The Portland daily press., 1894-11-03
THE WINTER NEWPORT.
Something About Lake Worth In
Florida.

something ABOUT Lake WOftn In
Florida.
A Resort That Is Becoming More Popular
Yearly-Some of the Prominent People
Who own villas 'There-A Piece Of the
Tropics In the Heart of the Semi
Tropics.
Correspondence of the Press]
Palm Beach, Fla. ,.Oct.13. What New
port is to the wealthy and leisurely class
of Americans in midsummer st. Angus
tine is to them in the winter,time; and
the Indian River and Lake Worth coun-
try in Florida is fast assuming a position
with all the people of the western world
much like that held by. the South of
France and the resorts on the shores of
the Adriatic with the inhabitants of
Europe. A representative of the PRESS,
who was fortunate enough to be called
TO Palm Beach on business early in Sep
tenn Der had only just RETURNED from a
visit to Newport. RI, where one warm
afternoon in late August, when the
fashionable. seasonswas at it's height. he
had divided his time between drive
at that hour when all the gay turnouts
and their gayer occupants throng the
avenues. and leisurely stroll along the
entire length of the famous "Clif Walk.
While his experiences of week in the
dover East Coast country in Florida
differed very materially from those Of
his afternoon in Newport, their rehec-
tions and convictions resultant from
them were much the same.
Itwould do the Populists, the Commun-
xsts. the income takers and the Anarch-
Ssts of this country heap Of good If they
could all walk leisurely and thought.
fully along'the Cliffs at Newport or stroll
in the same manner on the four or five
miles of she'll walk or the sea walk
Lake Worth. The+former are skirted by
the ocean on the one hand, and by scores
of miIionaires' villas on the other; the
lattersare shaded by thousands of cocoa
nutpalms, and Cross the estates OF many
Americans ofsaarge means who have
built enchanting winter villas overlook
ing the lake, and none of them far
from the Royal Poinciana, the latest
architectural triumph in the American
hotel world. To take in one or the other
OF these scenes would teach the COM
munistic classes lesson in tolerance. OF
which most of them stand sadly in need
for they would see there practical
illustration of the thoughtfuIness and
the kindly consideration whichsthe most
wealthy of Americans have for this less
favored IN fortune. While at Newport
every estate on The Cliff is water
frunt from which the public might
easily and reasonably be exclud ed yet
their owners-the Astors, vanderbiits,
Goeiets, Beluonts and others of equal
wealth and like social prominenoe-have
provided broad asphalt walk over
which the poorest and humblest mortal
of any nationality may stroll to his
hearts content and drink in the natural
and the artificial gfories OF the place.
And at Palm Beach the same considera-
ton for the general public has moved
the owners of the Royal Poinciana and
of the fine estates which stretch away
north and south of it as far almost as
the eye CAN reach, to bar access to no
body, but to make their beauty as free
as the air above it. These people whom
fortune has smiled upon have hearts
most of them bigger and warmer than
thoseswho envy and criticize them-and
they are unwilling to shut themselves up
in two of the most beautiful spots on
earth and say to the poor man mo adj
mittance." This does not cost them
much to be sure. but the whole spirit of
it is most admirable and Of the deepest
significance. It refutes the idea of sell
fishness andsgreed and of grinding OPP
preston with which Populist oratory
has clothed the successful classes in
this country, and its influence ought to
be TO soften the critics of wealth and
those who look upon the accumulation
of wealth as, little short of criminal
offence.
The Cliffs at Newport and the Sea
Walk on Lake Worth are really some
thing more than framework for sum
mer and winter hours OF class of
Americans whose aggregate wealth
reaches hundreds OF millions of dollars;
they are an open book to convey prac-
tical lesson in. charity. And if the sam
spirit of liberality and kindliness which
their owners exhibit could only animate
their. kind all over the world, the world
would surely be much better for it. and
we should more nearly approach con-.
dition of absolute reconciliation be-
tween poverty and plenty than could
otherwise be possible.
This new Newport on the East Coast
of Florida, this little piece of the tropics
let down into the very heart of the semi
tropics, this enhancing bit of the high
est civilization set on the borders of the
primeyal and unexplored everglades,
IS fully fifteen hundred miles from the
well known and historical resort of
Rhode Island. But the completion of
the Jacksonville, st. Augustine & Indian