The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-10-20
THE SUMMER COTTAGE.
Its Growth in Size and in Importance
During Recent Years.

Its Growth in Size and in Importance
During Recent Years.
There have been signs that the in
stitution known as the summer hoteI
has reached the height of its popularity
and power in this country, and that it;
continued progress is more likely tc
slant down than up. The reason is not
that city families are learning to spend
their summers at home, for they flock to
the lakes, the mountains and the sea-
shore in greater numbers than ever, but
a smaller proportion of them live in
hotels and considerably greater pro-
portion in cottages. At Bar Harbor
several of the largest hotels have re-
manned closed, not because the vogue of
Mount Desert has waned, for it was
never so much the fashion, but chiefly
because the island is full of cottages and
the chest people" live in them, thereby
damaging the hotels directly by the
loss of their own patronage, and in
directly by ceasing to serve them as
bait.
The tendency which is illustrated in
an exceptional degree at Bar Harbor is
generally noticeable in the majority of
the summer places, and a natural and
commendable tendency it is. The part
of the population to which it is most es-
sential to get out of town are the wom-
en- and children, and for them hotel life
even in the summer is decidedly a Sec
ond best eXpedient. The American
hotel bred infant, with whom Mr.. Henry
James in the earlier years of his literary
industry helped to make the world fa-
miliar, is type which it is as we'll
should not survive outside of the fiction
of the last decade. Without admitting
that it ever was very prevalent type,
it is safe enough to assume that the
more American children are enabled to
substitute the atmosphere of summer
home for the garish delights of q sum-
mer hotel the better it will be for the
manners of the rising generation.
Of course it is by no means new
thing for rich Americans to have sum-
mer homes. The growth of moss and
ivy on scores of the Newport houses at
test that Of course, too, summer cot
tage is luxury, and luxuries are ever
prone to make their first bows to the
people with the most money. Neverthe-
less there are cottages and cottages, and
whenever families that have been used
to taking refuge in summer hotels once
make up their minds that they would
like cottage better there is no sound
financial reason why they should not
eventually have one. The main diff
culties are to decide where it shall be,
and to bring the family's mind to the
point of giving hostages to return to the
same place several summers in success
sion. For of course, unless one is rich
enough to have an assortment of scat
tered dwellings, it is an extravaganza
to build house unless he is going to
occupy it or can rent it.
No doubt the possibilities of vagrancy
in the summer hotel method constituted
originally one of it's chief charms. 1t
enabled people to try at least one new
place every year, and ascertain finally
where they preferred to go. But this
very quality in it has helped the devel-
opment of cottages, since, after due Sc
ries of vagrant seasons, the family is
able out of its sufficient experience to de-
clare settled preference for some par
ticular spot. There, the spirit of adven-
ture having given place to the desire for
assured comfort, the cottage begins its
growth and finally develops into true
home, with its accompanying possibili-
ties of hospitality and of continuous &C.
cretions of grace and strength.
The observer who watches the prog
ress of American civilization must be
both interested and edited at the spread
of the summer cottage. He finds in it
another sign Of the settling population
which is in process, and which makes
the land constantly pleasanter and
more habitable as it goes on.-Harper's
Weekly.