Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-10
THE GAME OF NEWPORT.

THE SEASIDE RESORT A GENERATION
AGO AND NOW.
The Old Show More Moderate, Because
Money Was Not So PIentiful-But the
Same Old Gossips Yet Abide-The Coach
Parade the Chief Attraction.
There is nothing more delightful than the
gravity with which the game of Newport Is
PLAYED. To assist at one of the solemn ''func-
tons" like coach parade Is not unlike at
| tendance upon function of the ancient
church in Rome. On a true Newport after
noon, as soft and sweet and luminous an air
as can be breathed, Newport, in every kind
Of stately and comfortable and light and
graceful carriage, with the eesest horses and
the most loftily disdainful Of coachmen,
proceeds down the avenue to behold the state
ly procession along the ocean drive.
Of its kind, there is no more beautiful
drive in the world. The shore winds among
rocks which are massed, a shrewd eyed trav-
eler said, as Oh the shores of Greece. The
bold character of the coast Of Rhode Island
and its picturesque effects are wholly I'M
known upon its neighbor, Long Island. The
endless reach of sand and the monotony of
the vast level land on Long Island have
certain vague charm as Of a seashore becorn-
ing or about to become picturesque. But
that point is fully reached by its northern
neighbors of the New England coast, and the
ocean drive in Newport is in itself incompar-
able
WHERE MONEY PLAYS.
For its company on the day of a great So
cial function it is quite as Incompatible.
Hyde park, the Bots, the Cascine, the Prater,
show no such sumptuous display. II the
street boy were a philosopher, he would say,
probably, as he watched the spectacle, My
eyesl money plays here for all it is worth"
The American street boy of every degree is
not supposed to need any stronger impression
Of the value Of money than he already pos
sesses. But Newport is the great school for
that instruction, and it is open free to the
whole world. Money elsewhere has the same
instincts and desires. But in d city, in win
ter, its sports and effects, however splendid,
are divided and hidden. In summer Newport
they are concentrated under most fortunate
conditions, and proceed in the open air.
1t is all the more striking because money
has built its summer city close by and just
above one of the oldest and most historic Of
our cities. 1t has improvised its magnificence
and mad profusion upon the outskirts of sim
plicity and moderation. But that simplicity
and moderation are observant, for all their
plainness. When they were asked what effect
the new town produced upon the old, whether
the rollicking city on the hill harmed or
helped the plodding seaport, they answered:
n
fetal. But they have ruined Newport"
Perhaps not, however. The Newport on
the hill Of today is the Legitimate offspring of
the earlier summer retreat. That was a group
of the select who came to Newport to enjoy
themselves for the summer They were well
to do, some of them. But not many dwelt in
cottages The multitude lived in hotels.
They danced, they dined, they drove, they
sauntered. 1t was the green tree. 1t was
less money enjoying itself as more money en-
joys itself now. The gossip, the flirting, the
display were not of another kind, they were
the same as today, but the scale was more
limited Mrs Candour, Mrs. Malaprop, Sir
Benjamin Backbite and the brothers Surface
were already there. The standards of con-
duct, the ideals of honor were not essentially
different.
A generation ago Sir Benjamin bowed and
danced and supped at Mrs. Malaprop's ball
with ali the gay world Of that time, which is
now Ia wigs, caps, turbans, or heaven; and
the next day, dining with Mrs. Candour, Sir
Ben amin told, with infinite relish and to the
great amusement of the table, the story of
his hostess verbal trips and stumbles.
THE COACH PARADE
The gray-beards who drive out to see the
coach parade, and recall the days, before the
ocean drive, when the rocks beyond Lily
pond were glimnlering land Of Beuah, may
prattle of the golden age of Newport as of
happy past in which the gray-beards were
born; but will they seriously contend that
the age of Crcesus and Midas is not the golden
age of Newports
While they are gossping, the coaches ap-
proach. They have been through the town
and are driving out by the Fort road, and as
they appear the vast throng Of carriages
which have driven out to meet them pull to
the side of the road to allow a free course A
multitude of spectators awaiting festal pro-
cession, which at last is coming, naturally
suggests applause. But there is profound ST.
lence. There is no cheer for every spectator
to catch up and pass on. The first coach is
at hand, and gravely passes at deliberate
pace, and the great world in carriages gravely
looks on.
The second coach deliberately follows and
Is surveyed with equal gravity. The next
perhaps will strike spark of applause. But
the next passes deliberately amid a silence
profound One friend, perhaps, in the state
ly procession gravely mods to another gravely
gazing from q carriage. The function" pro-
ceeds. Far out ut sea the white sails fash, |
and the summer surf breaks gently along the
shore Every coach rolls slowly by The
moment for cheering has not yet arrived !
Indeed, il does not arrive before the pageant |
has passed and the reviewing carriages are
turning and following on in its wake. It is
truly solemn function. Graybeard recalls |
nothing like it for multitude and display in
the old drives ON ''beach days" along the
beach in what be calls the golden age. But
does he doubt that old Newport would have /
done it gladly If it could have done itl
II the ghost of Heliogabalus haunts the /
villa'd shore, it is with no hope of resuming |
the imperial crown. His court merely makes /
L pretty summer spectacle when the opera |
ends. The coach and stately equipage and |
the flashing splendor of busy id,eness are the !
pageant which is kindly displayed gratis for |
the passengers in the omnibus, for the pedes-
TRANS and the nurses. They sit and stroll /
and stare at their ease while the gay play |
proceeds before their eyes. Nowhere more |
constantly than III the summer Newport does
fhn NJ ha Er+la child ,ba /