The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1910-08-26
VOL. 35.
Rev. l.. III. Stine.

| VII W my Ilkiit itoi1o w tWo nukc
| boulders which have been holding
the earth down at that point of the
/ harbor for ages and on one of them
is an inscription on a metallic sub
stance commemorative of the first
settlement of Cape Ann. The
boulder marks the sacred spot where
some farmers and fishermen from
Dorchester, England landed in
1923. just 81 years before the settle
ment of Biloxi, Miss, in the year
1920. From the landing of those
English fishermen to the present
time, Gloucester. Mass. has been
one of the first fish manufacturing
centers of the world. Fishing and
farming were the avowed objects of
the colony.
To one brought up west of the
mountains two hundred and sixty
seven years seem like an age. Yes
terday | passed a dwelling built in
1927. The other day | passed a
residence which was reshingled in
1875, and | also passed a very old
house i'm which the poet Whittier
wrote one of his productions. A
visitor from the Mississippi Valley
feels he is standing on historic
ground.
A little farther on from the Me-
mortal rock is another point of land
extending into the harbor which
was made famous by the wreck Of
the Hesperus celebrated by Long
fellow i'm his Wreck of the Hes
perus."
Between these two historic points
on the harbor rises tall flag staff
from the summer home of the high
est salaried man in the United
States, Mr.. John Hammond, who
receives an annual salary of $780,
600, and he has charming country
seat-just outside of the limits of
Gloucester nesting among the
rocks and trees overlooking the har-
Dor and the ocean.
To my left is a projection extend
ing into the sea, known as the
Eastern Point and forming with
the Hesperus point the Gloucester
harbor.
Nature took it into her head to
anticipate the advent OF English
farmers and fishermen to this North
coast by chiseling a woman's face
in a huge boulder near the end of
this Eastern point. Mother Ann
has been lying in an inclined posi-
ton with her face turned toward
the East since the drift age in geo.
logic time. She sleeps from age to
age as if born for slumber. The
only time she is known to take a
bath is when the tide assisted by
the wind surmounts her granite
form. Then she receives thorough
bathing.
Unlike Mother Ann, the devil
has had sleepless time on this
North coast. When he made his
first flight over this part of the
world he let loose mass Of rocks
from above and falling distributed
this vast array of boulders on Cape
Ann. This accounts for Cape Ann
being such a rocky arm of the land
extending into the sea. The other
day | saw a print of the Deyi. foot
in great boulder. He caught a
fish one day by the nape of the neck
in the remote past and from that
day the descendants of that fated
fish have had black stripe along
their back.
About four miles from my seat
under the elm is an extinct town
known by the name of Dogtown.
This town which exists no more
lives only in ruins and traditions.
About eighty years ago the last
house perished. About forty cellars
and many q walled yard remain to
bear witness to town which -four
ished for two hundred years. Nov
elists have woven their romances
around these old cellars and poets
have sung about them. They are
said to have excited the interest OF
Richard Henry Dana and Thomas
Starr King nearly half a century
ago and the circle of rare minds
they drew to the Cape with them.
Dogtown was the home Of a witch
by the name Of Peg Wesson. She
was the only reputed witch of Cape
Ann OF whom it can be alleged
historically that she rode on broom
stick. A company Of Gloucester
men while out camping one day
witnessed the peculiar performances
Of crow which circled just above
them. Several unsuccessful efforts
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