Morning journal and courier., 1886-07-29
liar HAFhOr.
[Charles Dudley Warner in Harper's Magaz

| ECharles Dudley Warner in Harpers Magazine for August
 l The attraction of Bar Harbor is in the un- 1 ion of mountain and sea; the mountains rise
 in granite majesty right out of the ocean. l The genesis of Bar Harbor is curious and | instructive. For many years, like other set l dement's of Mount Desert Island, it has been | frequented by people who have more fond l ness for nature than they have money, and | who were willing to put up with wretched | accommodations and enjoyed wild sort of
 ''roughing it." But some society people in New York, who have the reputation of set 1 ting the mode, chanced to go there; they de- clared in favor of it. and instantly, by an occult law which governs fashionable life, | Bar Harbor became the fashion. Everybody could see it's pre-eminent attractions The word was passed along by the Boudoir tele- phone from Boston to New Orleans, and soon it was matter of necessity for debutante, or 8 woman of fashion, or a man of the world, or blase boy, to show themselves there during the season. It became the scene of summer romances; the student of man ners went there to study the American Girl" The notion spread that it the finest sanitarium on the continent for firta- tions and trade is said to follow the flag, so in this case real estate speculation rioted in the wake of beauty and fashion.
 Our tourists passed 8 weary, hot day on the coast railway of Maine. Notwithstand
 ing the high temperature the country seemed cheerless, the sunlight to fall less genially than in more fertile regions to the south, upon landscape stripped of it's forests, naked and unpicturesque.
 They were plunged into cold bath on the steamer in the half-hour's sail. from the end of the rail to Bar Harbor. The wind was fresh, white caps enlivened the scene, the spray dashed over the huge pile of baggage on the bow, the passengers shivered and could little enjoy the islands and the picrur- esque shore, but fixed eyes of hope upon the electric lights which showed above the head lands and marked the site of the hotels and the town in the hidden harbor. Spits of rain dashed in their faces and in some discomfort they came to the wharf, which was alive with vehicles and touters for the hotels In short with it's lights and noise it had every appearance of being an important place. and when our party, holding to their seats in blackboard, were whirled at gallop up to Rodick's and ushered into a spacious office swarming with people, they realized that they were entering upon lively if some what haphazard life. The first confused impression wes of bewildering number of slim, pretty girls, nonchalant young fellows in lawn-tennis suits, and indefinite opportu- mites in the halls, parlors and wide piazzas for promenades and firtations.
 Rodicks is sort of big boarding house, hesitating whether to be hotel or not: no bells in the rooms no bills of fare Cor rarely one), no wine list, go as you please, help yourself sort of place, which is popular be- cause it has its own character and everybody drifts into it first or last. Some say it is an acquired taste; that people do not take to it at first. The big office is 8 sort of assem- bly-room, where new arrivals are scanned !; io Lad the fish pond" by the young ladies who daily angle there.
 Bar Harbor was indeed an interesting so- ciety study Except in some of the cottages it might be said that society was on lark. With all the manners of the world and the Freemasonry of fashionable life it had elect ed to be unconventional. The young ladies liked to appear in nautical and lawn tennis toilet, carried so far that one might refer to the ''cut of their jib," and their minds were not much given to any elaborate dressing for evening. As to the young gentlemen, if there were any dress coats on the island they took pains not to display them, but delighted in appearing in the evening promenade, and even in the ballroom, in the nondescript suits that made them so conspicuous ln the morning, the favorite being dress of stripes with striped jockey cap to match, that did not suggest the penitentiary uniform, be- cause in State prisons the stripes run round. This neglige costume was adhered to even in the ballroom. To be sure the ballroom was little frequented, only an adventurous couple now and then gliding over the floor, and af- fording scant amusement to the throng gath cred on the piazza and about the open win dows. Mrs. Montrose, stately dame of the old school, whose standard was the court in the days of Calhoun, Clay and Webster, dis approved of this laxity, and when couple of young fellows in striped array one even