The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1885-07-23


| forenoon into which the light was streaming
through heaTt-shaped apertures cut In the closed
shutters, Our hosts official dignity Of Justice Of
the peace and Of the quorum was delicately hint
| ed by volume Of the Revised Statutes OF 1910
| standing upright upon table on which the mag
istrate's arm rested. The widest dreams Of my
ambition never whispered the possibility that the
responsibility of editing the fourth revision Of
that awful volume tmpended over me. The slant
ray Of silver coffin plates OF deceased children and
| parents gllttering all along the white mantel-
piece, like the jewels that the unlucky Clarence
dreamed of in the skulls that grinned on him from
the bottom of ST. Georges channel
In 1850 removed to Lewiston Falls and was
absent there and In Turkey for IL years, but
| managed to find time for an occasional nautical
expedition during every year that l remained on
this side of the Atlantic, Visiting the St. Georges
the Medomak, and in 1856 Mt Desert, sailing
around the island. On those voyages / put into
Waldoboro, New Harbor, Round Pond, Browns
Cove, Herring Gut, Rockland, Camden, the Fox
Island ThOrOughfare, Deer Island ThOroughfare,
the various harbors on Mt. Desert, penetrated
Somes' Sound, Frenchman's Bay, and visited Ellis
worth, Bluehill, Eggemoggin Reach, Castine, Pen
ObSe0t Bay and ThOmastOn.
While ploughing the blue waters Of the Sea Of
MarmOra, or the dark waves of the Black Sea, or
borne over the tideless waters of the blue Bos-
phorus, or the placid bosom OF the Golden HOrn
the splendors of Stamboul, its towers Its mnarets
Its palaces groves and ivy-crowned castles never
dimmed my recOllections OF the beloved shores
and waters and islands of my native coast, and
do not hesitate to say that taking all in ALL have
never either on the European or Asiatic con-
tinent, fairer bay than our own island-studded
Casc0. Indeed may, with clear conscience,
borrow the very language of Goldsmith's Tray-
eIer:
"Where'er roam, whatever land see
My heart untrammeled fondly turns to thee
Still to its birth place turns, with fingered pain
And drags, at each remove, lengthening chain. ,
1t seemsItO be part of universal human ex-
perience that the dwellerS by the sea and on
mountains feel the highest and warmest affection
The patriotic instincts of the Swiss are pro
verbal, and how fresh and modern and natural
sounds the fond aspiration Of 1.-THE wandering
Ulysses as when he thought of his native Ithaca,
as recorded by Homer thirty-Seven centuries ago.
ITO see the smoke from my loved palace rise,
While the dear isle in distant prospect lies,
With what contentment would close my eyes,"
In 1867 returned to Portland and for the next
sixteen years made innumerable voyages, visit
ing almost every imaginable bay, harbor, creek,
revisited Bar Harbor, Somes' Sound, &C.. which
has been my last extended sail.
In 1870 | made my only Western voyage of
nearly three weeks, touching at Biddeford Pool,
Cape POrpoise, Portsmouth, Hampton Beach,
Pigeon Cove, Salem, Scituate and Plymouth
From Plymouth we stood across to Province
| town, forty miles over Cape Cod Bay, and thence
we sailed hOmeward along the inside of the Cape,
touching at Wellfeet, Sandwich, Barnstable, and
From Plymouth 1 sailed in one day to New
castle, n H., at the mouth Of the Piscataqua, 90
miles, the entire parallel OF 42o north latitude and
At Barnstable we encountered John Allen hold
| ing his 230 oddth campme citing, who espying us,
bhbhOiy nAOooCu uo loA lldNClAiS ou AdA W uCdI
him preach.
In 1864, on my return to America, 1 found my
worthy old friend Harlow dead, and the Laurel, as
| if In sympathy, in rather bad way, so bought
her and have her yet. She dates as far back as
the State, being So years old: estimate that
have sailed at least 10000 miles in small boats, of
which $4,000 has been in the Laurel. have
never met with serious accident, and
never any at all save through my own care
lessness, and feel as safe in her as when driving
| my family horse in the country; although doubt
not that am much more indebted for my safety
| to the kindness of Providence than to any prti-
| dence or skill of my own.
| In its infancy yachting encountered several se-
/ we're discouragements. In September 1910, dur
ing the visit Of several United States war vessels,
| the Banner was capsized near York's Landing, in
Hog Island roads, and several young ladies of Mr..
| PettengllPs family, who were in the euddy, were
| drowned.
Again, late in the fall of 1861. a sloop boat was
upset at Diamond Cove, and Mr.. Ford, formerly OF
Auburn, very worthy young merchant and sew
l eral others perished
With those exceptions it is believed that very
few accidents have happened in our waters and 1
am inclined to believe that on the whole sailing
| has proved as safe as riding in this vicinity.
Our yachtsmen have always been remarkably
temperate, upright, enterprlsing and estimable
class OF citizens, and know no organization who
/ are their SuperiOrs.
If the list Of those who have sailed in the Lau-
rel since 1920 could be rescued from oblivion, 1t
would contain many tens of thousands of our first
men and women, among them most of the eminent
citizens OF Portland, in all departments Of busi-
ness. art literature, politics and in the professions
/ Gentlemen, congratulate you on your past sue
| cesses, and especially on your admirable boat
| house, and on your brilliant prospects
Judge Haskell was next called upon and
| responded in happy manner He referred
to the natural love of the people of noun
famous and sea-coast districts for their
places. After complimenting the enter
prise of the club in erecting their ele-
| CANT quarters he said that it afforded him
much qualification to know that visitors here
from other places, and especially those who
come in yachts, will find our young men in
bued with a strong interest in healthy sports
and provided with suitable headquar-
tiers where they can receive visitors and af-
ford them comforts and conveniences. Az
ter pleasant illusions to Judge Goddard's re-
| marks and his trips in the Laurel, Judge
Haskell closed his speech by again eongrat-
ulating the club and thanking them for their
kind invitation to him.
Mr.. George f. Rand followed and gave
some interesting facts concerning yachtsmen
and their clubs both here and in other places
with which subject he became familiar
during long service as secretary of the
Portland club. The Portland Yacht Club
was organized in 1869 and although
1 Aeo hhOhiOOAoAAAP bCCu dlSt, tut
| receipts have always exceeded the expendi-
tures,-a fact to which is attributed the
erection of the present building Many
| prominent people have been members of this
| club and a large proportion of them retain
their membership now that their yachting
days are, over. Although in former days
larger yachts have been owned by members
of the club, the association has never been in
a more prosperous condition than at present
with membership of about 200 and 2S or 90
| yachts enrolled. Since the commencement
of the new building, some 25 or 80 names
have been added to the list of members.
Mayor Deering rendered his eongratula-
tions to the club and referred to the advan-
tages of Casco Bay as yachting ground.
Collector Dow and Captain Lay humorous
ly described boyish exploits as amateur
| yachtsmen, evoking considerable merriment
| Ex-Mayor Senter then spoke briefly, and
| the meeting adjourned, those present separ-
ating after an exceedingly pleasant evening,
and leaving behind them warm wishes for
| the future success and prosperity of this
| representative institution.