The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-21
NEwPORT'S OTHER SIDE
A SUMNER CITY WHICH - POOR As
WELL A. RICH roR PATRONS.
The Public Hears Only of Those Who
Live In Palaces. but There Is An
other Large Class of Visitors.
" ]. Henderson. in New York Times.

concerned onlv with the d0ings OF the rich
and socially distinguished. for il makes no
matter what the other half OF the world
does. what IL wears. when il dimes. or how
Il COMFORTS itself in the highways or the
portlcos. To read the records OF a season
at this place one would suppose that ii
was. indeed. q city Of palaces: that'only
The Breakers and Bushy Park existed;
that only the royalties moved along Belle
vue avenue. and that al the rest were
servants and tradesmen-
But it is not so. Newport is the alpha
and omega OF society. It is the place where
the ends Of the earth come together. 1t IS
the point at which the poles meet. II is
the home OF the extremes OF mankind and
OF the methods and the manners Of life.
Once upon a time il was a great CONNER
cial port. so great that Benjamin Franklin
expressed a faint hope that some cay poor
little New York might equal ii. The slave
trade made men rich. and the harbor was
sown with a harvest OF tall. square-rigged
masts where now the slender. naked spars
of a hundred palatial fore-and-afters bar
with gray the changeful sky. The yacht
and the gay song are now where once the
grimy SLAYER and the vulgar ''chanty'
dwelt. But there are shadows in Thames
street Of what once was. There are still
sailors boarding houses and groggeries of
a type familiar 10 South street in New
York. NightfaH sees the street alive with
@ motley crowd Of humans-sailors OF
yachts in their natty costumes. square,
shouldered soldiers from Fort Adams.
yacht shippers with gold lace. stewards
with baskets seeking replenishments for
larders. numbering hremen and oilers from
the engine-rooms Of private steamships.
rolling Jackies from the war vessels, local
boatmen OF shrewd and sun-scoTched cOun-
tenances. pert and saucy minxes. clad in
cheap hnery, houting their foolish smiles
In the faces OF all the drifting crowd OF
men.
float up and down & street which is foul
with the accumulated filth of years. Never
did the street cleaner ply his sanitary voca-
tion in this lean and odoriferous avenue. 1t
Is the same yesterday, to-day and forever.
the idle. dirty, crowded, reeking Thames
street that fronts the harbor of New
port.
AN UNATTRACTIvE QUARTER.
Now turn UP one of the streets that run
a. right angles to this one. Narrow. i'll
lighted. if lighted at all, ill-paved. with
idewalk so narrow that one must take
10 the street to pass every projecting
stoop. these streets are lined with homes
OF the humblest sort. Some of them seem
to be populated entirely by colored people.
and the pickaninnies trip you up as you
pass DN Just as I0cA 90 IN some OF lHt
streets of the sunny South. Presently you
run suddenly against a stone wall, above
which rise evergreen trees and rose bushes.
and beyond which is the faint glow of
shaded lights. and you know that you
have come to Bellevue avenue. Cross the
avenue. upon which stand some of the resi-
dences whose dOings are the food or the
Newport chrOnicleT. Again. you come to
plain homes. To some that are indeed more
than plain. they are even squalid.
And in these cross streets you will find
dozens of mean-loOking houses presenting
sign-boards which inform you that they are
boarding houses OF hotels. And there is
every evidence that they are all crowded.
Board i'm them is as cheap IS IL is at any
modest place in Sullivan county or along
the Jersey coast. The people whom you see
sitting on the verandas are of the same
type as you see at the minor beaches
around New York. And they TEEN. these
people. Newport is full OF them. They
do not wear fine garment and they speak
the speech Of the East Side of New York.
Their manners arc OF the unveneered kind
and their laugh is far-sounding. They are
good. honest people. no doubt. but they
never see their names in the papers unless
they are in a railway accident or a Wander
bilt automobile knocks them down in Belle
vue avenue. Many OF them look like clerks
or statesmen from small stores. Some of the
men have the appearance OF workingmen.
Many of the women look like seamstresses
or saleswomen on their vacations. Newport
Is full OF such people. And there are some
few amusements for them
O THE MULTITUDE.
There Is the perennial trolley car. with its
airy prospects. it's rapid changeful view of
nature. its heeting glimpse of the rich and
the great as they fit by I'm their jaunting
ears or their steam wagons. its easy lines
OF social cognizance and It's inevitable rest
at the picnic grounds or the public beach
There are two beaches in Newport, one for
the elect and one for those who are in
outer darkness. AT the latter, to which the
kindly trolley carries you, you may get d
hafhfnp GHIf and "a hnnGR for al PEpfG nj
may disport yourself in a surf which has
all the gentility and laziness OF q high
bred swell. This surf Is never rude. 1t
passes by you with an air OF cool hauteur.
II pays no attention to You. There are
times when il is sadly marred by the pres
Cnce of seaweed. which clings To you with
Clammy persistence. but il is a good
natured surf anG would never upset the dig
nity of Il pOrtly gentleman or "A prim school
ma'am from Massachusetts idling away
her summer IN maiden meditation. perhaps
not fancy free.
This beach is one of the places where rich
and poor summer Visitors at Newport may
meet. for there are some summer visitors
who have not the entree into the sacred
circle, and yet possess sufleient dross OF this
world 10 make a prcfenSe OF being of the
elect. And there Is one place at which the
chosen society and the poor inhabitant OF
the cheap Newport boarding house and the
soldier from the fort and the sailor from
the yacht all meet. and that is the OPEN
air vaudeville show. There the hack stands.
beside the automobile within the inclosure.
and the trolley car halts at the corner. And
We 1NNAA III tNfLAAAE AAN-T So III tie 0N%
in the grand staud-for the theater is in a
ball grouud-while the sailor sits in the pil
and smokes his pipe. And ali apparently
enjoy with equal ZeSt a vaudeville enter
talnment which for utter and complete
villainy has seldom been equaled in this
Vaudeviile-ridGeu world. When the show is
over the rich and the pocr withdraw into
their separate spheres. the boarding house
inmate 10 the Bellevue-avenue ice cream
shops. the sailor 20 his groggery in Thames
street. and the swell TO Berger where he
may pay something more than Waldorf
Astoria prices for a Newport supper.
CROWDS NOT IN II SWIM.
Every one knows why the rich and the
socially great come 10 Newport. 1t is their
chosen Mecca. their summer paradise. Re-
firing behind the huge walls Of their pal
aces. they may dine and dance and GOSSIP
as they are wont TO do at home and rest
safe from the fear that they may bs
brought into contact with the ordinary
men and women who are engaged in carry
ing on the progress Of the world. Exclu-
siveness Is at their and that 4:
what they desire.
But no one can tell why the poor-fol
they are p0or-come 10 Newport. They Ee'
very little for their money. The houses iI
which they dwell are badly located. the,
are small. they are uncomfortable and the,