The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-09-03
a CENTER ron REST.
5unius Henri Browns Among the Cape CoA
Folk.

QUIssETr, Mass, Aug. 30. - Thia
hamlet, small as it is, Is more than
a century old and primarily bore
the aboriginal name, QuiquamQuisset
This would seem to be kind OF Latin
Indian name, though there is nothing
Latin in it. After awhile it became
Quamquissett, finally Quissett, and SO
remains, having q score of scattering
houses, several shops, four pianos and q
postof1oe.
1t is on Cape Cod, in Barnstable coun-
ty, and is in way the center OF wide
II dispersed populous summer colony,
whose members have little knowledge Of
and almost no communication with one
another. They usually stay far into
October. It is situated within two miles
or so of both Falmouth village and
Woods Holl and is some three miles
from Falmouth Heights, a summering
settlement of people from Boston and
vicinity, who largely constitute the
scattering community hereabout, with
q number OF New Workers to be found
everywhere.
Many of the cottages in this district
to call it such, are handsome and cost
~, with fine. well kept grounds. Fall
mouth proper and Wood HoIl are an
Gent villages, owing their origin to the
hardy whalers and mariners who were
the first settlers of these New England
coasts. The Cape Cod villages have not,
like so many Of the large Massachusetts,
towns, introduced manufactures to keep
themselves alive, but the summer board
er, having introduced himself as a SUBJ
stitute has served the same end The
whole length Of the cape has within / 2
or 5 years been invaded by summerers,
most OF whom board at hotels or what
have been farmhouses, while the re-
mainder occupy cottages of their own
erection.
The Old Colony railroad, which has
long run to Provincetown, has been ef-
fective in changing the character Of the
native population by undermining it.
The natives are still singular and prlm
tive from the social center standpoint
and are interesting on that account
They are pure Anglo-Americans and
like all people who are isolated and
who associate exclusively with their
own kind are individual, unconven-
tionaL like them. They are shrewd,
thrifty, but not remarkable for enter
prise or financial accumulation, which
circumstances do not favor, nor would
they be if it did. The greed Of money,
charged often on the inhabitants OF
large cities, is IN nOWlse shared by
them. They are willing to earn money
unless it is too much trouble, and they
enjoy leisurely sort of activity, a spe-
cies Of busy idleness, peculiar to this
peninsula. They are Indifferent and
unimpressible, and snowy folk from
Boston or New FORK cannot awake their
admiration or surprise by any kind Of
display or lavishness.
Their Independence is complete. They
- - lxoS
SER magnate OF millionaire. OF humor
they have fund of the dry. quaint or
der, representative OF this section, es-
pacially Of this neck of land, that is
congenital end unconscious They are
of sturdy stock aud preserve their stur-
diness unimpaired. The spirit Of the old
Norsemen is in them. They are quiet,
reticent. courageous, daring and Omnis-
Gent of the sea. They will perform a
most heroic act without suspecting that
it is beyond the ordinary and will brave
death or offer to sacrifice life in the line
of duty with expression unchanged, no
superhuous syllable escaping their lips.
They are Americans OF Americans and
should make as proud Of our new old
race.
Quissett, with its immediate neigh
borhood, is on the east side Of Buzzard's
bay, has a small, deep harbor to the
west adjacent to a strip Of land on
which are simple inn and few cot
tages, skirted by the kay. Around the
hamlet on high Land overlooking the
harbor are a number If cottages, whose
inmates rarelyvisit the temporary dwell
ers on the other side Of the harbor, nor
do these visit those, so sufficient in the
main are the summerers hereabOut to
themselves. The bay is separated from
Vineyard sound only by the Elizabeth
islands (Naushon, PasQue, Mashawend,
Cuttyhunk and others), lying to the
southwest, and the sound opens at either
end to the Atlantic
Thus Quissett, nearly surrounded by
water, has breezes from the harbor, the
bay, the sound and the open sea, from
every point Of the compass. Unlike most
seaside places, it is environed with
greenness and trees, having what would
be called in the west rolling prairie,
much resembling moors, as well as
knobs, headlands and no little diversified
scenery, splashed here and there with
fresh water ponds and lakes The place
is scarcely known save in the neighbor-
hood.
John NJ Forbes, the Boston million
aire owns Naushon and several cont$g-
uous islands connected by bridges and
has his summer home there So do his
sons, Colonel William Forbes, whose
wife is the elder daughter of the late
Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Malcolm
Forbes, owner of the famous yachts