Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1883-08-02

HOW THEIR POPULARITY AND THEIR PROS
pfkITY is DESTROYED.
Prom the Natiou.l

Prom the >ation.l
Nothing is more remark able in the history
of American summerlng than the number
of new resorts which are discovered and
taken possession Of by 1.-THE city people" ev-
cry wear, the rapid increase in the means Of
transportation both TO The mountains and
the sea. and the steady encroachmrnts OF
the Cottager on the Boarder IN all the more
desirable resorts We called attention to
this subject last year, and 1t every year
grows IN importance. The growth of the
American watering place, indeed, now
seems TO he much regulated by law as the
growth of asparagus or strawberries and l.
almost as easy to foretell. The place is usu-
ally first discovered BY artists IN search Of
sketches, or by family of small means In
search of pure air. and milk fresh from the
COW. and llberiy-not 10 say license-in the
matter Of dress. Its development then be-
gin, b, the neighborlng farmer agreeing
To take them 10 board-a thing he has ne,er
done before and does nov unwllllngly, and
he is very uncertain what to charge for H.
But at venture he fixes what seems to him
an enormous sum-say - To 81 a week for
each adult His ideas about food for cIty
people are. however. very vague. The only
thing about their tastes Of which he feels
certain Is that what they seek IN the country
is, above all things, change. and that they
sccurding, do not desire What they get at
home. Accordingly he furnishes them with
u complete set of novelties IN the matter Of
food and drink, forgetting, however. that
they might have got them at home II they
pleased. The tea and coffee and bread diff
fer from what they used TO At home sim
ply in being worse. He i, too, at the sea
side, very apt to put them on an exclusively
tish GIet, IN the belief that II is only people
who live by the who get fish, and that
CITY people weary Of meat. must be longing
for hsh. The boaTdtrs, this first summer
having persuaded him 10 take them are Of
course too modest 10 demonstrate. or even
To hint. and 20 on 10 the end eating what is
set before them. and pretending to be thank
ful, aud try to keep up their failing strength
by being a great deal in the open air. ana
admlring the scenery. After they leave. he
is apt TO be astonished BY the amount Of
cash he finds himself possessed Of. probably
more than he ever handled before at one
time, except when he mortgaged his farm,
and comes to the conclusion that taking sum
mer boarders Is an excellent thing, and
worth cultiyating.
In the next stage he seeks them, and per
haps is embroidered BY the advice Of some
body to advertise the place, and try to yet
hold Of some editors or ministers whose
names he can use as references, and Who
will talk ii up. He soon secures one Or two
of each, and they then tell him that his
house is frequented by intellectual or "cul-
tured" people; and he becomes more elated
and more enteEprlsing, enlarges the dining
room, adds on a wing, relieves his wife Of
the cooking by hiring woman in the near
est town, and gives more meat and stronger
coffee and little by little, grows into no.
tel-keeper, with All office and a register His
neighbors startled by his success, follow his
example, it may be only iongo interraVo,
and soon the place becomes regular ire
sort" with girls and boys in white flannel.
lawn-tennls (which succeeds croquet.l liz
ery stable, stages, an lce-cream store with
soda water fountain, a new church, and
with strange names taken out of books for
the ne ghboring hills, and lanes, and brooks.
This stage may last for years-ln some
places it has been known to last thirty Or
forty without any change beyond the opening
of new hotels-and il becomes marked by
crowds of people who 90 back every year In
the character of old boarders, get the best
rooms and are on familiar terms of friend
ship with the proprietor and the older wait
er girls. But it may be brought to a close.
and is now being brought TO close in scores
of American watering places. by the appear
ance of the Cottager, who has be come to the
Boarder what the red squirrel is to the gray,
a ruthless invader and extermlnator. The
first Cottager is almost always Boarder, SO
that there is no means of discovering His
approach and resisting his advances. In
nine cases out Of ten he is simple guest at
the farm house or the hotel, without any
discoverable airs or pretenslons, on whom
the scenery makes such an impression that
he quietly buys lot with fine view The
next year he builds cottage ON ii, and grad
ually and it may be at first lmperceptibly,
separates himself in feeling and in standards
from his fellow -boarders. The year after he
is in the cottage, and the mischief is done
The change has come. Caste has been es-
taslshed, with all its attendant evils. The
community, once so simple and homogen-
eous, is now divided into two classes, one Of
which looks down on the other. More cot
tages are built, with trim lawns and private
lawn-tennis grounds. with "shandy -gatf" and
.stennis cup concealed on tables in tents.
Then the dog-cart with the groom in buck
skin and boots, the Irish red setter, the sad
die horse with the banged tail, the phaeton
with the two ponies, the young men in
knickerbockers carrying imported racquets.
the girls with the banged hair, the club,
ostensbly for newspaper reading, but really
for secret fixes and soda-cocktails, make
their appearance, with numerous other mon
archical excrescences. The original farmer,
whose pristine board was the beginning of
all this, has probably by this time sold
enough land to the Cottagers to enable him
to give up taking boarders and keeping
hotel and is able to stay in bed like gen
tleman most Of the winter, and sit on a
bench in his shirtsleeves all summer.
Very soon the Boarder, unable to put up
with the growing haughliness Of the Gotta
ger, and with exclusion from his entertain
ments, withdraws silently and unobtrusive-
Is from the scenes he once enjoyed so much,
to seek out another unsophisticaied farmer,
and begin once more, probably when well Of,
in life, with hope and strength abated. the
heavy work Of opening up another watering
place and developing its resources. The ST.
lent suffering there is in this process, which
may be witnessed to-day in hundreds Of the
mont hs4atifal spoas in America. probably