The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-10-03
SUNNI or in Casco Bay.
BY ADAM NEwBEGIN.

mellow, one of the lost days of summer
comes to us in the autumn, it seems more
charming than all the fair sisterhood of sum
mer days that came in their season, and the
many deserted cottages that we see, whose
occupants have gone back to town, only re.
mind US of our good fortune in securing still
another glorious day of our short northern
summer. The cold, wet days of the past
months have also left us the boon of grass
still green in the fields, and foliage scarcely
changed A few patches of red and yellow
are seen in the trees, and the alder berries
are red in the hedgerows; but summer still
fingers.
Any one can sea, from the increased num-
Der of cottages on all the islands, that the
people of Portland have not neglected their
opportunities this year, and already the
builders are making estimates for still lar
ger number of new ones next season. If
next year is to be cholera year, as is pre-
dicted, many prudent father will congratu-
late himself in having secured safe refuge
from the pestilence, and many a thoughtless
one will grieve that he cannot ge: his chill
dren away from the city to some place where
they can have pure air, clean sea water and
fresh earth.
With pure air Portland is well favored, yet
if our readers could stand with us Oh clear
morning and see the dull mist that hangs
over the city, they would have their doubts,
especially when the weekly death rate runs
up from ten to twenty-five, as it sometimes
does in early September.
The sea water in the fore~river is probably
not unhealthy, although it is very foul now
that we have SO much sewage flowing into
it, but il is very different from that of for
mer days, Before the marginal ways were
built the water in Back Cove was as clean as
anyone could wish for bathing, and the water
on the harbor front was as pure and clear as
the deep blue sea.
The Importance of fresh earth to dwell
upon is not SO much appreciated, but it is
equally important and harder to secure.
Earth hides and takes up impurities for a
long time, but when it is fully saturated it
can only give them back again. Witness the
odor from the trenches when the streets are
opened. A friend in New York tells me
that when the streets are opened near his
residence his family suffer from malarial
fever. After the frosts come there is no
more trouble from this source, but in the
heats of summer the danger is by no means
to be despised. When living in town we do
not notice the exhalations, but when we
come up from the islands in the warm
weather the city smells are quite percepti.
BILE. In the same way we do not not CO that
our cottagers are getting tanned, but our
city visitors look pale.
1t is gratifying to know that with the long
coast line of Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, the
lower bay and the islands, we have unlimit-
ed room for cottagers for many years to
come, SO that the poor as well as the rich
may enjoy the privileges. Doubtless as
Mount Desert and Old Orchard become
more crowded, residents of large cities will
find in Casco Bay the quiet retreats which
they seek; but they will take the more
expensive lots on Cushing's Island,
the Cape shore and Falmouth Foreside,
while our own people of more moderate
means will build on the islands where the
hourly steamboats, can take them quickly
aud economically to their business.
The boats have done an enormous business
this year, but the rate of travel, two cents a
mile, has been SO cheap that one company
has found itself bankrupt. Yet the business
has only begun. There must be large BUSH
ness in the future for small boats at numer-
GUS landings on the lower islands.
To those who propose building next spring
we offer the advice that they have their
cottages clapboarded. Cold days come early,
and sometimes they come in the summer,
and many family is driven home earlier
than is agreeable by the wind coming in too
searchingly through the thin sides of the
cottage. 1t is good plan, also, to lay in a
plentiful supply of coal and wood in
the spring to last through the season. A
favorable bargain can be made TO transport
the seasons supply, but it is worrysome and
difficult to get it down in little lots. The
diligence and attention with which the boat
hands transport and deliver the market sup
plies to the cottagers is worthy of great
praise. The delivery of ice ON the islands
has relieved them from specially trouble
some duty, but the number of package, of
every description which they put ashore at
each landing is curious and interesting. 1t
would not be surprising if dinner occa-
sionally went astray, but there is seldom any
complaint, and when there is it generally
arises from iegble addresses.
The marked feature of our Indian Sum-
mer days is the quietude of everything.
The boats make less frequent trips, visitors
are few, only an occasional yacht glides by,
and the boarded windows of the closed cot
tages stare vacantly at US. The most lone
some thing we see is when the crows perch
themselves on our neighbours wharf. All
the summer they have kept far enough
away, except in the early moraing, but now
that they are satisfied his place is empty
they have quietly taken possession, and
seem to be looking for stray shell fish.
The crows we have always with us, and
their loud calls are the first morning cries
we hear. They come noisily to breakfast at
the shore before the morning gun from Fort
Prebe, and before the early whistle If the
steamer. But they are not always the same
crows. Our summer crows migrate to the
southwark, ard the crows from the back
country come to our shores to spend the