The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-10-10

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cents we could have fine roe shad when.
ever we wished. Fish and money were
exchanged with toss from boat to boat
Jas we sailed by, not even stopping.
At times we were able to see the tall
off-shore lighthouse at Bodie 1sland-like
barberpole with it's alternating black
and white horizontal bars marking Ore
gon Inlet entrance from seaward above
Hatteras, and even hear the surf pound
ing on the beach outside, perhaps five
miles away east of US.
Among others, got a very satisfac-
tory photograph of Wade Point light
house, the last in Albemsrle Sound going
north, which to the casual observer is
not unlike Bug Light in Boston Harbor
The people who dwell on these bodies
of water we found most ingenious, sim
cere and generous, and 1 regretted we
couldn't tarry longer among them and
explore the region with side trips.
DAY AT BORDENToWN, NEW JERSEY.
Sunday, April 28th, stands out in my
mind as the first day of rest we had had
in four weeks. We spent it at Borden
town, N. j., the entrance to the Della
allowed to pass through the locks of this
night Sunday, so may as we'll admit our
"day of rest'' was purely an enforced
one. 1t was a beautiful, clear, sunny
spring day, the air balmy and scented
with peach blossoms. spent the great
err part of it in roaming over the estate
of the exiled Joseph Bonaparte, that
oldest and favorite brother of Napoleon,
who came here following the battle of
Waterloo, after first trying in vain to
persuade Napoleon to take the ship that
had been reserved for himself and make
his escape instead.
This handsome, well-buit man, with
his typically graceful, French carriage
and bearing, his polished manners, schol-
arly instincts, love of the fine arts and
keen, judicial mind, had always been an
intensely interesting historical character
to me. And | always felt deep SYM
pathy for his carefully thought-out, we'll
meaning reforms As they al
ways were by his inadaquacy to bear the
burdens his infinitely more aggressive
and vigorous brother thrust upon his
shoulders when he made him King of
/ Spain, and later recalled him to govern
Naples.
So it naturally was a great pleasure
for me to visit the very rooms where,
under the title of Count de Survilliers,
he lived all those years from the Battle
of Waterloo in 1915 till the accession of
Louis PHILIPPE in 1880, when he returned
to Europe. To this house he planned to
bring his famous brother, whom he loved
to the end with loyal devotion, and whose
death was more bitter to him than his
own exile.
The estate, called Point Breeze, until
very recently in the hands of the Catholic
Church and occupied by priests, is still a
handsome one, beautifully situated along
the banks of the Delaware River and
possessing slightly views. 1t is covered
with magnificent growth of chestnuts,
and still bears signs of the agricultural
pursuits to which Bonaparte was de-
voted.
stumbled upon the grandson of one
| Of the eX-king's house servants, and he
spent the afternoon repeating to me the
tales he had at first-hand from his grand
mother, who died some years ago at
stories would make very racy reading;
and, if they be true, show Joseph to have
been high liver, royal entertainer,
and rather gay boy" even though a
student-not an unusual combination in
Europeans, though more rare in our
region OF Puritan ancestry.
My self-appointed guide took me into
the openings which are left of the two
subterranean passages /, aiding from the
house for purposes Of escape, should oc-
casion require. One of these led to a
secluded stable at which two horses were
constantly kept saddled and ready to
mount; the other had concealed open
ing on the river bank, where boat was
always moored, hidden in the bushes
and equipped for instant departure.
These passages, which are large enough
| today to drive coach and four horses
through, were walled up some years ago
by the priests, who We're afraid, appar-
emily, that their overhead stones might
fall upon stray visitors, or who did not
wish, perhaps, to be disturbed at their
devotions by tourists from the outer
world coming up through the subterra-
mean passages. However, be that as it
may, it is still possible to enter them for
a hundred or more feet, and l found
them to be IN a comparatively good state
of preservation. In this country of so
few picturesque ruins, the whole place
possesses an unusual interest, it seems
to me, and is well worth visit.
My guide informed me that his grand
mother told him that Joseph had done
great wrong to the Catholic church"
and robbed it of much gold, and he was
afraid his life might at some time be
attempted by its agents - hence the
subterranean passages and other prep
arations for flight, and the general
semblance to feucal mode of life.
Joseph Bonaparte was always great
lover of the fine arts, and his house and
grounds in Bordentown were full of
statuary. Among these were two life
sized figures that always stood by the
driveway, near the door and in the oper
air. When he returned to Europe these
were the first things he arranged to have
shipped away, and it was then discover
ed by his retainers that they were of
solid gold disguised under paint, etc.
The State of New Jersey, and later of
New York also, had passed special laws
allowing him to hold all this real estate
and personal property, though not clti-
zen OF the United States.
Upon my return to Newport, R. l.,
shortly afterwards, was telling of my
visit to this old estate in the drawing
room Of we'll known lady, now over
eighty years of age. noticed that she
was listening intently, with quiet
twinkle in her eye, and after l had
finished, with more detail than l have
given here, she got up, and crossing the
room stood before two massive bronze
statues of draped Eastern women hold