Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1877-12-05

We went ashore and found a novelty
Iof A pleasant nature; there were no
hackmen. hacks or omnibuses on the
pier or about it anywhere, and nobody
offered his services to us, or molested us
in anv way ] said it was like being IN
heaven. The reverend ~rebukingly n
rather pointedIy advised me to make the
most of it, then. We knew of a board
ing-house, and what We needed now was
somebody to point us to it. Presently a
little b~srefooted colored boy came along,
whose raggedness was c~onspicuously I'M
Rermudian. His rear was so marvel
ously bepatched with colored squares
and triangles that one was half-persuad-
! ed he had got it out of an atlas. When
| the sun struck him right, he was as good
to follow as a lightning-bug. We hired
him and dropped into his wake. He
piloted US through one picturesque street
after another, and in due course deposited
ms where we belonged. He charged
nothing for his map, and but q trlfie for
his services; 20 the reverend doubled 1T.
The little chap received the money with
a beaming applause in his eye which
! plainly said, "This mans an onion"
We had brought no letters of intro
duction; our names had been misspelt IN
the passenger list; nobody knew whether
we were honest folk or otherwise. So
we were expecting to have a good private
time in case there was nothing i'll u
general aspect to close clearinghouse
doors against lis. We had no trouble.
Bermuda has had but little experience of
~rascals, and is not suspicious. We got
large, cool, well-lighted rooms on a sec-
ond floor, overlooking a bloOmy display
of flowers and Towering shrubs-calla,
and annunciation lilies, lantanas, hello
trope, jessamine, roses, pinks, double
geraniums, oleanders, pomegranates,
blue morning-glories of a great size, and
many plants that were strange to me.
We took a long afternoon walk, and
soon found out that that exceedingly
white town was built of blocks of white
coral. Bermuda is a coral island, with a
six-inch crust of soil IN top of it, and
every mar has aquarry on his own prem
ises. Everywhere you go you see square
r~ccesses cut into the hillsides, with per-
pendicuiar walls unmarried by crack or
%crevice, and perhaps you fancy that a
house grew out of the ground there, and
has been removed in a single piece from
the mold. Ii you do, you err. But the
material for n house has been quarried
there. They cut right down through the
coral, to any depth that is convenient
ten to twenty feet-and remove it il
great sauare pieces. This cutting is don,
with a chisel that has a handle twelve O
fifteen feet long, and is used "a one use
a crowbar when he is drilling a hole, or
dasher when he is c%hurning. Thus sof
is the stone. Then with a common hand
saw they saw the great blocksinto hand
some, huge bricks that are two fee
long, a foot wide, and about six inche
thick. These stand loosely piled durin
a month to harden; then the work G
|, building begins. The house is built c
these pieces; it is rooted with broa
!, coral slabs an inch thick, whose edge
!, lap upon each other, 50 that the rot
: has the appearance of a succession
: shallow steps or terraces; the chimney
are built of the coral blocks, and save
. into graceful and picturesque patterns
the ground-hoor verandah is paved wit
coral; also the path to the gate; Il
fence is built of coral-built in massi,
pannels, with broad cap-stones and beay
g~ate-posts, and the whole trimmed in
m easy lines and comedy shape with the 81,
u Then they put a hard coat of whitewas
r as thick as your thumb nail, on Il
lie fence, and all over the house, roof, chin
n neys and all; the sun comes out ar
J. shines on this spectacle, and it is tin
re for you to shut your unaccustomed ey
$, lest they be put out. 1t is the white
- "ffso yo~ can conceive OF, and the bin
= INCEST. A Bermuda house does not 10,
e .hsn % snas. and Iesides there IS a daihf
i~nurnnabfe something else about its a
> pearancc that is not marble-like. v
10 put in a good deal Of solid talk and
t. Election over this matter of trying to fiji
Dr a figure that would describe the nnig'
re white of a Bermuda house, and we co
II, trived to hit upon it at last. 1t is e
ne actly like the white of the icing of a cal
10 and has the same unemphasized al
II scarcely ~perceptible polish. The viii
of marble is modest and retiring comp.
ed with it.
After the house is cased in it's ha
4, scale Of %whitewash, not a crack, or 81
- of a seam, or joining of the blocks,
II detachable, from base-stone to chimn
~ top; the building looks as if it had be
~ carved from a single stone, and the do'
No and windows sawed out afterward.
y white marble house has q cold, ton
~ like, unsociable look, and takes the c.
* versation out of a body and depres
VI him. Not so with a Bermuda hou
III There is something exhilarating, ev
u " l:I,r, o1rvt 80 vsri1 x-Istapoo, al
III the sun plays upon it. If it be of p
turesque shape and graceful contour
and many of the Bermudian dwellir
~ are-it will 80 fascinate you that y
:, will keep youreyeso on it until they acI
~, One of those clean-cut, fanciful chime
ns too pure and white for this world
VI with one side glowing in the sun and t
other touched with a soft Shadows
object that will charm ones gaze by t
hour. l know of no other country til
has chimneys worthy to be gazed at a.
or gloated over. One of these snowy dive
N. ings half concealed and half glimps
his through green foliage is a pretty thi
,as to see; and if it takes by surprise,
he he turns a sharp corner of a count
mn road, it will bring an exclamation fro
MIN, sure.
~ Wherever you go, in town or countl
ne You find those snowy houses, and alws
at with masses of bright-colored flow,
" about them, but with no vines climb
yh their walls, vines cannot take hold
py the smooth, hard whitewash. Where,
80 you go, in the town or along the count
ed roads, among little potato farms a
" patches or expensive country seats, tn
of stainless white dwellings, cleaning {
v. from flowers and foliage, meeting y
" at every turn. The least little bit of
y. cottage is as white and blemishless as
he stateliest mansion. Nowhere is tn
er dirt or stencil, puddle or hog-wall'
an neglect, disorder, or lack OF trimness
us neatness. The roads, the streets,
Ir. dwellings, the people, the Clothes
Jar neatness extends to everything that Fl
under the eye. 1t is the tidiest c0un
in the world. And very much the t
est, too.
Considering these things, the quest