The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-08-11

A Visit to the Resort and It's Paia.
tial Summer Homes.


1t Is Doing the Public a Splendid Service
by Passion for Good Roads''-A $685.
900 Canal Joining Lakes for Their
Launches and Sailing Craft Flowers
and Shrubbery In Reckless Profusion-
Musings on the Search for Pleasure.
OcOnOmOWOc, Wis, Aug. S.-MilliOn-
aires at close range are interesting.
The range was not very close the day
was at Oconomowoc I peered
through the fence at them as they
played golf at the Country club two
and a half miles from town; and took
dinner with them at Draper Hail. The
latter is the privilege of all. Pay at
the counter as you pass out.
I don't suppose they were all mill
ionaires, but we will concede them out
of the immediate reach of want. I
could not help thinking how big a
purse they made up for New Rich
mOnd.
One young fellow at my table came
in with weary. worldly air. The girl
passed him the menu card and he said
languidly that he would take a leg of
mutton, corn on the cob and lettuce
She asked him if he wanted some
broth or vegetables, or some desert,
but he said he didn't
1t was splendid. 1 think he was try
ing to impress me, who am a plain
man and bear the stamp of the great
middle class.
Don't Affect the Intellectual.
OcOnOmOwOc is the seat of great
wealth-the summer seat These city
people flock there in April or May,
and tarry until September, or even Oc-
tober, with their scarlet sweaters, dog
carts, $1,000 sloop skinner bottoms
and golf-sticks. They do not affect
the intellectual. They contribute to
the city library down town. One WISH
tor won suit against the telephone
company for cutting his trees. He
gave the verdict to the library. But
they don't want to be lectured to, and
I did not learn that any one was even
teaching them whist, or tossing off a
few thoughts on the latter days of
Dante Or o'clock parlor teas. Monona
assembly would not interest them.
They are rich and don't affect culture.
There is a superb and artistic EpiscO-
pal church on one of the lakes, bound
ed by a sheen of polished green turf,
and here occur the stunning marriage
ceremonies that "Town Topics" sends
a man out to report. There is a gem
of a rectOry at hand.
[ hope the rector tells the truth to
these genial idlers. [ am sure the
priest does in the Catholic church,
where a goodly contingent of the visi-
tors go.
o.rIy Oh, nfu tod wifi IN al
There are forty lakes and ponds
within nine miles of Oconomowoc-
the "Oconomowoc lake district" it is
called. The lakes are all small. None
of them more than four miles long.
They are narrow and have bays and
they wind in and out. Many of them
are hung on the little OcOnOmOWOc
river like beads on chain. In some
places this rivulet is so narrow that
a lame dog could jump it. These bod
les of water have picturesque charm
that our big Madison lakes do not pos
sess. The latter have majesty. Those
summer people evidently prefer small
lakes People can see each other more
easily. Here they spin about in their
naphtha and gasoline launches. John
Dupee has an electric launch, with full
equipment to charge the machine.
What strikes one about this society
end of life is it's exclusiveness. Drap-
! er Hall-the big hotel-and the TWEEN
ty or thirty magnificent cottages
some of them regal estates, costing
hundreds of thousands Of dollars,
through which one drives amid a par
adise of foliage, brilliant floral beds,
rare trees, pebble Work-cOntain the
elect. They are the members of the
Country club, where most of the time
| is spent. There are two or three 9th
er hotels in the city-large, extensive
affairs-and the lakes are dotted with
smaller hotels, and every farmhouse
has it's coterie of summer bOarders in
all the country round but these people
are strictly not in it. The society set
! know each other.
On the way to the Country club we
passed a hotel. There were we'll
| dressed ladies with their children and
! maids on the lawn, and down on the
| bank of the lake were some city men
| trying to induce bullhead or a sun
fish to give up its young, innocent life
! that a story of triumph might be re-
| cited next winter in some Chicago par
| lOr. In6S0 people were SUum0iluS
only half a mile from the club, but the
notice, Admission Only to Members, .
was as a guardian angel with fam
ing sword.
Qualification To "I8e in It."
| A young man from Marshall Fields
might room at Draper Hall until old
| age disabled him from leaving his
room, but he would never foozle q
golf stick with the society of Ocon-
omowoc. He might be as handsome as
Adonnis and as brilliant in converse.
ton as Ambassador Choate, but the
young ladies of the cottages who dineC
at the hotel would never know him
They might eye him with interest anC
go to their rug-draped verandahs tc
| read, with rest, romances of stern pa
pas who utterly failed to keep Virginia
Bondclipper from the arms of Charles
Ribborcutter; but there the romance
would end. The only hope for Mar
! shall Fields boy-clerk would be tt
make a million as Mr.. Higginbothan
has done: or own the auditorium will