The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-29
BY H. Irving King.

of the advanced guard of the sun,roe,
forces; or, rather, the scouts cooa e.
look over the land, get their houses
open and their servants, horses. and
carriages at least partially established
for the season. The people do M,
really settle down to living in Neu,no,,
until month later, but content them.
selves with passing a part of the TINA
there. Through June the arrivals ara
OF more permanent order-people who
really have come to spend the summer
with handbook and bundle. autonoo.
bile and French cook By July the
season may be said to have really
opened: the Avenue is festive of after.
Moons, the bathing beaches are thronp-
ed, Thames street takes on its mic.
turesque crowdedness and the lights
glow at night from the great palaces.
along the cliffs, while the sounds of
music reaches far out into the dark
ness to mingle with the noise of tho
surf and be heard by drowsy sailors
coasting down the seas as their yes
sells draw by the enchanted citv of
summer.
And before the music and the lights
the real old society at Newport. gath
erlhg lts skirts about it, in disdain,
fees with scornful nose.
There are families which. coming m
Newport first as summer visitors real
ly have settled down as citizens Of
the town and have become, to some ex-
tent, 1dentlf1ed with the place, and now
live there nearly all the year round
But by the really old Newporters these
orshoots of the summer colony are
still regarded as exotics-not really
people of the soil.
There exists in Newport the remnant
OF an old colonial aristocracy which
Hourishes with a genteel and subdued
manner in the winter months and dis
appears entirely in the summer. fading
away as the summer colony begins to
grow and flourish. This old society
HVes In curious old houses smelling of
wood fires and lavender; the women
OF the set will show you the brocaded
petucoat in which their charming an
cestress danced with Rochambeau. or
the ian with which she flirted with the
Chevalier- de Terney. 1t is a nice old
society most simple and pleasant and
stately, having a way of saying things
that makes one think of mfnuets and
harpsichords, Washington and His
Generals" and the Book of Beauty"
But 1t can not bear the modern splen-
DOR of the summer colony, which If
dislikes. Would not any person with
$4,000 dislike another who sat down
alongside of him with twenty millions :?
so the two sorts OF high society" do
not m1ngle. They try 70 ignore each
others existence as much as possible
Inc only Newport. society the great
world knows is the rich society of the
summer. 1t is a most difficult one to
arrive" in. Many folk, after spending
any amount of money, have given up
the attempt after a few seasons and
gone elsewhere to spend their sum-
mers. The favorite entrance into its
inner circles for those who are not
born there is by way of London, but
even that path is not so sure of lead
ing to the goal as it used to be. The
colony is diveded into strata En-
trance into the higher ones depends
for one thing upon long family has
made Newport it's summer home. New
port ceased to exist as a great COM
mercial port with the revolutionary
war. Then, in the forties, the wealthy
Southerners discovered it and each
summer saw them assembled there in
force with their best of everything in
clothing and slaves, horses and car
riages. A great deal of dignity and
~iOI a hLllC IllliCSnCe III us way
attached to the "afo' de wah" society
of the South which used to assemble
in Newport. The predominant ting soci-
ETY. of the place always has been given
TO doing things on a grand scale
there is something in the air and the
sunshine tangled in the fringes of The
sea" which makes one want to glow
and glitter as much as he can.
Even that old colonial society, the
cd Is sah
lusterless and prim, was gaudy and
brilliant in it's day. Could any feast
of the old slave-holding aristocracy,
or of their successors, the captains of
industry exceed in the free magnifi-
cence of its setting forth the dinner
given by old Col. Godfrey Malbone
at his seat of Malbone Hall? When
the tables were spread and the guests
assembled the house was discovered
to be on fire. The doughty old Colonel
ordered the tables to be removed TO
the lawn, and there he and his guests
ate heartily and drank heavily, after
the manner of those times, while the
burning house was the torch Whlch
lighted their revels.
Such tales as this and stories OF the
French occupation during the war OF
the revolution are dear to the hearts
of the oldest old society of Newport.
1Hey ike TO tell OF lne NRudhcl hi"iNNh
who fell in love at first sight with
Rochambeau, and threw rose at ms
feet as he passed down over the NH,
riding with Washington The ghost
OF the maiden, dust and ashes so many
years, still haunts one of the New
port houses. Bret Harte makes her
spirit come back as a faint sweet
odor of mignonette." but the oioer
story is that of rose a..
Harte wrote his Newport LeseHu
IN the Bonaparte house, over toward
the fort. a house he occupied Tor
time and house filled with many
fancies. Here used to come some
times Betsy Patterson, wife OF Je-
rome. King OF Westphalia, poor
shrveled old woman In her
later years. but with eyes from
which upon occasion would nash
out a glance OF that spirit with Whloh'
IN the pride OF her majestic beauty
she played AZ the game Of empire WIN
Kings and emperors. a house does nor
hato 20 be old In Newport IN order 70
nave memories and associations OF gen
efal interest attaching 20 a. what can
~ more melancholy than the Mhfpls
House. standing lonely ana deHsr tsu
place built for pleasure, ~ Nnlln
~ happy moment ever entered, a pia.r
mere wealth fell down, heipieHa !.
.fnish happiness. People ippA e..