New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-06
LAZY DAYS AT WATCH HILL.
A CRoWDFD RHODE ISLAND REsoRT.

THE ANCIENT CAPTAIN NASH AND his HISTORIC
hoTEI-THR ELEVEN LIGHTHOUSES AND OTHER
ATTRACuoNs-HEAyY WEATHER TN ROUTE TO
THE MAIN LAND.
lFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRmUNE.l
WATCH HILL. Aug. 5.-There are those who have
spent the Summer at Watch Hill since time whereof
the memory of man runneth not to the contrary :
old fellows who recall, in manner impressive to
the young, those early times "when there was only
one house on tho Hill," and that was kept by Cap
tain Nash and was always so crowded that people
had to wait for a chance at the table. grab for
whatever they could reach in the way of food,
and be happy if they could find sleeping
room on the diningroom floor, They SIT
on the piazzas here and hoist out remInis-
cenoes of that Arcadian period by the hour, In
vestlng it all with such a charm that one almost
laments the changes that have made the Hill COM
Portable, and feels irreDTessible longing to sleep
on the piazza and grab" the passing toast Those
were the days when Captain Nash kept no books,
and when anybody asked him Z" How much :" said,
"Ohi well about dollar. / guess" the days be-
fore confidence had been impaired and suspicion
born, and the grasshopper had become burden,
and all that sort of thing, and the young man from
StOnIngton or Westerly could come over here and
secure u comfortable meal by grabbing. and go away
without seeing Captain Nash at ALL orpaying cent.
I
be and not overcome Captain Nash like Summer
cloud without his special wonder though
1t must have occurred to him sometimes,
in making up his cash account after particularly
busy day-if he ever did such thing-that the
increase IN his capital didn't hardly dOvetail with
the decrease in his larder The Captain and his son
believe, keep much larger and more imposing.
and am safe in saying, great deal Quleter house
now, a short distance east Of the old one. 1t IS
called the Ocean House by the proprietOrs. and IS
known to everybody else as " The Saints Rest" 1t
is said-tbough how truly cannot vouch-Ihat no
children under sixteen are allowed in the house, and
that the guests retire at half-past eight.
The old original Watch Hill House has been
greatly enlarged within few years, and now ac-
commodities comfortably somewhere from $50 to
200 guests After the fairly opens it istul to
the close, and rooms must be engaged weeks IN adj
vance to make of them. Besides these there
are the Lsrkin PlymptOn, Narragansett, and two or
three other smaller hotels, in some of which rooms
may always be had, so that no one need be deferred
from coming here by fear of being left entirely out
in the cold. In the old times they used sometimes
TO quarter the overflow of guests-after all the chairs
and tables and the refrigerator were full-iD
farm-houses of which there are two three within
the distance of a mile. 1t my great privilege
q day or two since TO see at the end OF dusty
walk of half q mile, one of these farm-houses in
which, a few years ago. General Harland.
of Norwich a regular habtue OF Watch
Hill, was drawn and quartered. The bed is still
there as | am told which, after brief experiment
of. he sat up and watched during the night Know
ing that he roomed in North College at Yale during
senior year. and had enjoyed a vast and varied eX-
pclienee with insects the Peninsula and in North
Carolina during the war; the house where he found
a bed that was one too much for bin" had an I'M
usual interest for me. But it occurs to me that am
DEPRESSING. Let resume watering-place DISCOURSE.
Upon the whole it must be confessed that Of the
seaside resorts between New-York and Newport,
Watch Hill, to use the Kentucky vernacular, holds
over them all" If you ask me why, shall tell you
don't know any more than that everybody here
saws SO with so much assurance and such positive
air that would much rather agree with them than
stand out about it. ! guess 1t is so. It's delight
fully lazy pace-it astOnishes me that am writing
this letter-a real LOtOs land except on the BATH
ing beach at II a. M, when a great lot OF
indescribabe people in inconceiyable costumes
90 bobbing MP and down in the water. and do seem
TO find pleasure in ever climbing up the climbing
yaveD But at any other hour, or on the piazzas,
they are genuine "mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-
eaters "-as genuine any you'll find at the Lotos
Club when they have LotOs in the soup, and sit up
nights so as to have the proper mild-eyed, melan-
choly look the next day.
CLARK AND THE LIGHTHOUSES.
The one great effort of the mind that is INDUCED
in here is to encompass and fairly apprehend the
fact that there are eleven lighthouses and light
boats in sight from the piazza Of the Watch
Hill House. The newcomer has this information
fired into him in rapid succession by the old fellows
until he has thoroughly acquired it and can reel it
off as easily as ancient mariner boxes the COM
pass When you have once absorbed 1t your mind
is at rest until you feel called upon to bore some
new arrival with it. Most people take to 1t kindly
This is the way of It You take your unsuspecting
friend by the nape of the neck and lead him to the
west end of tho piazza and begin: Do you know,
nv friend that there are eleven lights visible from
this piazzaY As he can see-if it's at night-a hun
bred OF two more or less, including various dwelling
bouses and passing vessels or. if in the daytime, he
emit see any, he is likely to be bewIdered at first
and TO begin to say something. You don't let
him. You point to the lighthouse on the ex-
IRENE right and say you see that lightly That's
stonington.' Then you move your finger around
toward the left loosen your chin, and strike into
trot in this style: The next is NOank then
comes the liRht-boat on Eel Grass Shoals; then
away there to the vest Hew-London ight;Jnst south
oft Bartletfs Reef ghtboat coming east little Is
fhe light on the HammOcks; to the south, and fur
tber off is Little Gull then swing around and here's
Watch Hill light just down yOnder. See that revolv-
ing hight away off there to the south f-thats Mon
tank; next eastward is Block Island, and this one
over the land directly east is Point Judith If your
friend turns slowly round, and begins to sweep the
horizon with his eye, you've got him: got him just
as sure as though you had repeated the horse-car
postry to him. But if he only says, HIM. and
sipks into chair, you've got it all to do over again.
and TO keep at it, making life burden to him. until
the information is lodged in him, and he is qualified
- - oornol,ohu else with Il. Ii happens some