The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1877-07-07

II connection with the recent conhagrauon
OF this venerable Massachusetts town, the
New York World INDUCES the following in
,eres,ing "reminiscences:
A dog.fgh, has done for one OF the Oldest
what COW did tor one OF the newest OF
American cities. Chicago was destroyed by
the upse,ting Of can Of kerosene in stable,
and MarbleAead has been laid waste by ca
rouse ia barn. II is not In order TO cohsid.
er the origin Of such ca,as,rophes while hun
dreds and indeed thousands OF hard working,
industrious people are suffering tor the ne
cessaries of life. The great fire OF ten years
ago IN Portland had less ignominious be-
ginning in casual fre.cracker exploded
among piles of shavlngs TO celebrate the de-
claration Of American Independence but
the charity and goodfelowship which then
moved all American hearts towards that
beautiful Northern city will 90 out as freely
now, we are sure tC the hapless people OF
Marbehed No people have been more qui.
city selfhelpful than they throughout their
history, which goes back TO The very begin
nings Of Our nationality, and no people, there
fore, better deserve help now IL this hour OF
their calamity. Marblehead is one Of the few
American towns which have physlognony
Of their own. It's isolated situation on Il
rocky neadland jut,ing far oct into Massachu'
sets Bay and the seafariug habits Of its peo-
pie from tie earliest days combined to give
the place an unique character of It's own
which has not been wholly destroyed by the
march of mind and OF modern improvements.
IL was town after the heart Of Hawthorne
odd, quaint, picturesque, haunted with mem
cries and with rlurmurs of the melancholy
sea- Kingsley's weird ballad Of The Fish
ers" might have been written for Il as well as
for any Of those old Deyonshire villages IN
which the author Of "Amyas Leigh"
took such deep delight. Its men were al.
ways working, It's women too often weeping
Widows predCminated in Marbehead as
spinsters III Massachusetts. It's fishermen
yearly toak their lives in their hands when
They went down to the stormy waters, and
rarely, If ever, did their little fleets come
back unshG,tered from "thc banks" The
early settlers, many Of them, came from the
still.vexed Channel lsiands-Goernsey, Jer
sey, Alderney and Sark-those fragments OF
! Normandy anchored In the British seas; and
they brought with them strange lingo OF
their own as well as strange family names
and slpers,ltions as strange. Judge Story,
who was Marblehead boy, never wearied OF
telling Of these things; anu 1t used 10 be wills.
Ipered that 10 the end of his life the great law.
yer never cros.edg meadow after dark With
out turning his coat inside out, as he had
been taught II childhood 10 do, for fear OF
the pixies" Marblehead cherished a thrill.
Iliug belief in the "shrieking woman" whose
voice OF shrill distress used on wild winter
nights 20 be blown by the winds far over the
peninsula. Duh fools from the mainland
Traced these sounds 10 certain tunnels in the
rocks on the shore, not Cncomm on in such
Localities, but The genuine old Marbleheaders
knew better. Within our own times IL is re-
lco.deG that upon "a certain stormy pecen Der
hight the people IN sundry houses along the
main street were Disturbed 10y unearthly
Iknocklngs az their doors. Marblehcsd hus.
{ bands, Weakened by the sounds and urged by
I Their wives 20 inquire into them, put their
heads out OF the Easements, saw glimmer
ing shape in white standing IN the deserted
street. and FASTENED back 10 the coDiugal
couch with the sufficient explanation that "a
2 spirit was walking" Days afterwards the
: dead body OF woman was washed ashore
c below the town, and skep,ics maintained tha
il was this poor creature, Il lunaiic, as i
4 lproycd, escaped from neighboring town
= lwho had wandered thus torlornly through
a The place until she had wandered Of beyont
1r !, into The hungry waves of the bay. In Thu
words of Horace, slightly scratched, let any
man believe this who Is disqualified for ed
. mitiance 70 the Grand Union az Saratoga.
- Many family names of French origin SUI
"A Tered queer sea changes in old Man bic
Ne head. Lefevre and Mescrve appear 10
er modem y ankee dress In the list of the suffer
to ers by ;ae recent fire; and there Is a legent
g. that once upon time when the crler of
court In which Judge Story was presiding
as had bawled himself hoarse in vain with call
Ing Tor witness by the name Of John Blanc