Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-08-09
'fAyXyy0fOVOC.
A Visit to the Resort and Its PaIa.
s*t.stia&S Summer Homes.
THE ARIsTOCRACY OF WEALTH.

~ Is ooihg the Public a Splendid Service
by "a Passion for "Good Roadss-A $40
o Canal Joining Lakes for Their
launches and saiiiag Craft Flowers
and S~hrub5ery in Reckless Profession
Musings on the Search for p .easure.
oconomowoc, Wis, Aug. 8.-M;llion-
aires at close range are interesting.
The range was not very close the day
| was at 0conomowoc. / 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 Hall. The
latter is the privilege of all. Pay at
the counter as you pass out.
| don't suppose they were all mill
lonaires, but we will concede them out
of the immediate reach Of want. /
could not help thinking how big q
purse they made up for New Rich
mond.
n young fellow at my table came
In with a weary. worldly air. The girl
passed hin the menu card and he said
languidly that he would AXE 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. / 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, 1900 sloop skinner bottoms
n golf-sticks. They do not affect
the intellectual. They contribute to
the city library down town. One WISH
tor won a suit against the telephone
company for cutting his trees. He
gave the verdict to the library. But
they don't wan to be lectured to, and
l did not learn that any one was ever
teaching them whist, or tossing off a
few thoughts on the latter lays OF
Dante or 4 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 Il sheen of polished green turf,
and here occur the stunning marriage
ceremonies that Town Topics sends
a hdH Oul W IGDOII. mere is Il 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.
Waukesha County Dotted with Lakes.
There are forty lakes and ponds
within nine miles Of Oconomowoc-
the "OcOnnmnWOc InEa dictriotJ ;t "a,
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 a chain. In some
places this rivulet is so narrow that
a lame dog could jump it. These bod
les of water have a picturesque charm
that our big Madison lakes do not pos
sess. ifhe latter have majesty. Those
summer people evidently prefer small
lattS. 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 its 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 well
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 a 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. These people were summering
ouly half a mile from the club, but the
notice, Admission Only to Members"
was as a guardian angel with a fam
ing sword.
qualification To "be 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 a
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 dined
Of the h NfGI XUpp1I rtyyor 1rvAur L;x,
They might eve him with interest and
go to their rug-draped verandahs to
read, with rest. romances of stern pa
pas who utterly failed to keep Virginia
Bondclipper from the arms of Charles
R~ibboEcutter; but there the romano
would end. The only hope for Mar
shall Fields boy-clerk would be to
make a million as Mr.. Higginbotham
has done; or own the auditorium with
the Ferdinand Pecks; or cell out to the
whisky trust with Mr.. Schufeldt; or
make a fortune in dime museums as
Mr.. Kohl did; or be the head of the
tin-plate trust like Mr.. w. ID. Leeds;
or own a handsome business like Sim
mons of st. Louis; or q salt business
like l.. J. Petit of Milwaukee; or a
catalogue house like A. Montgomery
Ward; or a commission house like
John Dupee; or be in the pack
ing business like Phil D. Armour's
son; or be d king malster like Mr..
Bullens. Then this young man can
come to Oconomowoc and bring his
golf-stiCks.
Otherwise he must paddle round the
lake with people who do not get their
ame i'll the newspapers and watch
the sun go down with a sweet girl
who perhaps sings in the church choir
in some dear, old town. and will quote
for him Mrs. Browning's Absence"
UNLESS you can muse in a crowd all
day
On the absent face that fixed you;
Unless you can die when the dream is
passed
Oh, never call 1t loving"
Family does not count at Oconomo-
moe. learning cuts no figure. Off
,cial position or rank among men is
nothing. Senator Hoar of Massachu-
sets or Jane Adams, or Mary Will
kins would wear out the seats of their
Y%erandah chairs in solitude.
Citizens Fond of Visitors.
But, mind you, the citizens of Ocon-
omowoc are fond IF these wealthy