The Portland daily press., 1869-07-30

assumed the functions OF landlord, bustlng
about with white apron, aud Parker House |
bill for the fried pork and douehnuts that the |
raging. woods appetite have made paatable |
What capital series .of sketches might be /
made of the situation. The slow moving We |
hicle packed with party of six gentlemen |
aud nine ladies nodding and l0ling against |
each other, only the driver half awake, and
the very horses dropping off into short naps.s
1t is two o'clock in the morning. They have |
heard of hovel, nine miles IN upon cross |
road, that has only sirty boarders, and are In |
as rapid pursuit Of it az the darkness and |
stumps will permit They pass comfortable
locking hotels, but it is evident that they are
faA, for out of each chamber window are
thrust the feet and shanks of the first-class
guests, while the mows in the stables gush
with crowded sleepers, who come to the fourth
table, and whose rest is at the peril of rolling
off the brink, ard being impaIed upon the
horns OF the steers. falling under the feet of
vertabe nightmare in the stall. fs
Did it ever occur to these fifteen dandies |
male and female, that bells and houses are |
modern luxaries while sleepisa primeval me-
cessity, that men slept and soundly too, ages
and ages before buts or beds were dream, d OF |
Thes came to see the woods. Behold the |
woods and their free lodgngsl Can any cano-
ply he finer than yonder plume ike pine grove I? |
Can any pillow be softer than yonder messy
knoll? You are bound TO be pr0bed and suck
ed and diabolically sung at All night by mus
qutoes, whether you lodge there, or at Broom s
or Bakers or Bddger's where you failed to
ind room; nor are musqu;taes any the less
Ia In. elf i
their congenors, the fleas and bed bugs, 10 mar
ticpats in their nocturnal revels /.
The fact is, the situation Is like that of the
old Lady, who said she had chairs enough but
100 much company. One goes to the weods to
find solitude, he finds listless crowd of his
felow-creatures, and not always the wisest or
wittiest OF these. He goes to find game, he
encounters the cheap games of society. He
goes to find fresh country air, he finds stale
city airs. He hopes to fall in with deer, he
finds everything dear. He imagnes how ex-
citing it would he to pursue a wild-toar. he
learns how disgusting it is to be pursued by
tame ones. al
UNFAsHIoNABLE AND FASHIONABLE wETERING-
PLACES. q n..3.4i3
Nature is beautiful to its discouercr. But let
the discoyerer bettay the secrets Of his sweet
intercourse, especially let him write brilliant
and eloquent book about il, and all Cockaev-
dom swarms into the new land of promise and
seizes and defiles it, fuf i
Yongo 10 place before it has become fl-
nous. No boats end no stages connect with it.
You really missed your way in finding it, and |
walked through woods path six miles, when
ifyou had followed directions you would have
crossed field aud round a point, and reached
it two. You meet man in wooden shirt
leading call. aud ask him if You can get lodg
ing. He gives surly answer and refers you
to-his wife, and turns his back upon your po-
hteness, evidently thinking more of the calf
than OF yoa. You approach one story gray
house, back to the road, through yard infest
ed with geese, the gander actually charging
you, and find a sad, swarthy woman stopping
over tub, who tells you, without the
least look or tone of welcome that she supposes
she might take you in. if you would .pat up |
aoith such as loe'Oe got" She asks you into the /
forenoon, where you rock yourself on the hak-
ed floor, and study the grotesque designs in
hsnnei on the hearth rug, the pictures from
Harper's Weekly ON the fire board, and four
stupendously uniformed and truculent Union
generals on the walls. You try to talk with |
your landlady, but your coming has evidently 4
added new care TO her overburdened life. and i
she shuts the door. through which comes the
faint sizzle Of frying pork, which you begin |
to think you can eat
After dinner you pick up ragged yagabond
OF boy taken from the poorhouse and work
log for his board You find boat ON the
shore, and with his help, dip the water out OF
it with rusty wash.dish with big hole in
Its bottom. Then you go round the shore
mile and borrow couple Of oars, and a half
mile further and get a fishing reel, while the
vagabond Is digging the wash dish full of CLANS
with paddle. You pull ont upon the open
ing bas, exhilaratsd by the bracing air. charm
ed by the strange sounds Of the sea tapping the
bottom of the boat OF the rote ON the outer
rocks, and of crows and looms and cowbells, by
the sight of the shining beach, the green sea.
fringed here and there with the feeces of the
breakers, the brown cliffs, dun fields OF rock 4
weed waiting for the tide, aud blue reach 4
es of ocean over the low line Of woods You /
catch half dozen haddoek and sculpin and 4
row shoreward against the level sunbeams. 4
The haddock appears upon the supper tablet
you never knew bof0re how much it tasted like Il
chicken. In the evening the hostess comes in
TO the room in her best dress, the house keep-lI
ing demon so kept at bay that she can smile
the man sits down in the porch la shirt sleeves
and you tell them stories and news Of The
world, and finding them sympathetic. talk a
httle orthodox politics till they unbend and
tell you Of the neighbors and the gossip of the
place.
You have a room to yourself, and clean
sheets, and though you fancy you detect in
the feather bed the flavor of the four genera
tions that have slept in it, you could not
think of 1t because there was great black
mountain that rose almost to the top of the
low window and damned the flood of moon
shine, which mountain somehow in your half
dreaming fancy seemed great brooding bear 1
or other good-natured monster hugging and
soothing yon in his paws. The mosquitoes. il
they were there at all, and they are civilized
nuisance, that disdain to 60 to places till they
are fashionable, were of the kind that mind
their business and bite and do not ageravate
with their abominable singing. The next
morning it was foggy, and the old bear slept
behind his canopy. As the yagabond knew
where there was bully trout hole, YOU went
with him, and drew from their cool retreats
heavy string of these fish, unsopbisticated bv
feather flies, hair lines and iointed rods. Not
having fashionable fish basket strapped over
the shoulder, you brought your treasure home
on crotched alder twig, and descending the
mountains actually saw deer and what was
rarer sport did not shoot him or threaten his
innocent life. So you staid three days and
celebrated your last night by jollifcation, at
which all the neighbors were present, where
the all-accomplished vagabond fddled, and
where you led down your now thoroughly
cheerful hostess in the first dance.
Five years later you revisit the spot. But
meantime some fool has been there and writ
ten q book about 1t. Fashion, formality and
expense have invaded the old solitudes. There
are two lines Of steamboats, plying there. On
the wharf you are assaulted by backmen
squallins, "Seaside House Ocean Hotel Beoch
Retreat Parkinses r SC. You recognize the
name of your old entertainers, and surrender
to the man screaming "Parkinses." The old
gray house has received another story, wing
ana PIAZZA and CLEANS with white paint. He
oflhe cali shoyes folio of volume at you, and
tells you to register your name, and bawls to
the metamorphosed vagabond: Take The oentle
man baggage TO number 81 No. 27 is in the
new wing. Its one window il stpoL do.v,
with paint, the bedstead and wash stand oro
sticky with new paint, the dust from tho c.r
pet chokes you You feel the bones of,ba -