guides, q
the smells, the frying, the fuss, the noise, and
the whole crowd Of nuisances that infest what .
are advertised in the newspapers as popular
places of summer resort" And for this reason
it is entirely without regret though not with
out surprise that l observed how slow are the
great mass of summer tourists to discover the
innumerabe attractive resorts which lie scat
tered all over our own State. Unpolluted, asyet,
by the gregarious throng Of pleasure seekers,
they lie, here aud there, offering to all who in
their summer vacations desire not merely en-
tertainment, but real physical and mental re-
invigoratioD, the richest sources Of health and
pleasure. Here pure air and beauty and sport i
abound. Here are quiet villages, breezy hills,l
romantic rivers, lonely beaches and roc'y s
coasts. Here are deep blue lakes that reflect
in their surface every aspect OF the summer
heaven: here are mountain brooks in whose,
deep holes the speckled trout lie hid in num-
bers to astonish the common cockney angler,
oxd ansxsta tbok -avo~o,H .on..@so.
Mr. Murray, there are forests in Maine as lone
ly, sweet and free as any the Adirondack, or
any other region, can show. H'ss F' AH
y Here, where am writing, Is one Of the fair
est and most unspoied spots in all the State.
In natural beauty this region is hardly SUR
passed in New England. If yoa were to plant
q pair of compasses on the brink Of the Nor
ridgewock fall just absve here, and strike cir
| Gle Of eight or ten miles radius, you would en-
close therein one of the most beautiful and pic
turesque, as well as richest and most fertile, 4
portions of Maine. The finest section of the
Kenuebec valley, as well as the rich intervales
along the lower part Of the Sandy river, would
be within its circumference. Such farms as
there are here, such barns, such cattle, horses
aud sheep, such butter and fruit, are unhappily
4 rare in our Etste itlfa fiaa qldntlt laius ing4
L Moreover, this il historic ground Here was o
the scene Of one fthe most thrilling tragedies
4 in the early history Of New England Within 81
the present weep Of my eye was eonsuwma-ss
1 ted one of the darkest crimes which stain the
records Of the early English colonists. EnouRh !,
/ has always been told US of the atrocities perpe
| trated by the red man upon the white settler;
bat that the guilt and tse cruelty were not all
| on one side the memorials before us sufficiently
attest. The struggle between the Indian aud
the paIe-faced invadsr Of his heritage was fierce
and bitter enough at best, but v en- there min d
gled with it the added element Of religious in ,
tolerance, the strife was terrible beyond express
1 sion. Hatred the Roman Cathoic was nh
most as strong passion with the early Epglish
1 settler as his low of freedom and Of the mod
| ern idea Of toleratlon he had no conception. A
Roman Catholic Indian was his ideal OF the q
incarLation of The spirit of ey !; and to kill
| and exterminate all that accursed brood seemed
| to him the service OF God. Everybody knows
| the story Of Ralie, the Jesuit rriest, snd bis
"praying Indians" the once mighty and .nu-
| merous Norridgewocks. Sebastian Ralie Tor
Raslrs) was the Eliot Of the Catholic church
| among the indians, an apostle, at least as sin,
| cere, as devoted and as selfsacrifeing as his
Protestant contemporary. He proved his de-
! vption by forty years Of untiriDg labor in the
wilderness, and finally sealed it with his blood,
| dying martyr to the cause Of the church he
loved. The English settlers accused him of
melting his red proselytes 10 hostilities against
them. Perhaps there was some Justice in the
charge. as he. a Frenchman and Catholic, z
| naturally regarded the English as the enemies
| at once of his king and of his reli lion, and he
and his adherents had supposed wrongs quite
as bitter as any they inflicted. The struggle
/ went against the Norridgewocks. Repeated
| defeats had thinned the number of their war
riors till their power was broken They could
no longer be considered formidable or danger
GUS. But the hatred of their Saxon foes Was
as strong as ever, and, hunted from place to
1 place, wasted to the mere remnant of tribe,
they gathered for refuge in the last Of their vii
lagos in this remote and lonely spot Here,
on this green point which sweeps out into the
river Just where the placid waters Of the Sandy
mingle with the dark blue tide OF the nobler
Kennebec, their chapel stood It was rude
structure of logs and earth, scarcely better
than the wigwams that clustered about it, aud
the tall cross that rose above its simple altar
was carved by the hatchet from a forest tree.
Il Here one sunny Sabbath morning in the
year 1724 the sound of worship arose among .
these leafy solitndes. The 0dor OF incense
mingled with the fragrance Of birch and pine;
the murmur of prayer blended with the rip
pling music of the swiitgoing river. Into
that scene Of peace bursts the terrible thun-
derbels of war. Over the brow OF yoader D.
hill. whose trees wave SO peacefully In this
sumner air, sweep down the dreaded English q