Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-10-03
THE THOUSAND ISLES.
PICTURES OF COTTAGE LIFE ON
 THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER.

Visiting and Marketing in Dainty Skifs-A
 Religious Park Where the Laws Are
 strict-Pretty Glimpses of River Life.
 Young Lovers.
 Nowhere is life so unconventional. so cos mopolitan, so picturesque, fresh and delight ful as in the pretty, quaint cottages which crest the cliffs, crown the islands and line the shores of the St. Lawrence from Clayton to Alexandria bay. The inhabitants of this water girt city are birds of passage that come with the daisies and depart with the golden rod, and hold continuous high carnival and perpetual holiday. They perch their pic turesque cottages on the craggiest of crags, chain them down to the rocks if nesu be, hook on to them tipsy little porticos and fly away balconies all fringed with fretwork as a lady's kerchief is bordered with lace deco rate them with all the brilliant hues known to the painters craft, spell out tho fantastic names with which they are Christened, ''Neh Mahbin," "Wawinet," Sans SOuci,n "Liu- hthgow, "Cloud Rest" and thousand more on the bastions of rock for the information of every passing tourist, 6inging wide to the wild breeze yards on yards of bunting, array themselves in the most pictu- esque of app4re!, and troop down to meet every boat with R kaleidoscopic scene of brilliancy, illupine tho river at night for miles and miles With chains of colored lights, and greet every passing steamer with whiz of rockets and galaxy of colored stars.
 COSTLY SUMMER VILLAS.
 Near Alexandria bay, where the largest and gaycst hotels are located clusters con- stellatlon of costly summer villas, in beauty of architectural design, ricLaeS3 of aCorn- Inent and elegance of appointments equaling the most luxurious of modern residences. Their owners, people of wealth and social eminence, have here constructed little city of their own, with all citys coaveniences and some of its discomforts Ed d,ewood Park, the most exclusive and conservative resort on the river, the Hollywood of the St. Lawrence, Is adjacent to tho bay and a social center for the islanders The mag nificent club house blazes with beauty and brilliancy every night, and is crowded with pretty dancers. The wealth and display of equipage seen at some resorts is here re- placed by the elegance of river craft, the daintiest skitfs, the swiftest sailing boats and best appointed steam yachts. The peo- pie live, move and have their being call, shop, and entertain their friends in boats. Whether they go to market or to reception it is in the same floating vehicle, and all goods purchased arc delivered i'll skiffs. Fancy your butcher coming up through the sunset like Lohengrin without his swan, his paddle cleaning like slice cut from rain bow and his white apron glorlfed with iri- descent light, to bring your chops for break fast. Picture your green grocer kneeling in a canoe piled high with glowing green like q harvest god ill festal barge and your laun- drylnan coming out of the mist in q spectral boat laden to the guards with snowy linen gleaming white in the gloaming.
 The majority of people who frequent this resort are people of moderate incomes, many of them from the small northern cities and country villages in the vicinity of the river They build unpretentious, inexpensive wooden houses, paint them i'll gorgeous hues, christen them with romantic titles, drape them with bunting and decorate them with colored lamps. The interior is usually fin ished with pine in it's natural state, carpeted with cheap, bright rugs, the walls festooned with pretty dropping grasses, and bright soft draperies and cushions of scarlet Canton flannel or felt, finish the cozy little rooms Three or four hundred of these pretty sum- mer houses line the avenues of Thousand Island park, which is a typical Methodist park, neat, clean, orderly and prosperous. The code of laws of this institution is more rigidly enforced than the articles of an inter- national treaty. The naughticst slippered foot dare not tread the measure of waltz or polka in the hotol parlorS, and the merriest of maidens must remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" The main articles of social diet here are religion, excursions and Irritation. Piety is served up ill all sorts of ways, with all kinds of sauce and all manner of seasoning, with little entrees of missionary work and relishes of temperance.
 EXCURSIONS WITHOUT NUMBER.
 Excursions are arranged to and from every wharf on the river, and at such astonishingly small rates that It is prophesied another year all people who go on an excursion will re- ceive chromo or be presented with on island. 'Lst's get up an excursion to the postoffice," shou1ed q pretty girl in a car dinal hat the mail steamer swung into port, and away they futtered, dozen of the brightest, pluIupest, Girliest girls in their brilliant dresses up the shady walk. The captains of the excursion boats seem to run them just for . joke, and will stop at oil the small wharves along the line to accommodate q single passenger. Ono small, sharp proved steamer, e-c island Nandcrer, keeps up a perpetual twice a day excursion tal'ou1hou . the season, and is always filled with q most cosmopolitan crowd.
 Around the paris ono secs tho prettiest glimpses of river lie. Here young mother is rowing e little sAiR slowly, gently c-oen- ing a soft lullaby to her baby cradiel in the bottom of tno boat and rocked to sleep by the waves; tlere 6 group of children ill scant bathing dresses and with bare legs and arms, disport in the shallow water among the r0cls, and dozen rlore of them have clambered into an old scow that is full of pretty faces as a vase is filed with flowers, and are romp- ing and tumbling about in happy unconcern as to whether tho boat capsizes or not, while a tall young girl ia sleeveless dark blue bathing dress, with Q pair of Baltimore legs" crowded into cream colored stockings, and arms as shapely and almost as white as those of the carven Venus in the Milan gal lery, swinas slowly round and round them, with her handsome blonde head on her arm; 1 there a pair of lovers come up slowly through the sunset, looking in each others eyes
 Height on height of purple cloud waves, trimmed with silver and veined with f1re roll back in the west from a royal highway of clear, luminous opal, down which the day god sinks slowly and wearily to rest on the breast of the river. White hands of foam lift up to welcome him, and the rivers bosom rises and falls and throbs to meet him. In