Los Angeles herald., 1906-09-26
NEWpoRT

Viewing IL dispasslonatoly, the worse
defect of all about Newport Is that Il is
not very important. Tow the court end
Of It off shore and sink IL with an its
palaces and as many Of its inhabitants
as happened to be at home, aud though
the world would gasp and gulp ana
shudder, It would spin on Just tne
same. and the main resulting difference,
besides personal bereavements, would
be some changes in bookkeeping. That
is true Of many places, put that III
should be true of Newport Is somewhat
notable, because to look at Newport
you would think II vas Important. but
il isn't: not very. little more tinpor-
tant than Cottage city, perhaps though
Cottage CITY has a claim to religious
efficiency that it could hardly rival ~
Is not related by any indispensable
bonds to what Is going on in our brisk
country. 1t has very little indeed TO
do with government and rot very much
TO do with business. 1t does not seem
To foster literature nor art, being too
dear a place for tho arts to thrive In.
IL fosters cooks and buffers, grooms and
motermen, yacht skippers. milliners,
and material minded mammas, and
milionaires.
Are not these mean things to say
about the pretty summer city with its
hospitable houses? Maybe they are too
mean and do the town an injustice.
But pleasuring in itself Is not important
yet in American eyes. and only gathers
respectability IN the measure in which
Il constitutes the recreation of people
whose energies are considered to be
worth recruiting. Moreover, the pleasur-
ing of Newport has come to seem
tainted with the same defect that Is so
prevalent i'm all American sport. 1t
seems a liL.,e too professional. Some of
the players in the game are not out for
mere Joy, but seem to have an eye for
Interior emoluments. others make the
game the whole business of their lives,
and are not properly to be classed with
amateurs who only find in 1t tenn
porary avocation. Is It not, like foot
ball, somewhat too earnest and labor
ious an exercise, and deficient in that
forgetfulness of self which is indis-
pensable to profitable recreation?
Supposing that we are not disposed,
when we get our money, to spend 1t on
a house and a garden in Newport, what
is the basis of that indisposition, and
where is the place that we shall prefer
to put down roots? Somewhere, |
Judge, where either the work that goes
on Is more important or T. rest Is
more complete; somewhere where it is
easier to shape ones individual or
family life according to ones taste or
whm; somewhere where there is more
room and fewer formalities. To the eye
of the observer from the outside there
seems to be not enough real sustenance
in Newport society to pay for keeping
ones coat on in hot weather, and taxi
ing ones dinner in a starched collar and
a boiled shirt. To be exposed to the in
fuences of nature is considerably heal
ing to the spirit, even if Nature wears
as many ruff1es as she does-say on st.
Regis lake. To keep in touch with in
spring people is also worth while, but
two or three such people are as good as
fifty. But to keep in touch with the
formalities of life and all it's modern
improvements seems hardly suitable
end to spend ones summer strength on.
For summer or two one might ven
ture it just to acquire new knowledge,
but putting down roots in a soil devoted
to that sort of a crop is a different mat
ter.-Harper's Weekly.