The morning call., 1891-08-23
The Chief Of ALI the English WeSt-C0aSt
Resorts.
seashore Delights-An Ample Playground for
Millions-More Than Hundred Thousand
Visitors in Day.


mower of the tides in the North Channel
and st. Georges Channel is broken by the
rugged shores of the Isle of Man; and
with the exception of the tides of Liver
pool on the extreme south, and in the Sol
way Firth, at the extreme north OF this
region, the waves of the sea reach the shore
almost ceaselessly in murmuTouS ripples or
dreamful calm.
Curiously, too, and as if notably illus
tratiye Of the seeming truth that nature
ever fashions its forces to q nicely OF fitting
and balance, the entire shore line for all
this distance-a shore line accounting for
linden tations of nearly 200 miles-is nowhere
fifty feet above the sea level The sea is
ever asleep beside it.
This is the Lancashire coast It is a
coast of endless and III easurelesS sand. Be-
hind ii level reaches of reclaimed land, with
dykes of sod and whitewashed peasants
huts, stretch far away to many towns clang-
ing night and day with machinery, dense
with human striyerS, sitting with SCOT and
smoke. To the east horizon liue OF Chin
new stacks Then, nearer the ocean, val
ley OF tIuck-faTms. Then the shOreline, a
mass OF low. drear Sand-dunes, hiding a
hundred sunny villages and towns; every
one a nest Of homes for those who strive III
the inland cities, or the holiday place for
those millions who change the clatter OF the
mine-driil and spindle for the song If the
sea but one bright day IN all the sc0urging
year
Southport is chief of all the English ives t
coast resorts. 1t is in fact the great North
of England watering places. Scarborough,
on the east coast, directly opposite, drawing
from the Yorkshire towns for visitors, has
greater antiquity, some interesting history,
aud Is altogether quaint and beautiful; but
being only summer watering place 1t can
not vie with Southport. New Brighton.
LiYerpOoPs COney Island, at the mouth of
the MeTsey, is gayeT and more r0llicklng.
IlandudnO, the famous North of Wales re-
sort, is grandly beautiful. All the bright
places, like Ilfracombe. Bideford and sweet
C0vely, along the DeyOnshire coast have
superior charms in scenery and in the witch
ing wiidness Of cltf-hung coast. Southport
eScels in the tenderness of lis sea, the soft
bTeeZrs of its coast and the tTanSCendeGt
splendor of its endless golden sands. Be
sides, there are four or five million people
Sc near tin Liverpool, Chester, Man
chester, Wigan. Preston, Burnley, Leeds,
Bradford, and scores more of crowded
manufacturing ciues-that they can get to
Southport and home again the same day,
for railway fare OF about two to four shil-
lings each. And about all Of them do that
very thing whenever the money can be
spared.
THE "oLD DUKES" FOLLY.
Southport can boast of no remote an
lquity, though it forms part of the ancient
part Of North Meols, in the Hundreds of
West Derby. 1t Is hardly century old.
Its founder was Churchtown inn-keeper,
one William Sutton-"foSy-nosed BilF' he
was called in the old days, because his own
good cheer most prominently spoke its
merits in his hearty old face. He was also
called the odd Duke" because Of his
lOldiy ways, At one end Of the present
splendid Lord street he built a huge
h0StelTy among the sand hills. This
was ncknamed The Folly" by
those who were not so far-seeing
as William. 1t soon happened that Gus
famous grllleG fish and good cheer; Just as
eDIcures will 60 half the length of our land
for those glorious "planked shad," that can
only be got as the shad was designed to be
cooked, at certain inn al Gloucester on the
Delaware, hard by staid Old Philadelphia.
A little hamlet OF cottages soon sprang up
around The Dukes Folly" 1t owner was
also the best fiddler in all the countryside,
and enc night when some registering literary
guests from Liverpool had been revelIng
Zip and heel," in a convivlal moment over a
bottle OF rare old port his house was named
South Port" And Southport the place,
now Of $1,000 souls, will ever remain.
The cottages first built here were of the
Whiiewashed and matched order among the
sand hills, and, with their beds of shrubs
and flowers, gave an agreeable color to the
scene. There was an aSsemblage of mimic
mountains, with long, struggling street,
and beyond vast expanse of level country.
The salubrity OF the air, the delights Of the
sands and the breeZcs from the sea, soon
drew residents TO the quaint Wild spot and
handsome dwellings we're erected. By 1920
SOutht ort had become place of fashion and
favOTlte resort, the sands being in the sum-
mer-time place Of great z ;yety. Visitors
then arrived 10y coach and by canal pack
cts, and hulidaymakerS came by carts, or
on foot with their bundles and hampers on
their lacks and shoulders. Along in the
fifties we hear of Hawthorne then our Con-
Bright making the place, its beach and the
fRr-StretchlDg dunes their frequent hRunts
bob for dreamful idling and for literary
work. Indeed, after much inquiry of the
old, old folk OF Southport, l am persuaded
that the portion of Trans formation" writ
ten in England and necessary for the secur-
ing by Hawthorne OF his English copyright
on that work, was composed in the quiet re-
treats Of the then little old inns here.
HAwTHoRNE's FANclEs.
Perhaps it is largely fanciful associa-
tion of person and place, but somehow with
Hawthorne in ones mind the lovely, leafy
city, as it is to-day, takes ON the garb of our
own delicious Salem. The trim, pretty
yards recall it. The long, elm-shadsd ave-
nues, with CLINT and simmer of the sea
through their narrowing vistas, bring 1t
lovingly to the memory. The wide. clean,
precise houses. hint of it. Hundreds OF
'hipped roofs, quaint gables and ivy
haunted dOrmers reproduce its sweet old
hooks. The half houses, half shops where
modern affairs aud holiday-makers' relent-
less needs have cOnjured perky shops in tn q
fronts OF stately mansions, gay as Fauutle-
roy children In the laps of men or matrons
OF the old regime, are like the bright set
tlngs peering ont of many Of the grim old
house-fronts OF Salem.
And one who loves to trace the likeness
further-in the hush of the by-streets,
where even country birds trilI summertime
songs fearlessly: in the old, old folk who
saunter about the town as though they had
naught on their minds but the making
OF eodlcils, because of fancied Sights, late
meals or overdOne Grllls; in flavor and
SAVIOR of olden seawise ways and memories
not from rotting hulks and wharves as
at Salem, but in the rich old sea captains
who swagger here, when their govt and
rheumatics will let them; and in the wide
eyed young and heartsome life that comes
from the outer world to feel the pensive
calm, staring at its dowagers and dreamful-
ness, as cathedral pageant might be
viewed, going away again all the better for
the ruminative reverence and rest.
The curious thing about the place to an
American loiterer is the reversal of seasons
noic' " DUO tuo NdSI tnTougS at SOutlp0rt
during June, July and August, the natural
conclusion is that these months comprise
the season. On the contrary, the genuine e
season is during the remaining nine months.
The rich live here during that time in their
own homes. They are usually invalds of
families, some members Of which REQUIRE the
soft and health-gving air that is said to pre-
vail during the winter months. When the
summer crimes the real residents leave for
the continental sras or for the Highland
lochs and glens of Scotland. Then popula-
ton of at least 10000 is entirely changed.
Liverpool or Manchester shopkeepers or
brokers, county curates on pinched allow
ances ana managing clerks with hollow
eyes and chests 'let" the houses deserted
by the quality and gain enough life and
vigor for the rest Of the years struggle.
These, with the "trippers" and excursion
lists, take up the opulation and crowds in
summer. The shopkeepers rather scorn-
fully serve them. But these fine shadings
OF distinction are willingly recognized and
borne by summer tenants, and are never
seen by those to whom one day in the year
at Southport is the sole aspiration of a
twelyemonth's brave saving