The morning call., 1891-03-08

upon old Yarmouth. Indeed. one will find
similar traces of continental influences,
though very old and remote, in a number OF
the seapurts of Great Britain. In Berwick,
Scotland, and in many of the fishing villages
of
THE FIRTH OF FORTH,
As well as in old Edinburgh itself, you will
find a type of face, manner and occasion
ally suggestions in ancient architecture
which point straight and true to progenltors
ana builders of the Norman-French. At
Plymouth and Penzance, in Cornwall, the
old Hebrew strain is clearly descernible,
though the Jews were never in Cornwall in
numbers less than 800 years ago, when they
found source OF wealth In the tin in the
Cornish mines. Up in Aberdeen, Scotland.
the Morse blood still tells marYelOusly-in
complexion hair, figure, and in local names
of places and men. Away up in Lerwick,
Scotland. all the old portions OF the city are
as typicslly Dutch as the oldest por-
tons oil HARLEM and Amterdam. At
Cork you will find traces of the French.
Away over at old Galway, on the
west coast of ireland, the faces and
forms of the Spanish fishermen of Barcelona
are reproduced in those of the fishwives and
men OF Claddagh; and you will find bits of
arch, column, balcony and tiny patioS or
courts, in Galway, as Moorish as any in
Grenada or Seville. In like manner you are
continually reminded of Holland in Var
mouth. Amsterdam lies but little way
distant, straight across the North Sea. The
great Dutch fairs " of olden times brought
hither all the provincial folk OF Suffolk and
Norfolk and of the NORTH COuntree."
Many Dutch factors and merchants settled
here, married and became merged with the
local population. Yarmouth herring fishers
copied the Dutch method OF taking the fish,
and the cuTerS, their process OF "pickling
the herring. The grand plan of the harbor
executed under the direction of Joas
johnson, a Dutchman. And everywhere
among ancient shops, Indications and
lshermen's homes of Yarmouth are num-
berless structures, behind which one feels
certain must be found folk with tasseled
caps, short skirts. bodiCcd waists, wooden
Shoes and the marvellous pipes of Holland.
This Is nowhere more noticeable than in
the narrow maze OF streets intersectng the
main Ih0roughfares from east to west.
There are nearly 200 OF these. They are
called "ROws." None Of them are ten feet
in width; the most are less than six; and
across many, friendly hands can be shaken.
l believe that 1t was Dickens himself who
IN Household Words" said Yarmouth is
one vast gridTon, of which the bars are
represented by the rows" a. a rule this
portion Of the city houses the lowly. AT
nearly every door some indication of the
fisherman life is apparent. Bits OF wreck
arg lying in this one 10 be transformed into
lighters" or kindtag. Sinkers and buOys
are piled 1t another entrance. Models of
anchors, SmaekS and full-rigged ships adorn
gT0und-lloOr windows; while from the case
mates and meager balconies above, every
thing that can hang and dry in so little
space, from
a SUIT OF "oUsKINs
SwaYing like fisnermau-scarecrow, to a
quarter-mile herring-net in folds, or Il main
sail OF Il smack, flaps and siaps the facades
on either side in easy and friendly familiar
ity.
There is but one vehicle in all Yarmouth
which can traverse these shadOwy rows"
many OF them as close and dim as the sun
les thoruughfareS If old AIglerS. This is
called The ~ armouth cart" 1t is a genu-
lue antique, but remains la general use, be-
cause necessary for service in the rows"
1t has but two wheels, low aud heavy. The
stout rack or frame which they support runs
rearWard and upward at an obtuSe angle,
and, TO the font tine same distance, at the
same angle along the lower part of the
shafts. One horse only is used. The cart
man usually balances the cart in loading
rectly over the wheels, but ii not, accom-
plishes the same by the addition Of his own
weight The shafts are Of extraordinary
length, like those of the curious
ind them fully fourteen feet long
from tips to socket, where tHey really be-
gin. a cavacade OF these empty carts,
gathering down the quaint old streets on
their homeWard way at cvsutlde, With the
dlmly-deiined perspective OF ancient facade
and lower, Will easily flash into ones fancy
the suggestion of a procession Of chaTiOts
returning from the Roman races OF old.
There is little at Yarmouth and round
about for actual Identification of the things
and folk Dickens made you feel were here,
save IN all the SeaWlse tiAVOr Of objects aud
men. In that respect you can at once ind
iunumerabie families OF tho PegEOtys. To
be sure you can ceme, as l DID, along the
levt- Suffolk highway, over the same road
on which Dickens, Mark Lemon and John
Leach first travelled during their famous
exploring expedition to Yarmouth Over
there between Yarmouth and L0westoft,
you will find the little matched hamlet of
BlundPSt0n-the Thunderstorm" village OF
David Copperfield's" birth-ant all along
the way you viii see lane, farmstead and
BarkiS the "Willin'" carrier set down
his packages and bundles. When
you have crossed tile YaTe and wandered
into the old city, here and there you will
ind, just as in "Copperneld's" time, the
same quaint shops Of the 'drapers, tailors,
habeCdasheIs, funeral lurnishers, ETC., as
the one over which the CHEEKY, asthmatic
Mr.. Omer presided. But the dear old boat
house is gone. First the city pushed down
across the sands and hid it, Then, twelve
years ago, the roofs from some tumble-down
buildings were removed, and, no one sus-
pecting its existence, the crumbing hulk
was discovered. There it stood, just as
Dickens knew it and peupled 1t; tie side
door preserved; the little pane OF glass
where tie ruider had run through, I'M
broken; the very same window intact in
which the candle was set for little Em'iy's
return. The upturned keel was torn to
pieces by the workmen, but it could never
be destroyed. Among all fadeless things,
with ITS light and love and sadness, it will
remain an endless beacon upon this stormy
coast.
copyright. 1891 EDGAR L. wAKEMAS.