New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-03-21
NANTUCKET WOMEN.
WHAT THEY DO IN WINTER.
SHUT IN THE IcE-THE STORY OF roop
WOMEN INTELLECTUAL ASPECT
THE ISLAND.

Sffti IN iib l'E-ihb
WOMEN INTELLECTUAL ASPECT
OF THE ISLAND.
Nantucket March 9-They are not at all ANA
IONS. these alert Nantucket women, In spite Vi
what might be the logical outcome or ther iso'a-
ton and of the generations preceding them OF
pluck and endurance and efficiency that nave maue
the island women famous since those strenuous
days Of the early settlement. when their ingenuity
devised means for extracting from yellow pump
kins the requisite sweetening for the babies mix
This present generation Of domestic ana pubic
spirited women are. in appearance at least nowise
peculiar. They do not even wear bicycle skirts'
though some OF their daughters do they AFFECT
nothing odd nor masculine in manners or attire
and not one OF them short hair. lndee'i
they are simply delightful people to dine with. to
play or work with convene with. 1t is true
that. having known each other, If not from the
cradle at least from the cent school,, IL may nap
pen at one of their business meetings. when every
thing Is going smoothly according TO Cushing, tnat
n member a bi. irritated at some action on the part
Of the Chair and forgetful OF the temporary Off
cal distance between herself and her first cousin.
perhaps will suddenly excIaim in remonstrance.
why. Sophronia, what ails your But that Is only
an extreme case. of course. and we are all human,
however advanced we may be.
WAITING FOR THE ICE TO GO.
AS every one knows thirty miles of blue or green
or sometimes white Atlantic ocean separates Nan
tucket from her nearest neighbors. and on the
south and east there no neighbors at all until
you get the Azores. and unless one is a lnsuist
there are reasons other than distance for not being
on speaking terms with them. Thirty miles of open
sea will furnish limitless potentates in the line
OF weather combinations. that in winter par
ticulary reaching Nantucket at all Is somewhat OF
problem. even after setting out from the main
land. The ice comes down from all along the coast
filling the Sound further and further out. until It
meets the icy shores OF Nantucket, and If her har
Dor was not already frozen solid the floating Ice
presses in and arranges that little matter In the
space Of one tide When this is effected there
Is nothing to be done but wait with what pa
thence may for the only known means, a warm
wet south wind to loosen the grip OF the foreign
Ice and send IL away on the tide out 70 sea. II IS
a curious fact that during protracted freeze-up
there is always just about the middle OF H. one
chance to make connection with the island, and 1t
is for this chance people sometimes wait on the
mainland for days sitting in the little parlor of the
hotel at Woods Hole most of the time watching
eagerly gilt Gabriel on A neghboring spire. who
points his trumpet ever TO the southeast and blows
for the wind that does not obey his summons. Per
haps during the time the pilgrims rise while II Is
yet night and start out in the steamer which
valiantly grnds and bangs about in the ice for
few hours. making so little Roadway that it Is
thought best to return. which II does with diff
Guilty. and with paddlewheels covered with ice
that as one stands the doorway of the paddle
box it is like looking into frozen waterfall in
huge ice cavern; and the noise as the great cakes
are flung against the sides with each revolution is
something terrific, and the steamer trembes from
stem to stern. Sometimes a metropolitan reporter
makes his way with the south wind to the island 20
write up the sufferngs Of the inh9 bitants during
the freeze-up. This is very annoying TO the island
ers who inherit from their whaling ancestors the
custom of laying in winter supplies sufficient for
Cape Horn voyage. and to whom the interruption
Of communication with the continent for few
days, or even weeks, is, materially at least mat
ter of no moment whatever
It is not wonderful that these Nantucket
women have developed to such extent the facul-
ties of self-reliance and good management when
one considers that a housewife used to be left for
perhaps five years at time to get along as best
she could when there were few outside aids to the
business or pleasure of living. If there was money
to start with, of course things easier. but If
there wasn't the women took up at the grocer's
the butchers and other supply depots and the bills
were settled when the head of the family came
home and received the amount OF his lay the
end of the voyage. which lasted from three to five
years. II the voyage had been prosperous and the
housewife thrifty, there great rejoicing over
the surplus. Of which a large portion was sailed
down" for the uncertain future. Sometimes the
good women especially II there no children 10
care for would support themselves wholly in
part during the absence of the husband by sewing.
knitting some other quiet occupation. There
was captain who demanded from his wife
a veritable New England nun'-the bills TO be
paid by him There none" she replied. Il
have made shirts enough 10 pay them" And the
burly captain, powerful fellow and one not TO be
trifed with off soundings, reduced to utter
weakness by this brief history Of patient toilins
through the long years. why. Mary That was
all he could say before the tears came.
Sometimes. alas. there were disappointment and
sorrow to cloud the homecoming when the voyage
had been disastrous or there had been msmanage-
ment at home, or Illness 10 contend WIN or, worst
of all when the dull years of waiting had been too
strain for the inexperienced heart and nigh
spirits of some young wife, and prudence had been
thrown 10 the winds. These last cases were, hap
PLY rare among the busy. vigorous islanders.
THE ISLAND FORTUNES.
OF course 1t is easy how in the whaling
days merchants of all classes could in a short
time comparatively. amass a snug little fortune,
but some old bills that turned up the Historical
Association Rooms the other day show that il
must have been rather a strain for professional
DAYS Clergymen seem 10 have been paid largely in
produce and queer produce" II sometimes was;
while doctors-but here is a bona-fde bill that
would be rather appalling TO a modern Nj. D.,
only because OF the smallness of the amount, but
also because OF the length OF time before 1t
settled without interest. one may by the
process of subtraction the back of the Bit OF
Ff $500
ll1S