The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1886-11-27
70 1892 ISLES!"
Though They Are Generally Called
1.-THE Thousand Isles"
A World OF Examinations, Fireworks and
Patent Medicine Advertisements-A
Practical Minded Poet and An
Enthusiastic Fisherman.

The evening was dark and the navi.
CATION in the tortuous channels some.
times difficult, and might have been
dangerous but for the lighthouses.
The steamer crept along in the shad-
ows of the low islands, making fire.
quent landings and never long out of
sight of the Examinations of hotels and
cottages. Possibly by aso of these
Examinations this passage has more
variety by night than by day. There
was certainly a fascination about this
alternating brllliancy and gloom. On
nearly every island there was at least
q cottage, and on the larger islands
were great hotels, camp-meeting es-
Adjustments and houses and tents for
the entertainment of thousands of peo-
pie. Late as it Wa in the season,
most Of the temporary villages and
solitary lodges were Illuminated, col
ored lamps were set about the grounds,
Chinese lanterns hung in the ever
greens, and on half a dozen lines radi-
ating from the belfry Of the hotel to
the ground, while all the windows
blazed and scintillated. Occasionally as
the steamer passed these places of IT.
reprcssible gayety rockets were let oil.
Bcngal-lights were burned, and once a
cannon attempted to speak the Joy of
the sojourners. 1t was like a con-
linued Fourth of July. During the
months Of July and August this broad
river, with its fantastic islands, is at
night simply a highway of glory. The
w%orldlingS and the camp-meeting gath
erings vie with each otherin the display
of rolored lights and fireworks. And
such places as the Thousand Islands
Park, Wellesley and Wesley Parks, and
so on, twinkllng with lamps and rosy
with pyrotcchnics, like sections of the
sky dropped upon the earth, create in
the mind Of the steamer pilgrim an in
describable earthly and heavenly en-
element. He does not look upon these
displays rs advertisements of rival re-
sorts, but as generous contributions to
the h"ilarity Of the world.
1t is, indeed. q marvellous spectacle,
this view for thirty or forty miles, and
the simple traveller begins to realize
what American enterprise is when it
lays itself out for pleasure. These
miles and miles Of cottages, hotels,
parks and camp-mcctings are the ere
alton of only a few years, and proba-
bly, can scarcely be paralleled else
where in the world for rapiditv of
growth. But the strongest impression
the traveller has is Of the public spirit
OF these summer s%ojourncrs, specula-
tors and religious enthusiasts. No
man lives to himself alone, or builds
his cottage for his selfish qualification.
He makes fantastic carpentry, and
paints and dccoratcs and Eliminates
and shows fireworks, for the genuine
Of display. One marvels that a
person should come here for rest and
pleasure in y spirit Of such devotion TO |
the public veal. and devote himself
after night for months to illum-
mating his house and lighting up his
and tearing open the sky with
rockets and shaking the air with pow
der explosions, in order that the river
may be continually en- Jete. $50"
If Alexandria Bay was less enchaat-
ing as a spectacle by daylight, it was
still exceedingly lovely and picturesque;
islands and bays and winding water
could not be better combined for
and the structures that taste or
ambition has raised on the islands and
points are well enough in keep
Ing with the general holiday aspect
One of the prettiest of these cottages
is the Bonnicastlc of the late DR.. Hol-
land, whose spirit more or less per-
vadcs this region. 1t is charmingly