The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-04
SHERWOOD FOREST.
IN mEtreHrFun SUMMER REsORT--A
FgsH FHsY AND BALL
ytiorrespondence Of the New Orleans Oemooratl


rvb,, I have not written to you before this day
when left the city, on the fifteenth OF July
Inst Il was my desperate desire and resolute
x,ndeayorn 10 write one or two letters to this
paper. but "sherwood Forest was too much
far me. We had three meals q day, and that
ss YOU must know took up great dea, OF my
dime. between meals we rolled ten pin matches
with the ladies', rowed on the lake, rode over
TO DartFord Ripon and other neighboflng
villages, and made ourselves generally hdus-
triotls, doing nothing and killing time. Ii
there is anything which your associate ana
correspondent loves to do 1t Is to kill lime
He does 1t with vim and something OF a
ppirit of retaliation He is well aware that
Time gradually but inevitably kills us all,
works upon US with that deadly object every
tiay and therefore experiences q vast amount
of grim satisfaction at retaliating upon the
old fellow according to the full measure OF
his means.
III may not interest your average reader,
hut must mention the fact that our trip up
North was terribly hot and dusty. We laid
over for four hours at Cairo in an atmos-
Dhere Of molten lead, and there experienced
sinful qualification at seeing Our felloW-mor-
tails as miserable as ourselves The whole
r,onllation of that city literally turned in
scout Of doors, and men, women and children
slept on the sidewalks and upon the roofs OF
houses. We left Cairo well pleased: rs
general thing people feel comfortable when
they leave that place. One experiences a sen
station of relief which amounts almost to gra-
LITIGATION. II the directors of the New Orleans,
sb. Louis and Chicago Railroad could invent
another place wherein to lay over, they would
confer o. blessing upon the travelling commu
nifty; but railroad men ore not imaginative,
and we are afraid that Cairo will remain q
stern and unavoidable fixture. weary land
mark on the road to Northern and Western
summer resorts. a sort OF purgatory whence
souls may fly away after certain period of
penitenee to Eiysian hotels and abodes of
bliss on lake sides and mountain slopes.
The trip through Illinois is certainly the
most pleasant. The country all through is
admirably cultivated, and the Illinois Central
road is stone balIasted almost all the way
through. Looking from the car windows the
eve ID delighted and surprised at every mo-
anent with u change OF beautiful scenery.
Now 1t is q golden hillside of luxuriant
wheat glowing under the rays OF a mellow
sunshine, then a green expanse OF growing
corn, bright III the noon-day light and refresh
ing to the eye. Afterwards fields of oats and
hay deeply yellow, like unburnsbed gold,
greet the eye, altogether, the varegated pic
ture is most charming, particularly interest,
ing when the mind reflects that it Is the hand
pf man that thus has beautified nature with
the fruits Of hallowed toll.
One night at Chicago, and we are off for |
Green Lake by the Chicago and Northwestern
road. We take a glass or so Of beer at Mil
vaukee, inhale the perfumed bteeses from |
Lake Michigan, revel In the grand sight of
the sunlight coloring the waves, now with |
gold, then with green, afterwards with soft |
azure, blended with the brightest lilac, while
The white caps lii the distance give tone to
the breakwaters send up before the delighted
eye their bediamonded spray. That Lake
Michigan is u glorious sheet of water. The
clouds give it shade. the sun gives 1t beauty,
and the ever-moving breezes endow it with
life and grace. The trip from Chicago TO
FOND du Lac on that road is worth all the
money and trouble that can be expended. 1t
Id all full of light, life and practical poetry:
And now, ] suppose that | am authorized to
notice my arrival at Green Lake When
where the first object that greets my eye is
The genial face Of Col. Sherwood, smiling at
his entering guests so pleasantly that, al
though it Is almost night at the arrival,
lit seems as though q lingering ray
OF sunshine had been kept on purpose by the
genial host to make his people feel happy.
We met there many people from New Or
feans, among whom We're Mr.. Louis Burthe
and his charming wife, Mr., Elmore Dufour
who has married one of the most amable
ladies in the land, Miss Cecile Generes, his
sister-in-law, whose presence is an acquis-
lion to Sherwood Forest Or any other place
which she blesses with her presence, and
many others, whom L nave not time TO men-
iion or describe,
Sherwood Hall is romantically situated on
the borders of Green Lake, we'll named, for
under the sunshine the limpid waters OF that
beautiful sheet of liquid emerald shine like an
enormous topaz, clear, soft and bright. All
around the mansion magnificent park, eX-
tending through many acres, casts pleasant
shade of oak on delightful promenades, where
The children, unconscious OF the sun, sport all
day long In a cool and invigorating atmos-
phere Oh but ii | had time and space what
a picture | would draw Of healthy Sites glo-
rfous days and magnificent scenery! But
have no time; have no space 1t would take
too much time; it would take all the space In
our paper to expatate on the beauties that
would like to describe.
TO sum up. let me tell you that this is q
country where perspiration Is scarcely
known Bodily exercise there is innocuous !;
the snews harden simply with Intelligent
loating, If | may use the expression. One
feels like being active; the body wants move
ment; the air impels you to exercise, Laz-
ness there is idealistic; it is q mixture of
phvsical activity and intellectual rest. The
height of physical life and the ideal of mental
dreaminess. There man well constituted
may become at the same time poet and an
athlete But let us come down to bare facts.
Scarcely had we settled ourselves in Sherwood
Hall and made our devotions to our new
household gods when somebody proposed q
t'iish fry" Of course everybody concurred.
So we took the Harshaw, Capt. Pierces pleas
ure boat, and off we went with a spanking
breeze to what is called in these parts the
t'Sugar Loaf" and Norwegian bay. Why the
place is called Sugar Loaf | cannot imagine,
and why the bay is named Norwegian have
not undertaken to fathom We nevertheless
tfshed there and caught a sufficient quantity
of fish named pickerel and of another fish
which the natives call green bass to make the
foundation of a first class courtbouillon, which
was nursed and made perfect by the fair
hands of Mrs Dufour and Mrs Burthe. We
have taken dinner at the West End, at
Miguers, at Victor's, at Madame Eugenes,
but never have we tasted anything SO perfect
as that contribution though it was gotten
up under adverse circumstances, for we had
neither wine nor garlic to give it the proper
afirh L, a How