Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-09-06
Letter from Boston.
Nantucket.
IFRoM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENCE

bpSIpN1 pNPt- I, lc'ls
Almost every day there is a meat auction at
some street corner. Meat is not kept until it
spoils, but what is left over at night is sold at
auction the next day, and the farmers add to the
stock, anything left in their carts, after they
have supplied their customers. At one auction
yOu may see spread out on long table, thirty
forty pieces of beef, eight or ten of salt pork,
a chicken and a half dozen cabbages The
buyer carries away his purchase in basket,
sometimes, but usually on fhe end of a long
wooden skewer.
The buildings are all very plain; and the Qua
ker, spirit has probably repressed all interest
in art. The strange figure heads that one some
times sees there, removed from the ship where
they belonged and placed in a garden or on a
barn, are kept, not from any idea that they pos
Sess artistic merit, but from sentiment, as a
of some favorite ship. One
large painted image, of the Virgin,
think, stands in garden, and attracts great
deal of attention. But no one could laugh at il
who knew that the owner of the garden was a
foreigner, and the image was the figure head of
n ship that came from his native land, and was
wrecked upon Nantucket. 1t owes its place of
honor TO a tender patriotism that was regardless
of its want of intrinsic merit. There are some
odd names there, of course; Lhomme Dieu is
the most singular one that ] heard; it is pro-
nounced there, Lummydoo, and is probably an
old name as one of the shoals, or straits Il for
get which,, north of the island has the same.
Twenty-Five years ago terrible fire burnt the
lower part of the town; four hundIe ed buildings
were destroyed, among them the atheneum,
with a valuable library and museum of curiosi-
ties. The houses have all been rebuilt, and in
the new atheneum is small library, which is
steadily increasing, and new museum with
some very valuable specimens; the rarest is the
perfect jaw of an immense whale, said by the
custodian to be the only perfect specimen of
that size in the world. Every night since the
fire a Waterman has sat in the tower, which
looks north, south, east and west, and kept
| guard over the town. In the tower is one of
those wonderful pieces OF machinery which
registers, with uuerring accuracy, mans
faithfulness or fault. Every fifteen min
utes he drives in a projecting peg,
and if he sleeps, or misses one,
his faithlessness is told by witness that cannot
the town has slept, secure in the faith of the
Waterman, and his eye has seen no flame flicker,
no spark shine in all that time.
To understand the character of the peoDle it
is necessary to consider how peculiar their lives
have been. For greatmany years large part
| Of the men on the island have been sailors
many of them now there are retired sea CAP
tains; men who have been in all the large for
eign ports, who have passed years on the ocean;
who know nothing of fashionable city life and
little of literature, but who are accustomed to
| immense responsibility, and almost irregponsi-
bic power; who are ready in emergencies, and
accustomed to privation; who are quiet, but en-
tirely without fear; who have gone through
| perilS and had hairbreadth escapes, the hearing
of which chills the blood; who are clear headed
kind-hearted, simple in manner, cheerful and
upright in character; prosperous in money
matters; and very tender and faithful in their
family relations. But they used to be at sea
most of the time, and the wives at home must
do all that was TO be done, take care of the
children, attend to the business, keep I'D the
character of the schools, and keep the shops
Cut off from the main land, they were dependent
on each other for help and for society, and be-
came independent, in a certain way, of
men. You may judge what noble, steadfast,
self-reljant characters such lives made. You
see the effect of them now. The older women
of the island are quiet and dignifed, with little
sadness in the eyes, as if they had not quite lost
the habit of anxious waiting and watching for
the long-absent husband; but their manners are
cordial, and their conversation very interesting
The perfect independence found there now, do
not know how to describe, for never saw any
thing else like it. 1t is the only place | ever
saw where our republican theory of labor is
put in practice; where labor is truly honorable.
| where ladies well born and well educated ac
cording to the New England standard of birth
and education, keep shop and work with their
hands, without thought of explaining or
apologizing for it; where employment if only
it is honest is honorable, and its kind in no
way affects position. This simple selErespcct is
seen everywhere; you deal with every man and
woman as an equal, who gives you courteous
even friendly treatment; but has no curiosity
about you, does not care whether you arc rich
or poor, famous or obscure; but expect from
you the courtesy, honesty, and respectful reti-
cence which he shows you.
week in Nantucket is the best lesson in true
| democracy that one can have. For amusement
you can battle, sail and fish to your
hearts content. Seven miles and half
from the town is the village of
Siasconset, picturesque old place built on the
clliis A dozen cottages are inhabited all the
year round by fishermen and their families: and
III summer about forty more are occupied by
families who go there for rest, or to enjoy the
| delicious air. There is surf bathing, somewhat
perilous, and shark fishing. Later in the season
there is cod fishing; the Siasconset fish are
cured as soon as caught, and are considered the
best salt fish ever brought into market. From
the village to Sankoty Head lighthouse, more
than mile distant, there is a foOt-path on the
cliffs, and the walk is a glorious one the cliffs
vary in height from thirty to sixty feet there is
broad beach at their base, not hard enough
to walk on easily, and then the ocean stretches
away as far as the eye can reach. There is always
| SURF; aud after storm the waves are red with
orlght sea moses, which they throw in immense
quantities upon the beach, On the land side
'iie moses which cover the island extend as far
40 sOu eau see; near the coast they are covered
WIN 'oarse black grass; but little way inland
'ney are green, with luxuriant growth of
grass puosona and bear-berry, and CAV with
piuh ana yellow wild flowers sankoty light is
tne Fresnel flashing light. and can no eco,
for forty-hve miles at sea. Farther nor.,, !,
Great Point light Brant Point 1cbt i o.
entrance 10 the harbor, and farther ,vos, :
still another. On the south shore 80
are needed, for no ships, unless driv.
en- by storm, come within twen,v
miles of that shore, its shoals are SO
dangerous. There the surf is magnificent and
there one feels what desolation is. On one side
stretch the moors, apparently to the horizon