The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-05-29
The Cheer of New England Life.

Shall we say that people do not now enjoy
themselves in such places as they once did?
What, then, becomes of the theory that the al
legged gloom is the bequest of puritanism?-for
it is clear that the time 1 describe was thirty
years nearer to puritanism than is the present
time. But as a matter of fact there is much
much more social festivity now than then,-
consider for instance the great spread of private
theatricals, s,-except in few farming villages
where population has nominally diminished,
simply because the new generation has trans
planted itself to the West. For one, utterly
deny that the rural life of New England, taken
as whole, is in grim, stern, or extravagant-
ly repressed condition. lido not know much of
Connecticut, but know good deal of the ru-
raj parts of Massachusetts, Vermont, and
Rhode Island, and am not ignorant of Maine
and New Hampshire. 1t would be interesting
to learn how much your lamenting contribu-
tors personally know Of the life of those States
Did they ever go deer-hunting or moose-hnnt-
ing: ever take part in squirrel-hunt, or even
"turkey-shoot''? Didthey ever see militia
muster; ever observe with wonder that old-time
miracle of armed display, ga Corvallis?
Gwen Lowells Hosea Bigelow is obliged to
own that "there is fun to Cornwallis.') Did
they ever go to husking-party, or a hop pick
ing, or 'sugaring-off'' or attend lumber
mans ball, at the close of the season? ('The
things they don't do and say at one O. them
balls" said Maine stage-driver once to me,
faint worth thinkin ofl'0 Did they ever join
party going down the Merrimack to the salt
marshes for hay, in ''gundalow;" or a Sails
bury Beach 'camping-out;" or party to ex-
plore the "glen" by torchlight, at Stockbridge,
or to go through "purgatory' in the same way
at Sutton? Did they ever visit those innumer-
able picnic grounds now distributed over all
New England for summer pleasuring, and so
we'll equipped for innocent amusement; or OBJ
serve how the world of merry-makers has grad
ually overfowed the camp-meeting ground at
Marthas Vineyard; or spend day at the
thronged watering-places OF Narragansett Bay,
Rocky Point in particular, where from one to
five thousand chance visitors go to dine daily,
and may be seen whirling in the dance hour
after hour as busily as if they were born Ger
mans? Do not these critics know that half
New England lies within easy reach of the At
lantic shore, and that from every part of that
shore gay sailing parties are putting forth or
returning at almost every hour of day or night
all summer long? Do they not know that all
the interior of New England is threaded by the
Connecticut River, and that score of the in
land villages have been Tor many years the ira
ditional centres of cultivated and agreeable So
ciety? If you wish to see what Lenox and
Stockbridge are and were, read the Life and
Letters of Miss Sedgwick or, for Northampton
read the charming memoirs OF Mrs. Lyman.
Was Greenfield morose and dull under the long
sway of that monarch of wit and song, George
Davis? Town after town comes up to the
memory of any man of large social experience,
any one of which refutes this dismal theory.
OF course no power can ever transmute Anglo
= ...Na Nlah H. e
nor is it desirable that it should. Froissart
wrote long before puritanism, and even he de-
scribed the English people as enjoying them
selves sadly according to their custom; but L
doubt if there is any rural region where people
OF unmixed English blood now find life more
cheerful, on the whole, than in the country
towns OF New England One of your CORE
spondents puts in good word for Maryland;
but myself know something of the country
life OF Virginia before the war; and am sure
that one missed, especially in winter, the zest
and variety offered in q more Northern zone.
Contributors Club, June Atlantic.