The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-08-04
a Well Known Ilumorls. Wakes Eloquent
Over Summer Resort.
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rare treat by bathcrs to 20 back toward
the bluff and lie on the sand and roast
for All hour. 1t is u common thing to
SEQ half dozen men stretched OH their
chests Oh the sand, with their heads
punched like tho hub of Wheel talking
of this and that The Siasconsotor
claims that no man who has not indulg-
ed i'll this form of lotos dreaming has
really lived One of tho great arguments
i'll favor of this place is that people who
como here once invariably return tho
following summer.
There is one family here at present
for tho fifteenth consecutive season 1t
is my third Tho first time I camo UNI
der protest, since which timo 1 como
under the impression that it is tho best
place | know of. 1t seems like All island
made for tho south sea and put in this
spot by mistake 1t is plain United
States missionary work to mention it
for the benefit Of weary humanity
In tho first place, there are no mos
quitocs TO keep you awake at night and
no brass bands to annoy You through
the day. You don't have to change your
clothes as often as a woman changes her
mind, which is the case at most re-
sorts The air is always delightfully."-
cool and SO dry that = man with dropsy
can have himself, so to speak, absorbed
and reduced to his usual coxAormation
in the course of week. Nave often
wondered at the temperature OF the sea
ut this point, which the summer before
last by actual test was 20 degrees every
day but two during the entire summer.
And although the bathing is not at its
best until the LIST of July it lasts until
October. Another feature about Sias-
conset is this-therc is no high or low
tide. 1t is always about the same and
you don't have to wait for bathing
hour, us you do in most places 1t is
always ready, and the only reason there
is special time for every ono to go in
is for the sake of sociability. Besides
swimming, walking is considered Il great
recreation, and there arc good roads for
this form of exercise and pleasure TO
say nothing of tho moors, which arc
really more delightful than the roads,
especially at sunset, when the skies are
something that cannot BIO described in
point of color and variety. Most people
who come here come to rest and escape
the CALLING letters of fashion.
l have frequently seen men wander
ing around mile from home barchcad-
cd and in their slippers You can dress
any way, except in style, without Great
ing comment A high hat would be re-
garded as theatrical and fantastic, and
patent leather shoes would place the
wearer's vanity within tho pale of crit
icism. There are two hotels here, and
at present they arc very we'll patronized,
as they should be. But most people
who como hero take cottages which
they can have fully furnished for from
500 to 5000 for the entire season. To
DO sure, they arc very quaint structures,
most Of them consisting of one floor,
and III Il dark night you might stumble
over one of them and land in the back
yard. Still they arc very coy and com
Portable and abound in antique furni-
turo that was in uso here during the
palmy days Of the whaling industry.
When you como TO figure it ont, you
will find that u $500 furnished house
for four months is only $25 month,
and you have more room than YOU
would III n fiat. To run one of them it
costs a family Of ordinary size about $40
month. AT an ordinary hotel it would
cost more than twice as much, and there
would be no privacy.
Many people who came here original
ly as renters of these little houses have
bought land and built simple and I'M
pretcntious houses Such people have
moro real pleasure i'll tho course of a
summer than can DO had at any hotel
or hotels. For my part, l begin to look
forward to going to Siasconsct at Christ
mas In other words, exist in New
Jersey during thc winter that I may
live and dream on Nantucket island
during the summer. The roads are fair
ly good and are going to be much bet :
ter before great length of time, because
the little teakettlo railroad that used to
afford the visitor so much amusement
has been discontinued. The locomotive
Is rusting ut the station, and the tracks
are running in every possible zigzag
and serpontinc manner from Siasconset
to Nantucket
In some places they curl up like slices
of English breakfast bacon, and at eth
crs they seem to ripple in the wind.
And the man who used to ridicule this
little unpretcntious comic railroad and
say it was more beneficial for dyspepsia
than for heart disease now sheds ST.
lent tear of regret rs he dreams fondly
of the so cent excursion ticket of last
year and fumblcs in his pocket for the
50 bill necessary TO transport him to
Nantucket by horse and wagon. Still
many people think the fall of tho rail
road q good thing, rs it has tendency
to mako Siaaconset more remote, mac
cessiblc :ni isolated, and to relcyato it
to the condition OF ancient grandeur
thai el,,ro,.tp,i.rI IL u an. I =, v,,,.. ocyo