New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-12-16

+to +o,,,, ~ NewDort: the more practical attrao-
+io, of ito facilities for claiming and fishing
was the inducement By 1929. however. the
fame of its agreeable and salubrious climate h<'o
gone abroad and tnvalds. Southerners ana h1is-
Itch settlers in the west Indies had begun TO
flock thither to regain their health ana strene'
in it's cool and mildly bracing summer air. The
climate is said to be positive cure for inso'h-
mia, and there are those who claim that no
teething infant ever lost its life in Newport"
while the number Of it's hearty and active octo-
genarians attests that those, at least, who nave
passed through that critical second summer
have favorable chance for attaining lohse'ilS'
How far these advantages have determined inc
present vogue of the place as summer Jesuit
or how far it's present activities are calculated 70
enhance them the author does not undertake TO
say.
What these activities are who engage IN tnenl
and where they live and what their houses are
like Mrs. Van Rensselaer, tells in progressive
account of the development Of the city as
watering place, and in descriptive story OF It's
natural beauties taking the reader with her on
a personally conducted tour from beach to beach
along the cliffs and through the principal THOR
oughfares to the various points OF scenic ana
historic interest She does not attempt 10 setue
any of the controversies regarding the hrst dls-
.co7,ery Of the island or the origin Of its name.
She simply states both sides and let's the reader
take his choice. Left the Lucky may have peen
the first European to visit the place. but II Is
a more generally accepted belief that Giovanni !
da Verrazanf discovered Aqudneck about l9Z4.
Even the "old mill" remains as much mystery
90 ever after the author has devoted chapter
tn if She quotes the views of numerous 1nVestl-
gators but is not disposed to incline with favor
TO that which would destroy SO much OF us To-
nance by Identifying it with Governor behe-
dict ArnoId's grist mill. Her own suggesuon'
that it may have been erected by snpWreckeu
mariners as pharos, has more imagination lii0h
probability to recommend it.
However much fashion may dominate the
Newport of to-day it is nos to be forgotten that'
coincidentally with fishing and clam digging re-
ligious motives actuated its settlement as they
did the whole of the little commonwealth OF
which if was for three centuries the joint capital
with Providence Not the least interesting cnaP~
ters in the volume are. those relating 10 us re-
ligious founders appropriately headed Win LiuS.
trations of Bishop Potters summer teSlueliCo
and the .Jevish synagogue. typifying the broad
minded nrinciples with which its founders WEI
coined II creeds within it's limited borders iou
aye harborine Quakers here. l am amazeo! eA-
cIai,,,e5 q scandalized visiting Pilgrim father
and the Society of Friends still meets In New
mort With Providence Newport contends Tor
TIM credit of being the birthplace of the BaptlstS
o,d +bare was at least Baptist church there
a. earIv as 1911 The Yeshuat Israel (SaiVat1on
Of Israeli, organized in 1850, claims to be the
Oldest Jewish congregation in America, ana the
synagogue in Touro-st. was built IN 1903. us
founders were men of education, generosity ana
business acumen. They introduced freehaSohiy
and the manufacture of spernacetl canoIes' anu
incidentally formed the first trust III the country
when seventeen of these candle factories COM
ar11 L..
Even in the face of so much lberaiity in mat
ters OF belief as distinguished the early New
porters 1t is strange to find their descendants
annually engaging in survival OF pagan
ceremony, which seems TO be peculiar 10 tle
place. Thus Mrs. Van Rensselaer, describes II:
Fastons beach is always crowded with people
Easter morning, who sing the Doxoogy as the Sun
great rejoicngs but this remarkable sight is sci
dom wfnesSed o ~ Is not co1ded The people
themselves seem to regard 1t as most 9Iotid ~
their oWn PLEASURE ana hardly worth mentioning
having no idea that they are perIor nut It seems
strange that it should be religloGsiy end has
been unchronicled by any of the writer's on me
subject OF mystic rites
But the conduct of Newporters has ever peen
notably contradictory. If religious tolerance
was factor in its early prosperity. no less was |
its liberation of the slave trade, piracy ana |
privateering-often convenient CLOAK ior the !
tvro other Industries. Yet the reckless ana
daring seamen. who engaged in these unhalo"eo
enterprises became the mainstay OF our hrst
navy. and rendered loyal service to their coun-
try in the Revolutionary War. Evidently the
people Of Newport in those days had the same
bappv faculty of clapping the Patches on their
consciences when it seemed to their advantage, |
&C had the Quaker skipper John Hull. of whom
the author relates the following anecdote:
ono of England's naval commanders was Ad-
I'll wager During his youth he had been ap- !
Irenticed to a Newport Quaker by the name Q.
2g,bn Hull who sailed packet between newport