New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-09-04
THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.
THEY NUMBER NEAR TWO THOUSAND AND
THEY ARE NOT TO BE
SEEN IN DAY.
THE COMFORTS OF COTTAGE LIFE IN CONTRAST
TO THE coNvENIENCEs FOR THE GEN.
ERAL ToUMsT-THE CANADIAN IS
LANDS AWAIT Nc p1rvrpe


LANDS AWAITING BUYERS.
Edgewood Park. Thousand Islands Aur. GA largo
proportion OF the tourists who "dor the Thousand
Islands carry away only wayne and imperfect idea
OF its-or shall say thelr-beauties Most ~ them
remain only day or two at most II they arc dis
posed to be economical, they go to clearinghouse,
OF which the less said the better paying 81 80 day
Or II they can afford II, they go 10 one of the big
ho'es "here' with good deal Of comfort and some
luxury, there Is considerable splendid misery. In
either case their rooms merely storage places for
their trunks while they uze the precIous hours I'm
seeing all that can possibly be seen on n noisy and
crowded excursion boat henrd for instanc, Of
party the other day who arrived at CLAYTON at half
past O'Clock In the morning. and who were almost
continuously on some excursion boat from thot hour
until IL O'Clock at night They left the Thousand
Islands at O'Clock the next morning doubtless with
the belief that they have and learned everything
about the place.
But nowhere does nature reveal her subtle charms
to the brush tourist Of day. least OF all here To
WOO her with in the Thousand Islands-thcro
are really 1.8OO islands l am told-requircs time and
even time will avail not, unless the woocr Is able to
throw off the fcversh unrest and hurry that possess
most Americans, and yield himself 10 the spirit Of
quetude and almost tropical anuor that b7oods over
these Islands and waters. 1t Is needless say thcr,
FORE that the hotels and bOarlnghouses with their
noise and clater and reproduction OF the petty arti
fatalities of city life, should be avoided by the visitor
who desires to commune with the genius OF the place
Even the excursion boats that profess to take yOu
through the Islands give you only slapdash impress
sion of few Of them The cottager with his Steam
yacht under steam day and night will toll you and
tell yon truly that he alone enjoy 70 the full tho
beauties Of this wOndrous archipelago. With
whole season and a steam yacht at HIS command, he
is able TO learn something though not all of these
beauties as they lie hidden in spots where the day
tourist never penetrates. And that suggests to that
time and sympathetic insight not the only
requisites for a sojoum here. Money is required and
plenty of It, The paatial cottages erected on the
Islands here represent enormous outlay Of money,
and the running expenses Of each cottage during tho
season would have been considered handsome fort
une thirty years ago.
Edgewood Park, where I am staying, IS owned by
the EdgewOOd Park Association, private club Of gen
temen from Cleveland, New-Yor1 and other
places and as its hotel and cottages
are primarily only for the members of the
association and their friends what l may say in
praise Of 1t will not expose me to the suspicion Of
"pulling" IT, As matter Of fact 1t Is one of the
most beautiful spots in the Thousand Islands. and the
visitor who is fortunate enough to be enrolled among
It's guests can feel that he IS seeing the Thousand
Islands under most favorable circumstances. 1t is
peninsula containing thiry-sx acres of land. sepa-
rated from the village of Alexandria Fay by narrow
estuary. While thus cut OF from that noisy and over
crowded resort it is vet within access Of it,
small ferryboat owned by the association running con
stantly The hotel which IS rsclasS In every respect
Is handsome structure built on a gigantic nat rock
about fifty feet from the water The grounds about the
hotel which are most picturesque are shaded by
splendid trees. incrspersed with bits Of lovely green
lawn There is dock in front of the hotel at which
all steamboats, touch when tagged and there are plenty
of handsome ST. Lawrence boats for the accommodation
Of the fishermen. who numerous here as everywhere
in the Thousand Islands. There IS an air Of repose
and luxurious comfort about the place which IS most
delightful and which ordinary hotel can give The
association does not operate the hotel to make money
and charges only enough to cover expenses 1t Is in
fact maintained simply accommodation to the
members and their friends. And venture to describe
H. not in order 70 direct the attention of the public to
tit does not pretend to cater 10 the general pubic
but as a suggestion to Others to 20 and do likewise
There are even yet many beautiful unoccuped spots III
this REGION and 1t would be entirely feasible for rum
Der of congenial people TO club together and do what
the Fdgewood Park Association has so successfully
done here Those who desired to do 50 might build
cottage taking their meals In the hotel, and others
could live entirely in the hotel. The plan combines
many of the advantages Of hotel and cottage life, and
has few of their drawbacks, and IS commended to that
large class of people to whom the average summer
hotel even when irstclass. Is at best necessary evil
They surely ought to be glad to know that 1t Is no
longer even a necessary evil.
This Is the region Of the college waiter am served
very accepably by Of them. an undergraduate oil
famous university, who intends to enter Princeton
Seminary ard study for the Presbyterian ministry
The porter here IS also handsome college man VINO
sticks as closely 70 business though he were pro-
fesional. One Of The big hotels at Alexandra BAY
employs college students walters, and hear OF
another which has normal college girls in the same
capacity These studentwaitcrs give the hotel pro-
prletors much less trouble than professional WALTERS
and on the whole do their work well. They have no
false pride about the matter, but frankly accept te
situation with all the dlsagrccable features that
pertain 10 It, and they are not few. one
cannot but respect the pluck of a student who
thus ostluclzcs himself in order to work his way
through college: but personally, should much prefer
to sec him in some other business or course nc VIII
receive due consideration from ladies' and gcn;lemch'
but even they cannot overlook the fact that for the
tIme-being he is technically not their social equal
while small souls, with an uncertain social position Oh
their own, sometimes ind keen pleasure in snHbbnS
him.
In most places a boat IS regarded in tie light OF
luxury; here it is necessity in the nature OF Inc
case there is for horse, and yon never sec
one. except In the village Of Alexandria Bay. Every
cottagcr Of course has his steam-Yacht and one OF
them told me the other day that when he gets back
home i'm the fall and goes for a drive the smoothes
road seems rough, so accustomed does be become 10
locomouOn by water. The grOcerS and narkctmen de-
liver their goods 10 the hotels and cottages IN h'Oe
steam yachts sldGs. Calls are made in the same |
way. with an and comfort unknown to the New
Yorker even though he has carriage. Indeed the |
NewYOrIer who lives for a time among these Islands
could wish no better fate for that city than that II
should initiate the Thousand Islands and become an |
American Venice. This would at least solve the prob
lem of srect-ccanlng, and perhaps some others as we'll
The streets Of Ncw-York have never been anything |
but a source of expense and annoyance at best, and
every citizen would be glad TO exchange them lof |
something m0le satisfactory. But am DEPRESSING
feature Of the life here is the illumination OF the
various island, ut night. In some places hundreds OF
different cOlOrpd lights displayed. Lanterns are
propcd 80 a. 70 form some - mbOllcal figure. the
r,t letters OF the islands owners nanc ard other
lanterns hing trees all over the place Every
evening Two carry the EdgewOOd lanterns irou |
the house 10 the grounds, hung on great rack mae
Tor the purpose and the sight Is very pretty ono.
On saturday evenings the illumination OF the ISLANDS