Ellsworth American., 1874-08-20
Correspondence.
FALL RIVER, Aug, IA

l.
and teals many an lneeresting story about
Its hone mattefs. i heartily agreed with
the report ofthe excursion to Bar Harbor.
except that it did not give our new Band
sufficient credit. 1t would not have been
too much to say that every one was sur
prised at the proficiency 1t had reached.
and that every one of musical taste was
highly pleased with the time and tune Of
the new organization. Not TO come before
the public til T. could present something
worth hearing, Is too rare case In this
day and country of crude and half learned
knowledge. not TO receive notice and
patronage when it does appear. Such
may the new Band receive abuudantiy.
Perhaps it will not be amiss to tell your
readers something about matters in this
part of the country. Narragansett Bay
upon which Fail River, Providence and
Newport are situated. Is a charming piece
OF water. The eye may miss the high hills
which border Frenclman's Bay. but there
Is an air Of quiet elegance about Its green
shores and long. low islands which makes
an attractiveness OF its own. Certainly
there are few bays which yield so much
| pleasure to those who seek rest and recre-
alton In the hot summer days. Not to
speak OF Newport ut its mouth. we only
| refer TO the resorts which dot both sides
OF Providence Bay, its western branch.
Here are ten or twelve pleasant establish
ments where. amer "A beautiful excursion
in one of the many steamers which are
continually running, one can fnd a cool
breeze. a vo-acious appetite. and .'shore
dinner" Every one knows what a cool
breeze is. aud almost every one (without
exception. | should judge, in Ellsworth)
what voracious appetite is. But what a
shore dinner" is. may be known to but
few. With the memory OF it still fresh
from yesterdays feast, let me try to de-
scribe II. You sit down 10 the table with
four or five hundred others dives; ed of all
ceremony except 4 knife, fork, spoon and
plate. AT signal. enter iny walters
bearing huge piles of pans filed with hot
baked clams.-baked you understand. none
OF your insipid boiled affairs, flabby and
pale. but rich aud full. with all their na-
tive sweetness intensified by the steam OF
their sea weed beds, and fragrance beside
which all the odors of"Araby the blest'f are
as empty air. IL Is a popularity of This
edible that, while continually pleasing the
palate, il is the very opposite Of Sam
Wcller's dish. In not being -wcry flling at
the price" The old gentleman who wish
ed he had been created with four stomachs.
like the camel. would find here that the
one organ granted to the human frame Is
amply sufficient for all practical purposes
The baked clam seems 10 be an Institution
peculiar to this Bay. The Indians founded
it, If We many judge by the piles OF shells
discovered In the earth II i supposed
that the extreme taciturniiy OF the Indian
of this region i due In some measure TO
his fondness for the silent. though perhaps
much-thinking clam. Ii is more than sus-
pected that the famous King Philip was
raised TO the throne on account OF his pro-
iiciency in building clam bahes. or a. some
argue from his name. because OF his power
OF eating them. o that l were a poet. an
orator, an auctloneer. anything eloquent.
that the clam, unable TO speak for Itself,
ahf aiif 5i 81 eAySdF tHG ois'SY Scorrespondent @ lie,
the dinner proceed. At a secoud signal.
green corn and potatoes are brought in.
Then came fish and clam chowder am
bound TO admit that Ellsworth and vicinity
rather excel in the item of chowder. The
people there seem 10 have better head
for concocting the savory pouage. (You
will. OF course. not understand this a.
implying that they are greater eho,c,ler-
hedds.) Then follows baked fish-shades
OF Catnllus. how do they make 1t SO rich?
Then follow hot clam fritters, of that rich
brown dear to the Ellsworth eye when
seen on its fayorite doughnut. The ban
quet ends. like the old song OF the Bacon
and Green's with a few more clans The
old stagers" usually finish up their meal
with two or three quarts of hot clans. to
avoid the sensation OF fullness which the
fish and friitcrs are liable TO make.
CLANS, a. | intiinated before. belong to
that class of edibles upon which one can
''eai himself hungry IL follows. there
fore, that II one eat them amer too hearty
a meal of other food, a proper balance
must at once be established.
Such Is a "shore dinner" Amer one of
them. the Rhode Islander may be observed
10 grow exceedingly self-complacent lie
becomes utterly oblivious Of the small size
Of his native State. What to him are the
mines Of Pennsylvania: CLANS are the
thing TO dig. SIR" What is the wealth of
New York;" Clam-banks never suspend
payment, SIR" \ clam dinoer is the
lotus Of the Rhode Islander. IL glorifies
the present and the near, and makes the
elsewhere and the otherwise grow pale
stance of the great law of compensation.
had intended to say something Of the
cities which lie upon Narragansett Bay,
but the shore dinner, like every one who |
At the two extremes of the Bay oIe finds |
the two extremes Of life. Newport is the |
city of idle pleasure, where New York |
and Boston and Providence send their rich
men 10 gain strength and spend money.
Fall River is the city Of business. ltis the
head of the manufacture of print-eloths in
the United States, running far more
spindles than Lowell or Lawrence. Its
growth has been remarkable during the
past ten years. Its population has ill
creased from IL 900 to 1900. Its valna-
ton is about $50 600, 600. The city govern
nent has hard work to provide for the in-
crease. Water has been introduced from
Watuppa Pond. The City Hall has been
rebuilt at cost of $500, 600. New stree,s
have been laid out in every direction.
Large and elegant schools, engine houses
and police stations have been erected. l
notice that the police stations and the
school houses have been built near each
other, perhaps with the purDose of feach