Evening journal., 1908-09-21
A SUMMER In NEW
ENGLAND
ey A. S.

An ideal vacation resort is Easton.
7 Massachusetts. with its invigorating
air, picturesque scenery and rockbound
coast and the historic and literary as
sociations that cluster thickly about
all of its most beautiful localities OF
these Cape Ann, stretching boldly into
the Atlantic ocean, its granite head
lands defying the fury of gale and
storm, has the most varied attractions
for a summers stay. With its deep
harbors and sharp promontories. il
looks as IL the ocean had gnawed out
the softer parts. leaving only the in
digestible rocks, relics of prehistoric
ages, when glaciers fretted these head
lands and overlaid them with deposits
of boulders and pebbles. The shore is
so strewn with stones. worn round and
smooth by the attrition OF centuries
that it looks as though it had rained
rocks. Cavities are ground in the fiinty
granite by the friction of these pebbles
and chasms are worn that receive the
incoming wave and derisively toss it
high in air against the precipitous
cliffs at whose base the waves fret and
fume. A charm of the place is the
contrast of peaceful rural scenes with
these untamable lodges and boulders.
Though the woods are often austere
with their solemn pines and cedars,
chanting a solemn music like an echo
iof the everlasting roar of the surge;
there are everywhere bits Of idyllic
beauty quiet little nook by a brook
lside, willow shaded lanes, wide green
meadows with slow stream meander-
ing through or widening into a pool,
refiecting the sky in its quiet bosom,
unconscious OF the raging ocean close
lat hand. The old New England pas
lures, "the bayberry- scented slopes" ="
lare charming, If pastures they can
be called, where there Is scarcely 70 ID
for goat between the rocks. But the
turf is springy and soft like that of an
English down, and the brown and
scanned rocks are almost hidden by
wild roses, by baybushes with their
waxen blue berries, by the graceful,
dropping corals OF the barberry, by
sweet fern and golden rod, and every
where are "bowery hollows crowned
with summer seas" for the point is
. so surrounded that the sea is always
visible; under a sunny sky, as blue as
the Mediterranean, under a breeze
ruffied by white caps, or leaden and
i. sullen under storm clouds, or on the
:. gray, misty days, beloved of artists
when there is no distinguishing line
between sea and sky and the ships
seem to melt into the landscape. Often
/. there is a charming glimpse Of a bit
. of blue sea and distant sail framed
a by gnarled old apple bough, or a long
sweep of blue seen across a stretch OF
well-kept green lawn.
"Breasting the ocean billows,
Kissed by the salt sea air.
Bright in the glow of the summer sun
With its rocks and roses fair,
lWhere is there lovelier headland,
Under the blue sky's span,
Than this, our sea-girt home,
Beautiful old Cape Ann?"
From Pigeon Hill, whose summit Is
marked by two old elms bent by the
winds of many winters. the view
sweeps from Thatcher's Island on the
south and the coasts of Massachusetts
and Maine stretching 70 the north
ward clear around Cape Ann to Annis-
guam and Gloucester. Pleasure craft
and fishing boats dot the sea as IL their
only mission were to add TO the beauty
of the scene, and little motor boats
puff breathlessly along, cleaving the
water and leaving a wide wake behind
while far out at sea are ghost-like sails
along the hazy horizon. The only blots
on the landscape are the derricks and
tall dfhlneys Of the various granite
companies that are destroying much OF
the beauty Of these New England
shores
This cape was discovered about 900
years ago by Thorwald. a Norseman,
whores he gazed at it's beauty said,
Here would fix my dwelling" Pro-
phetic words. for here no was killed by
Indians Before he died he said, "This
Is beautiful spot; bury me here!
plant a cross at my head and call the
place TSross- Ness The Cape Of the
Cross" The next to land on the
headland was Chevalier Champlain,
who in 1906 named the beautiful har-
Dor "Le Beau Port" But In 1914 Cap
tain John Smith, passing by, rechrist-
ened the fair headiand "Tragabig
Zanda," for n beautiful Turkish lady
who aided his escape from a Moslen
prison. OF this episode in its history
Whittier wrote:
"On yonder rocky cape that braves
The stormy challenge OF the waves,
Mid tangled pine and dwarfish wood,
The hardy Anglo-Saxon stood
And planted on Its topmost crag
The shaft OF England's battle flag;
And while from out its heavy fold,
st. Georges crimson cross unroiled,
Mid roll Of drums and trumpets blare
And weapon. brandishing in air,
Iie gave to that lone promontory
The sweetest name OF all his story,
or her. the flower Of Islam's daughters
Whose harem looks Ger stamboult
waters;
who. when the chance of war hac
bound
The Mosiem chain his limbs around,
Wreathed Ger with silk that iron chair
Soothed with her smiles his hours el
pain.
And fondly to her youthful slave
A dearer gift than freedom gave"
This rather unwieldy eognomen wal
] later changed by Prince Charles to III
present form in honor OF his mother
Anne of Denmark The light -heuse
and life saving stations that mari
every headland tell a silent but i'm
pressive story of the dangers Of thi
rocl5-beund cape. In the past awent!
years IL has seen more than $50 tota
wrecks and $50 partial ones. Now anC
then storm casts a vessel on tn
pitliess rocks. There is crunchinI
and grinding OF timbers and a shor
strewn with wreekage, The need Of