The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1879-09-06
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
"MorIcy's'' Letters from New York.
THOUSAND ISLANDS, August 20, 1879
"LoTus LAND

"MorIcy's, LeIters from New York.
THOUSAND ISLANDS, August 20, 1879
"LoTUs LAND"
have fonnd Lotus Land at last tho land |
Of dreamy lorgotfuncss Of all the toll and tur-
moil and multiplied cares of the great bust
ling world between whose shores we float
and sing, fish and sleep amid the wondrous
beauties of this vast archipelago. We forget, |
among these islands, the fretting incidents,
the crushing burdens Of yesterday family
the thought comes to us as we write, perehed
on iutting rock, at whose foot the green st.
Lawrence waters gently break, that once we
knew other men and other scenes ;--almost
we have to pinch ourselves to realize that
there are loved ones waiting our return, busi-
ness that soon will be crying for our care, yul-
gar dollars and cents to be counted-or scram-
blcd for. Every day is a separate age every
moment is full of calm. delicious restfulness
every scene brings new and varied beauties
to our delighted eyes, and every one Of you,
dear readers, will accuse of hyperbole every
narrator of the simple truth concerning these
islands until you have been here and seen and
felt for yourselves,
Many tourists rush through in true Ameri-
can style on big steamer, drop the morning
paper or latest novel just long enough to
! glance over the rail at Il pretty vista Of chan
mel or cozy island home, and think they have
seen the Thousand Islands just as we spend
! fifteen mortal minutes In "dOing" the Louvre,
| or st. Peters or the galleries at Milan. But
whoever does that here tramples under giddy
| (if not swines) foot the richest pearls which
OmnipOtence ever polished to throw at the
feet of man.
confess to a disappointment in my first
view from the deck of the mail steamer from
Clayton. She rushed along the main chan
mel past points and coves and islands, large
and small, but too distant to display
their wild and varied beauty. A cold storm
was coming on and l stood shiverlng in an
overcoat and cross-legged to keep my knees
warm at noon, while the noon before l had
trod the hot pavements of Wall street mop
ping my reeking brows under dog day sky
That weather was exceptional, however, and
while it is never hot-to us Gothamites-it
has been generally about like early June in
Now York.
To really know what the Thousand Islands
are, you must come here for at least week
put up at a good hotel; hire a boat for the
term Of your stay, and then paddle, paddle
paddle in and out these beautiful coves and
bays across aud through these winding and
rock-bound channels and visit island andpre
IN ontory and cliff you must float slowly ovei
this clearest Of all water, and see the vas
! aquarium beneath your keel, where four, six
eight feet down through the green sparkling
river is such an underwater garden as YOU
widest fancy never dared to picture on God'i
foot stool. The fora of the river-bed is mos
luXuriant and beautiful now you look down
: upon moses Of a hundred rich varieties, nov
on ferns, again on grasses that look like coral
and then on tall waving weeds that reach vi
almost to the waters surface and nod wei
come to your oar-blaie Just above their heads
Among these lovely gardens roam counties
hsh, and in the high weeds hides the swf
pickerel waiting the approach of timer fsl
t at whom he darts and makes breakfast n
: one snap of his wide jaws. The diversity o
: scenery under water is only equalled by tina
Of the islands themselves. We have been ou
=, every day for nearly two weeks and seen some
thing new every time.
THIS MAGNIFICENT ARCHIPELAGO
of the thousand Islands stretches along fort
miles on the broad bosom of the st. Lawrenc
e River, which here has an average width O
! four or five miles. There are by actual coun
| 22+O of the islands, varying in size from hal
p an acre to nine miles in length. In man
places they lie so thick that neither mai
shore is visible from the middle of the river
and in very few places are both shores fl
sight at once; the channels winding in an,
+ out between them most fantastlcally. Fish
: ing is good and abundant. Pickcrol ar
: caught in immense numbers, and grace you
, table fresh from the river every day. Welles
ly Island is nine miles long and two to fou
> miles wide, or almost as large Il
' New York City. At the upper end, larg
. tract has been erected into camp-meetin
- ground on the Ocean Grove plan. and it
called Thousand Island Park. Here the mis-
erly thrift the association has led them t
impose a contemplate entrance fee of fiftee
cents. At the foot ofthe island and dlrectl
opposite Alexandra Bay, lies Wcstmluste
! Park, by far the best location in the ThOusan
s Islands. 1t is owned by a Presbyterian assC
c citation and, like Thousand Island Park, ex
/ cludes the liquor traffic entirely, has no bi
Hard or bar-room, and thus ensures the absenc
: keep at respectful distance.
Here is n good hotel--the Park House, kep
= by a courteous and obliglng host, Mr.. II. +
- Steele, whore you can get board for ten do
/ lars week, and be under the watchrul eye O
q Kellogg. who's Kelloggp
Kellogg is rG avtS-a phenomenon /
=, the hotel world-a being in daily danger {
II being captured by Barnum, for Kellogg is
. courteous hotel clerk, and this l say with
c full sense ofmy responsibility to society fu
Y proper use OF English terms. Come in wit
o a cracked knee, wet jacket or an aching head
,, wake up in the night dreaming that you wan
something or anything from postage STAN
- to a rare beefsteak, and there stands the smi
II ing and ubiquitous Kellogg, whose intuitio
II has anticipated every want and proved hil
S the man in the gap every time
n Westminster Park can be reached by boa
# from Cape Vincent or Clayton to Alexandri
. Bay, and thence by ferry 1t is laid out fc
an extensive park and many cottages are "a
ready erected. 1t is only in its second yes
and growing rapidly.
LAKE WITHIN A RIVER,
and an island within an island are indee
curious freaks of Mother Nature, but such
" phenomenon oxis close to Westminster Par
e where you enter bya narrow channel, glrt /
e high ellis, into the Lake Of the Island"
?. Lowell! sheet orwater some three miles Ion
e and nearly a mile wide, in which are nun
10 bcroflittle islands; while both shores Of III
lake have denscly wooded hills intersperse
at long intervals with scruJby little farm
The fora Of the bed Of this lake is lovely b
Is yond description, and is In plain view belo
IF your boat over almost its entire length, so TIA,
n You are actually sailing upon a mognlhccl
.e aquarium of miles in extent, whose bed h.
!, rarer and more luxuriant combinations
beauty than any ever constructed blythe har
Of man. Think of such a sight? Breath
y there a man with soul so dead that it wou
Is not burst into enthusiasm over such an e
N pericnce? But am not half through-na
,e not hundrcdth part have | told you, vet
-, am admonishod that If do not '.cut It shor
your SCISSORS will
u Tomorrow we descend the Rapids to Mo
'e trcal, and your next "Morley's Letter fro
III New York; tDHi be from New York.
e. AIORIFY