Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-02-09

ply sat on a rubber blanket and gazed.
To those with whom he spoke he said 1t
was beautiful, beautiful; that one drank in
these visions of beauty as one drank in the
air aud sunshine, and they lasted the whole
year through. Then the far-away look
would come back to his fair young face
as he turned away and began drinking
again.
We have fancied him maneuvering to
inibbe the glory of this winter sunset. 1t
would certainly need portable furnace
and half OF furrier's stock In trade in ad
dition to the rubber blanket to enable him
to take it all in with the requisite peace
of mind. However. as it is now. nature
| for her nine of months is left pretty much
| in the hands of the home grown resident,
whose general attitude toward his fair
possession in her varied moods is Of that
unQuestioning acquiescence with which in
herited property is wont to be received
This resident, by the way, is bug quite
worthy of the microscope He Is in an
interesting transitional state between a
past of which he Is distinctly and rever-
emily conscious. and future which he re-
CARDS with one part the righteous mingling
| of doubt and hope due to all uncertain
things, and nine parts the semi apsthetic
conservatism which is his birthright as a
citizen Of Our Town.
The attitude OF the thoroughbred local
! nd faU he hes
confusing modern values arose, was one
which TO the casual notice Of an irreverent
outsider appeared TO call for new theory
of the universe, since neither Moses nor
Darwin furnished grounds for its claims
of commanding individuality and authori-
tative perfection. II held toward the sur
rounding region, everything | think east of
Boston. the attitude Of the metropolis to
the tented wilderness. speaking OF its
countrymen In the adjoining towns as
'the natives" and toward all these in
| trenching itself IN an impenetrable urban
hsuteur which was purely delicious, and
for the reason of all thls?-so far as his
tory and tradition can furnish reason
long ago in the colonial days Our Town
was the town, the coming grand city OF the
coast. II had its boom, the primitive boom
Of those days. Some half dozen enterpris
ing individuals scooped enough to create
themselves an American aristocracy with
what small reflected glow they could gain
from the consciousness OF living on the land
I originally preenpted and occupied by
genuine titled gentleman, him whose name
they stamped upon his town-Our Town.
II was very primitive aristocracy, and
not very widely known, but 1t didn't mind
that. II gaily felt its oats and kept on
thinking itself the nucleus Of coming
grandeur till the intoxcation OF the idea
got little too heady What wonder II
Our Town confused its lenses and felt the
future In the present, and what likely to
be transmitted to descendants as this trf
ling mental crook? Renee the unquench
able instinct OF local superiority which
survived even the decline of its shipping
interest. the material prop Of all old time
hopes. and which shrauk not even when
afflicted by the annoying habit throughout
the country OF creating fourishing cities
out Of places that it remembered 10 have
been woods mere woods and wigwams-
when itself, Our Town, was a. great as
now. No, it still felt itself superior
Like Pillicoddy, to itself, within itself. it
made that observation. II developed cul
ture so far as it was able, and then pstted
itself with the genial assurance that the
acme OF culture was attained here and
now, and called not too loudly, for the
multitude TO admire,
So peacefully grooming its hymns OF
praise to self as it sat on the rivers sunny
slope, skirts tucked up and toes in the
river, petrified emblem Of the ,imid bsther
1t was suddenly startled by discovery;
don't misunderstood, it was on the passive
side Of the cstastrophe-it was discovered
Maine has been discovered in spots 50
much of late that ii would be superfuous
to particularize the attendant phenomena
the distracting summer cottage. the ex-
tended street, the sudden conversion OF
pasture lanu 10 mouse lOts, the Improve
ments" generally; We all know them.
! But the human growth of the soil-how
will this disturbing change in his habitat
affect a mental attitude already mildly
unique? As yet we may not claim to fully
know. The end which is to crown the
work has not been reached. The nature
of the crown is still problematc. Both
optimist and pessimist have yet their
chance for fling at 1t. But whateve.
may be the private or public views Of the
community, as it feels itself developing in
the summer sun, the winter days bring to
it the welcome opportunity for collapse
into its old-t condition, and into this
with triing halts and hestancies it slips
until the next season" shall rouse its dor
mant sense of hustle, and the 0n)coming
man and woman shall again crowd the
old-timer to the shadow of the wall where
for recreation he meditates.
But now it is his winter activities, If so
they may be called-phases of Information
if you prefer-that we have known and
feel moved to tell. o.