The herald., 1898-02-06
Rich Women Who Summer
in Newport Remember
Its Poor.
BOB-TAIL TROLLEY CARS
Ice Boating a New Sport
introduced by Col.
Norman.

Winter visitors to Newport will be
surprised by two things-one. that the
Sound steamers are frequently so badly
crowded that passengers are compelled
to seek rest on the mattress of mid
summer. the other. that the town is not
nearly 30 dead as they expected it to
be.
1t is true that the mansions Of the
millionaire on Bellevue Avenue are
closed, and as forbidding in their aspect
as in summer when guarded by gentle
men of color. There are. however, O
few rich people who live, in Newport
the year round, and form the native
aristocracy of the place.
| The Nor1nans of Boston, also Of wa
terworks' fame, spend much of their
| time on the Isle of Peace'-which, by
| the way, answers to it's Indian name
much better now than it will a few
| months hence.
One of the young Normans, known as
Colonel Norman, because he was on the
Rhode Island governors staff. has in
troduced ice boating as a winter
amusement for himself and the other
residents. 1t is the first time that an
ice-boat has been seen there, and his
friends take very kindly to 1t. They go
sailing on the little reservoir which Ia
close by the Eastern Beacr''-not
very exciting recreation, to go round
and round so small a pond. but it is
easier than skating and can be indulged
at the same time, as a rest from that
active exercise.
The street cars are even more pro-
vincial in winter than in summer. The
bob-tailed horsecar. though fast becom-
ing extinct is familiar to all of u.s. but
the bob-tailed trolley car is peculiar to
Newport. so far as present reports ex-
tend. Ones symruthies, or temper,
according to digestion, are aroused over
the struggles of the conductor of the
ordinary car to keep the trolley pole in
place, but when the Newport car gets
"off it's trolley" and the motorrnan de-
liberately fixes the brake and as delib-
erately gets down off the platform to
walk around the car before anything
can be done towards adjusting the pole,
why then. one begins to appreciate the
use of a street car conductor whose
only function may have heretofore ap-
peared to us to spend itself in telling
us to "step lively when there was no
place to step. and to turn a deaf ear
to our frantic appeals to stop. The
accommodating disposition of the
Newport motorman is unparalleled. AS
a rule, the cars are not supposed to
run down to the beach in winter time,
but If you want to go down he will take
you and come after you on the next
trip without extra charge.
The fashionable women who spend
their summers in gayety in this favor
ite of seaside resorts. may appear to
the casual observer to be selfish ana
careless of the wants Of Others, but he
who visits Newport in winter Will find
that this little city's poor are better
provided for than those OF any other
city in proportion to it's size, as a re-
sult of the fact that "Dives" liveth
there for season and forgetteth not
Lazarus when he departs. Lazarus IS
largely represented by the thrlrtiess
coIored population, yet the rich women
who come there For a snort tlme re-
member only that these same dusky
unfortunates have served them, ana
thev leave large sums of money every
YEAR in the hands of trusted agents to
coo that 1T is wisely expended for the
beneft OF the poor. In summer, II Is
easv for the average man or woman
~ GOOD health to earn living by
working in hotels, as guides. cabmen
ord the like, not to mention the odd
iobs which are done by extra hands on
the large estates of the wealthy, but
an winter there Is nothing to do, ana
we're it not for the contributions of hui
rnane and philanthropic millionaires,
many unfortunates would suffer
ANNIE LAURIE WOODS.
DOWNRIGHT, 1885,