The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-08-26
BAR HARBOR.
1ES

gs BAR HARBOR. E-f
The attraction of Bar Harbor is in
the union of mountain and sea; the
mountains rise in granite majesty right
out of the ocean.
The genesis of Bar Harbor is curious
and instructive For many years, like
other settlements on Mount Desert Is
land, it had been frequented by people
who have more fondness for nature than
they have money. and who were willing
to put up with wretched accommoda-
tons, and enjoyed wild sort of rough
ing it" But some society people in New
York, who have the reputation of setting
the mode, CHANGED 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 its pre-eminent at
fractions. The word was passed along
by the Boudoir Telephone from Boston
to New Orleans, and soon it was mat
ter of necessity for a debutdnte, or
woman offashion, or a man of the world,
or 6taSe boy, to show themselves there
during the season. 1t became the scene
of summer romances; the student of
manners went there to study the '.Amer-
lean Girl" The notion spread that it
was the finest sanitarium on the conti-
nent for fiirtations; and as 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 a weary, hot day on
the coast railway of Maine. Notwith-
standing the high temperature the coun-
try seemed cheerless, the sunlight to fall
less genially than in more fertile regions
to the south, upon a landscape stripped
of its 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 enliv-
ened the scene, the spray dashing over
the huge pile of baggage on the bow,
the passengers shivered, and could little
enjoy the islands and the picturesque
shore, but fixed eyes of hope upon the
electric lights which showed above the
headlands, and marked the site of the
hotels and the town in the hidden har-
Dor. Spits of rain dashed in their
faces, and in some discomfort they
came to the wharf, which was alive with
vehicles and tooters for the hotels In
short, with its lights and noise, it had
every appearances of being an import
ant place, and when our party, holding
on to their seats in blackboard, were
whirled at gallop up to Rodick's, and
ushered into spacious office swarm
ing with people, they realized that they
were entering upon n lively if some
what hap-hazard life. The first con-
fused impression was of bewildered
number of slim, pretty girls, nonchalant
young fellows in lawn-tennis suits, and
Indefinite opportunities in the halls and
parlors and wide piazzas for prone
nades and firtations.
Rodick's is Il sort of big boarding
house, hesitating whether to be hotel
or not; no bells in the room, no bills of
fare Cor rarely one), no wine list, 60
as-you-please, help-yourself sort of place,
which is popular because 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 q sort of assem-
bly-room, where new arrivals are
scanned and discovered, and it is I'M
blushingly called the 'fish-pond' by
the young ladies who daily angle there.
Bar Harbor was indeed an interest
ing society study. Except in some of
the cottages, it might be said that So
ciaty was on lark With all the man.
ners of the world and the freemasonry
Of fashionable life, it had elected 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, ifthere were
any dress-coats on the island, they took
pains not 10 display them, but delighted
in appearing in the evening prone
made, and even in the ballroom, in the
nondescript suits that made them so
conspicuous IN the morning, the favorite
being a dress of stripes, with striped
jockey cap to match, that did not sug-
gest the penitentiary uniform. because
in State-prisOns the stripes run round.
This megttge costume was adhered TO
even in the ballroom. To be sure, the
ballroom was little freGuented, only an
adventurous couple now and then glid-
ing over the floor, and af1ording scant
amusement to the throng gathered on
the piazza and about the open windows.
Mrs. Montrose. stately dame of the
old school, whose standard was the
court in the days of Calhoun, Clay, and
Webster, disapproved of this laxity, and
when couple of young fellows in
striped array one evening whirled
round the room together, with brier
wood pipes in their mouths, she was
scandalized. If the young ladies shared
Ter sentiments, they made no resolute
protests, remembering perhaps the
scarcity of young men elsewhere, and
thinking that it is better to be loved by
a Iawn-tennis suit than not to be loved
at all. The daughters of Mrs. Mont
rose thought they should draw the line
on the brier-wood pipe Charles Dud-