Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-01-04
Some Rambling Notes OF an Idle Excursion.

1 N-> lNldlltN. MOnltflullN NHll
town white as snow itself White as mar
BILE white as flour. Yet looking lik,
none of these, exactly. Never mind, we said
We shlll Int upon figure bv and by tina
Will describe this peculiar white.
1t was a town that was compacted together
| upon the sides and tops of cluster of smal
hills Its outlying borders fringed off and
thlnned away among the cedar forests, anC
there was no woody distance OF curying coast
or leaiy lslet sleeping upon the dImpled
painted sea- but was ilecked with shining,
white points halt concealed houses peepng
out OF the foliage The architecture of the
town was mainly Spanish inherited from the
| colonlsts of two hundred and fifty years ago.
| Some ragged topped cocoa-palms, glimpsed
here and there, gave the land a tropical as
| pect.
There was an ample pier of heavy masonry
upon this, under shelter were some thous-
auds ofbarrels containing that product which
has carried the fame of Bermuda to many
| lands, the potato With here and there an
| onion. That last sentence is iacetious, for
| they grow at least two onions i'll Bermuda to
one potato. The onion is the pride and Joy
OF Bermuda. 1t is her Jewel, her gem OF
gems. In her conversation, her pulpit, her
literature, 1t Is her most frequent and elo-
quent figure. In Bermudian metaphor it
'hhiAhN iti l'AAtAll'll IttitNll''il hbhblult.
The Bermudlan, weeping over the depart
ed, eNhausts praise when he says, "he was
an onion" The Bermudian. extolling the
living hero. bankrupts applause when he
says, 'He is an onion" The Bermudian,
setting his son on the stage of life to dare and
do for himself. climaXes all counsel. suppl
cation, admonition, comprehends all ambi-
ton, when he SAYS, 'Be an onion"
We went ashore and found novelty of q
pleasant nature there were no hackmen,
hacks, or omnlbuses on the pier or about 1t
anywhere, and nobody offered his services to
us, or molested us in any way. | said it was
being in heaven. The Reverend rebukingly
and rather pointedly advised me to make the
most OF it, then. We knew of boarding
house, and what We needed now was some
body to pilot us to it Presently little
bareiooted colored boy came along. whose
raggedness was conspicuously n-Bermudian.
His rear was so marvell0usiy bepatched with
colored squares and triangles that one was
half persuaded be had got II out Of an atlas.
When the sun struck him right he was as good
to follow as alightningbug We hiredhim and
dropped into his wake He piloted us
through one picturesque street after another
and in due course deposited us where we be-
longed. He charged nothing for his map,
and but tritle for his services so the Rev.
erend doubled it. The little chap received the
money with II beaming applause in his eye,
which plainly said, This man au onion"
We had brought no letters OF introduction
our names had been misspelt in the passenger
list nobody knew whether We were honest
folks or otherwise. So We were expecting to
have good private time in case there was
nothing in our general aspect TO close boarding
house doors against us. We had no trouble.
Bermuda has had but little experience of
rascals, and is not suspicious. We got large
cool, well-lghted rooms on u second floor,
overlooking a bloomy display Of flowers and
towering shrubs-calla and annunciation
lilies, lantanas, heliotrope, iessamine roses,
pinks, double geraniums, oleanders, pome-
granates blue morning-elCries of great size,
and many plants that were unknown to
me
We took long afternoon walk. and soon
found ont that that exceedingly white town was
built of blocSs of white coral island, with a
six-inch crust Of soil on top of it, and every
man has a quarry on his own prem ises.
Everywhere YOU 60 you see square recesses
cut into the hill sides. with perpendicular
walls unmarried by crack or crevice, and per
laps yuu fancy that a house grew out OF the
ground there. and has been moved III single
piece from the mould. If you do YOU err.
But the material for house has been quar-
ried there They cut right down through the
coral. TO any depth that is coryenient-ten
to twenty feet and take 1t ont in great
square blocks. This cutting Is done with
chisel that has u handle twelve to fifteen feet
long, and is used as one uses a crowbar when
be is drilling hole, or dasher when he is
churning. Thus soft is this stone. Then
with a common hand saw they saw the blocks
into handsome. huge bricks that are two feet
long, a foot wide and about six inches thick.
These stand loosely piled during month to
harden then the work of building begins.
The house is built Of these blocks ut is loof-
ed with broad coral slabs an inch thick
whose edges lap upon each other, SO that
the roof looks like n succession Of shallow
steps or terraces the chImneys are built of
the coral blocks and sawed into graceful and
picturesque patterns the ground-ioor ver-
andah is paved with coral blocks /; also the
walk 70 the gate the fence Is bull; of coral
blocks-built in massive panels. with broad
cap stones and heavy gate-posts, and the
whole trimed into easy liues and comely
shape with the saw. Then they put hard
coat of whitewash as thick as your thumb
nail, on the fence all over the house, roof
chimneys, and all ; the sun comes out and
shines on this spectacle, and 1t is time for
you to shut your unaccustomed eyes, lest
they be put out. Ii is the whItest white you
can conceive of. and the blndingest. A
Bermuda house does not look like marble
il is much intenser white than that and
besides, there is dainty, indefinable some
thing else about its look that Is not marble
like. We put in n great deal OF solid talk and
over this matter Of trying to find
a figure that would describe the unique white
Of Bermuda house, and We contriyed to hit
upon 1t at last. 1t is exactly the white of the
igi,, Of rala ar,,l hos l.4
phasized and scarcly Terceptible polish. The
white of marble is modest and retiring com
pared with it.
Bermuda roads are made by cutting down
a few inches in the solid white coral-or Ii
good many feet where a hill intrudes itself
and smoothing off the surface Of the roat.-bed
1t is II simple and easy process. The grain
of the coral is coarse and porous the road
bed has the look OF being made OF coarse.
white sugar. Its excessive cleanness and
whiten,ss are Il trouble in one way the sun
is reflected into your eyes with such energy
as you walk along that you want to sneeze
all the time Old Captain Tom Bowling
found another difficulty. He joined us in
our walk. but kept wandering unrestiully to
the roadside. Finally he explained. Said
he, well, chew. You know. and the roads
so plaguy clean.
We walked several miles that afternoon ,
in the bewidering glare of the sun the white
roads, and the white buildings. Our eyes
got to paInlng us good deal. by and by u
soothing, blessed twilight spread its cool
balm around. We looked up IN pleased sur
prise and saw that il proceeded from an in
tensely black negro who was going by. We
answered his military salute IN the graceful
gloom of his near presence and then passed
on into the pitlless white glare again.
You may march the country roads in
maiden meditation, fancy free. by field and
farm, for no doc will plunge out at you.irom
unsuspectei gate, with bIeathtaking surprise
of tcrucious bark, notwithstanding 1t Is a
Christian land and II CIVILIZED. We saw up
wards OF IA million cats IN bermuda, but the
people nrs very ahst' uiouS ia the matter OF
dogs. Two OF three nights We prowlcd the
country far and wide and never once were
accosted by dog. 1t Is great privilege to
visit such land. The cats were no offence
when properly distributed, but when piled
they obstructed travel.
As We entered the edge of the town that
afternoon, We stopped At cottage to get a
drink of water. TIE proprietor, middle
aged man with good face, asked US to sit
down and rest. His dame brought chairs
and We grouped ourselves in the shade of
the trees by the door Mrs Smith that was
not his name, but it will neutrality-suspicious.
us about ourselves and our country, and We
answered him truthfully AS general thing,
and questioned him IN return. 1t was all
very simple and pleasant and sociable Rural,
too for there was a pig and II small donkey
and hen anchored out, close at hand. hy
cords TO their legs, on spot that purported
to he grassy Presently. a woman passed
along, and although she coldly said nothing
she changed the drift OF our talk said
Smith
She didn't look this way. you noticed
Well, she is our next neighbor On one side.
and there's another family that's our neat
nelghb"r on the other side but there's a
general coolness al around now, and we
don't speak. Yet these three families, one
genertion and another have lived here side
by side and been ns friendly AS wenyers for II
hundred and hity years, till about II year
ago"
why. what calamity could have been
powerful enough To- break up So old Il friend