The record-union., 1893-08-26
Special Correspondence of the RECoR D.
UNION. Copyright 1881


eastern coast of England. For vast crowds
it is like Southport on the west, and
Brighton on the south, coast. 1t has
been 4 watering place for nearly two
hundred and fifty years. Before that
good fortune it was little else than a
dreary fishing port, with great, grim
castle, dominating hamlet and harbor,
and wise woman, who used her eye
sight and other senses, was primarily
responsible for Scarborough's transfor-
NATION from obscurity to opulence and
renown.
Mrs. Farrow, a sensible and intelli-
gent lady, who lived at Scarborough,
about the year 1850, sometimes walked
along the shore, and observing the stones
over which the waters from a cliff-side
spring. passed to have received russet
color, and finding it to have an acid taste,
different from the common springs, and
10 receive a purple tincture from gals,
thought 1t might probably have medi-
cinal property. Having, therefore, made
an experiment herself, and persuaded
others to do the same, it was found to be
eitlcacIOus In some complaints, and be-
came the usual physic of the inhabitants.
1t was afterwards in great reputation
with the citizens of York and the gentry
OF the county, and at length was so gem
orally recommended that persons of quail
lty came from great distance to drink
II, preierring it before all others they had
formerly trequented, even the Italian,
French and German spaWs."
Thus runs the ancient, ungrammatic
but truthful chronicle. Dame Farrow
has only few lines in Scarborough local
history and no monument. These are
the only really mean things you will find
about the winsome old town. The 'spaw,"
the good dame discovered, is a spa which
has a curious history of its own. Nearly
1itty years alter its discovery the spa
was provided with cisterns, or wells, for
collecting the waters. To protect these
hom the encroachments of the sea
stout stalth Of stone, bound by timbers,
was erected around the wells. Forty
years later great mass of the cliff above
containing nearly an acre of pasture land
sunk perpendicularly 1or several yards
y IS this huge mass of clitf went down the
sand about the stralth, some distance
from the subsiding cliff, shot up into the
air To the hight OF from thirty to fifty feet,
an entire mass nearly 100 feet broad
and 800 feet long. The wells as
cended with the straith and sand, but the
spa Itself was lost completely, and was
only recovered after long and diligent
search, and great expense upon the part
OF the inhabitants. Local folk lore holds
10 the belief that this was just judg-
ment for Scarborough's ingratitude in
forgetting its debt Of obligation To Dame
Farrow.
But, after knowing Scarborough, | be-
lleve had there been no Dame tarrow
and no "spaW;" no earthquake and no
redlscovery; no grand Spa Saloon in the
Italian Benalssance style, accommodate
ing several thousand people, opened by
the Lord Mayor OF London; no spacious
nrnn1Anu1pS grand fliH
The shadowy ravine; no grand aquarium.
SAID to be the finest III the world; no
splendid orchestra of 200 to 300 perform
ers; no broad seawall promenade, and no
countless sheltered walks, grottoes and
bowers; and no high-sounding names of
y orth Carbohydrate and South Salt
well, that the glorious face Scarborough
sets 10 the German Ocean, its finest beach
III Europe, and ali the magic it takes from
the mighty sea, would have made the
charming old town all that it now is to
countless thousands who loiter here for
pleasure, rest or health. For back of an
cient Scarborough town is Manchester
aud keighley and Bradford and Wake
field and GOrk and Huddersheld and
Leeds, humming with spindles and
changing with cranes, and the coal pits of
Lancashire and Yorkshire and Notts.
where there are hundreds OF thousands of
strlvers, White or grimy from endless
NRAA- O4ACh LAi6ib are udlI an nuOUreU
thousand OF such as these at Scarbor-
ough. 1t is at such times that one NAV
know, II he Will use his eyes, how preci-
Gus thing Is the CLINT OF the waves. the
cool touch OF the golden sands, the whis-
pered lullaby and mysteries of tho sea.
and all the beneticence OF Gods blessed
sunlight kissing through life-giving airs
tie paIlor from out these toil-scarred
faces TO unused, eager eyes and haunted.
hungry hearts.
Scenically considered, Scarborough and
harbor remind you instantly of Naples
and its wondrous bay. Were it not for
the mythologic, historic and poetic asso-
cations with which all the beautiful en-
vironS of Naples are rite, a flavor of which
cannot but at some time and in some wav
touch the fancy of every traveller OF SYM
pathetic and receptive mind, / believe
old Scarborough and harbor, at least
when viewed from the sea, would prove
10 the beholder a more beautiful scene.
Llke-Ihe Bay OF Naples Scarborouph and
harbor has noble cresceut-Shaped sweep
from cliff TO headland. 1t has not a mvs-
terious and awful esuvius behind, but it
has a second crescent of Verdure-clad
hills, clrcllng thread of emerald above
the checkeIed line of white and red where
nestle It's comfortable homes. 1t has no
Poslllpo above whose vineyard nights
were the Georges and the .Eueid COM
posed, and where still sleeps gentle ir-
gil, but dreadful and weird We're its
scourgeS and siegeS from the time of Ha-
rold aud Hadrada 10 the first Charles. 1t
had no Iasso as had the olive and chest
nut groves of Naples Sorrento. But the
splendid ruins OF its once majestic head
land castle preserve, in the fact of his
years imprisonment here, the memory
o. one who accomplished as much for hu-
manitY as Virgil and Tasso together-the
brave and gentle founder of the Society OF
Friends, and, somehow, in all the splen-
did scene, while you may miss the half
oriental color OF the dazzling view be-
meath Italian skies, there comes to YOU
nearuer, nObIer sense of kinship with
haollatlon and humankind, earth and sky
anu ocean, that win completely to the
brave old Saxon town which sets on Ro-
man walls beside the Northern Sea.
From Castle Hill the South Sands cir
Gle away nearly two miles to the south
The ioreshore is fully fourth of a mile
III wluth, with the gentlest possible decli-
nation lhto the sea, and each receding
TIDE leaves 1t as smooth hard and sweet as
uewly-Scruobed pine floor. Down TO this
tnest beach IN Europe, the old CITY
crowas IN curious buildings, jumbles of
roofs and terraces, and the oldest and
pleasantest OF streets from the outlvinr
hills. II there were no shore, no sea and
10 thousands oil idlers and bathers in
bright medley to be seen. the lovely
leafy stair-like town would still ne n
pleasant place to see. At the highest
places are fine villas, great hotels and
splendid homes, rich in settings of ample
verdure, curious old walls, strange and
picturesque gateways. and fanciful iron
and stone ornaments OF centuries ago
Cross streets, circling with the harbor
crescent, show odd high walls and
glimpses of gables and creeping vines
through stone approaches, like winsome
embrasures on the one hand, and on the