The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1899-10-24
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home in summer
J /,JH Il or when the CARO-
VII. W/hH hunters are storm
EraL.YiJsieAl, bound in winter.
aSz;Y1liS,hst9tIS..all5> w In II chi c Il V
N.IiHHSlN,HAFl; puzzles me is how
~ FS' n.y. first it got abroad,
S@sS ee 80 - for Paul Fralic was
~ - lost and the other
two were most like to keep the mat
ter hid. But / sct it down here-not
IN the picturesque fisher speech.
which is goddess and unrefined-as it
was told me ono summer twilight with
the sky like flaming gold aud all hills
asleep.
BE it known that the south coast of
Nova Scotia is n rampant of solid rock
fronting the Atlantic surges. Some
times the fog wells ITS stern precipices
and gray-bRcl5ed waves beat in from
tho shrouded sea; and sometimes
great calms descend when the head
lands glass themselves all day in the
quiet water. There are huge lodges
cropping up out of the deep, and
sunken rocks where the surf takes on
heavier uote, and miles on miles of
frowninS cliff where the SHOWS lie
strangely white in winter. But there
are also broad harbors and sheltered
coves where the fishermen find
shelter in time of storm.
The place called Tenants is a
good example of the latter It is
wide and deep, with narrow
entrance and a girding of rocky hills.
At its mouth stands fat white light
house, put there, not for the i'm
portanco of the place, but because
Tenant Cap sticks far out into the
Atlantic and the light guides coast
wise vessels to the town twenty miles
AWAY. Seward, east Of the entrance.
lies rock on which many tall ship
has come to grief The charts mark
1T r. cross and the legend
Breaker nearly always shows" The
fisher folk call it "The Bull" be-
cause, hours before q storm rolls M.
los hoarse complaining can be heard
along the coast. Currents which know
no law beat upon in stormy weather,
and OF all tho seafarers who there
have met their doom, not one has ever
reached the shore, alive or dead. The
Bull claims its own and guards its
secret well.
At the head of Tenant Harbor
there is n small village two or three
streets of whitewashed houses, with a
few slim wharvcs thrust out into the
still waters beneath. During certain
seasons of the year the place is lively
enough-wheu the little fleet Of
bankers Is fitting, for example, and
the harbor Is astir with the passage
ofloaded dOries orwhen the schoonerg
return deep-ladcn, and the gaunt fish
siuds creak beneath their Whitening
burden. But ordinarily all is quiet
the men arc absent hall the wear.
while the women and children till the
rough farms or tend the cows and
goats which find scant pasturing on
the stormy hills.
Tenants impressed oomething Of
its own character upon the carly
generations of its settlers. OF former
days it was secluded from the world
withdrawn among its granite rock
and somber pine-scrub. The life
and environment bred sturdy
class; fishermen who piled their
trade from Labrador to Cape Ann.
from the Grand Banks to tho
Georges: sailors who built their own
ships and took them around the
world. There still survives certain
rapability Of heroism-r rough. often
nncoutb, but none tho less genuine.
For many years the place retained
us quaint customs and modes of liy-
ing The houses OF former dav.
crammcd with relics Of ancient vovau-
tuug suNicrJ foo G.b,rf,IL m .