The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-07-25
Newport villas.

The time when one could live economi.
cally there, unless in clearinghouse, is
not likely to return. As a summer resi-
dence Newport has grown to be luxury
forbidden to the many. The cost of erect
ing and furnishing villa that could be
thought in any sense elegant, including
the ground and the laying out, is from
$50, 900 to 100000. Some of the houses
are really beautiful-all that taste and
money can make them. They are in diff
ferent styles, French villas, Swiss chalets.
and English cottages most abounding, with
a few Of so composite and inharmonious
an order as to defy determination. Belle
sue Avenue, until recently, has been the
fayorite and fashionable quarter but it is
SO nearly filed that it has been rendered
necessary to seek other localities. The
most handsome and Of course most expen-
sivc residences are in that avenue, though
the Bath Road, Cliff Walk, Touro Street,
and Narraganset Avenue ara very little
behind it in the quality of the dwellings.
Nowhere else are there so many dainty
roofs to cover the darliugs of fortune from
July and August foods of sunshine.
Rosewood, French walnut, damask, lace,
marbles, bronzes, engravings, paintings,
cabinets, carvings, ireseoes, aquaria, ferner-
les, porcelain, make interiors brilliantly
attractive and statues, grottoes, terraces,
conservatories, fishponds, arbors, summer
houses, hedges, parterres, yield symmetry
and charmfulness to ground and gardens
which cannot fail to captivate the eye and
stimulate the fancy. Many of the villas are
so shut in that pleasant laughter and sweet
voices and high-bred accents heard through
the foliage paint pictures to the imagina-
tion fairer than the closest inspection may
reveal. 1t is pleasant TO drive through
the fashionable quarters, and observe how
comfortable, if not eontented, large in
comes can render most people in this world.
There is an air Of unmistakable gentility
about Newport that few watering-places
have. Neither there nor anywhere under
the canopy are the majority Of the men
and women cultured and chivalrous, beau
tiful and elegant; but the society is gener-
ally good, and its manners are unobtrusiye.
There are no horse jockeys, blacklegs,
billiard-markers, nor cozeners masquerad-
ing in the ill-6tting garments of gentlemen !;
no ballet-dancers, clairvoyants, demireps,
nor adventuresses flashing in jewels and
jadery, with mistaken notion Of fine
ladyism. Those who are under-bred do
not strive to cover their deficiency by
pronounced and blatant proletarianism.
On the contrary, they restrain themselves,
and thus take their FIRST lessons in self
discipline, which is the foundation of
agreeable behavior Nobody need be
offended by uttered coarseness or haunt-
ing vulgarity on the borders Of the
Narraganset Life there has certain
quiet neutral tint, notwithstanding It's
under-hue Of richness, that seldom fares
and never fecks.
The topical fault Of the greater part Of
the villas is that they are too far away
from the sea, not within sight or sound Of
it even. In Bellevue Avenue, for exam
pie, you might, for all the glimpses or
suggestion Of the ocean, be hundred
miles inland in the midst of a widespread
ing prairie or on mountain plateau
Janius Henri Broen. IN HaPers Maga-
siae for August.