The Republican journal., 1903-01-22

FAIR ISLE AU HAUT.

As Editor Eaton Sees Her in His Dreams.
There is hardly a person in Eastern
Maine who has arrived at mans estate
and who has enjoyed the privileges OF
his environment, who has not paid one
or more visits to that paradise OF unal-
loyed delight which the old French ex-
plorers named Isle au Haut. Upon this
island kingdom dwells race of fisher
men-farmers that has no equal IN the
world. Along its shores are herring,
cod. hake, haddOck, cunners and mack
erel for the catching; among Its coves
and tortuouS bays are SpraWllng loD-
sters and crabs that come up at high
tide and beg to be converted into sal
ads. and in the rich mud of its shores
lurk such gigantic and such juicy CLAIMS
that he who eats thereof shall lovingly
remember the island while reason sits
enthroned In the village proper, hard
by the sounding sea, A. J. H. Turner,
most skilled blacksmith, manufactures
andirons for the summer visitors and
engraves them with dates reaching back
to times prior to when the Pilgrims ran
ashore on Plymouth Rock. On the lower
end of this ocean gem the red fox roams
wild and comes to the shores on moon
light evenings and barks at Sol. Hamll-
ton for the purpose of hearing him turn
his vocabulary loose.
1t has always been the JOY and pride
of those who dwelt in Ellsworth, Bucks
port, Castine and other nearby towns,
that Isle au Haut was part and parcel
of Hancock county. Senator Buck OF
Orland beams with JOY when he recltes
the fact-and Speaker to- be Fellows
seeks out the shady hooks which over
look the sea and hugs himself content
edly when he realizes that he and Isle
au Haut are both residents Of the same
county. For to know Isle au Haut in
timately is better than to be on friend
ly terms with Edward VII. of Engla
and the acquaintance is not nearly so
expensive. In view of the pardonable
pride with which citizens of Hancock
county refer to Isle au Haut, 1t came
to us as shock when we learned that
this sweet island was dissatisfied with
the environment and had desire to
migrate into Knox county, where 1t
would soon be swallowed up and lost
among the multitude of other islands.
Why, during the past dozen years hun
dreds of acres of Knox county islands
have gone adrift in the Atlantic ocean
and been lost from the map of Maine
owing to the fact that Knox county
was a Democratic county and did not
know how to look out for her islands.
OF course, if Isle au Haut really wishes
to go over to The Democracy, as 1t were,
the legislature will consider her case
and use her right But she had better
think twice before taking the step;
For the past POO years her celebrated
'Reach" has been the chosen haunt OF
the hunting case clam, but if the island
is annexed to Knox county, the CLANS
will flee the sand flats and the man who
goes down to dig for his breakfast at
low tide will run his pronged hoe IN the
fats and find nothing but empty bottles.
And most everybody knows what a bit
ter disappointment an empty bottle is
| before breakfast.
So we hope for the sake OF the good
people of Hancock county, and Tor the
] good name of Isle au Haut that the
island of pure delight will stay where
it is, and that those who do not know
the sweetness of Isle au Haut may go
there at once by taking the tram to
Bucksport, thence by stage to SARGENT
vile, from which place they can cross
Eggemoggin Reach by ferry and resume
stage transportation to Green's Land
ing in the town of Stonington, from
which place there is easy water COM
munication with all parts of Isle au
Haut.-Bangor News.