Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1915-07-27
historic PLYMOUTH
TOWN OF FOREIGNERS
Boston Mourns Passing OF
This Typical Village in
New England
OLD TOWN AT
LAST WAKING UP

To the lover of history there is
something inexpressibly sad in the
passing OF Plymouth. Not but that
Plymouth. the nome of our Pilgrim
Fathers, still fronts the same harbor
which hundreds Of years ago served
as a refuge to the wind-tossed wan
derers from England. Yes, Plymouth
still stands. But the beloved old town
= with its elm-shaded streets and quaint
houses is vanishing forever and will
soon be a thing of the past
No more will strangers journeying
from a distance to this Mecca of our
history depart with a reverent men,
ory of its peace and its beauty. They
may see the famous rock, the old
hurying ground, and even some OF
the ancient dwellings, but the quiet
tude Of the place and all that was
characteristic of the typical New Eng
land village has fed, driven out by
the march of progress.
plymouth is waking up!" the busi-
ness man exclaims, as he rubs his
hands with satisfaction.
Town is Waking Up.
"Ah, this is but too truel" says the
Transcript. Perhaps we do wrong to
draw an involuntary sigh but with
it's awakening Plymouth has banished
its every dream of the past and
reused itself to a life so out Of keep
ing with its traditions that we gaze
at It aghast It's streets, which in a
former time echoed to the tread OF
Winslows. Howlands and Brewsters
now swarm with a foreign populace,
great mills front the water, trolleys
and pavings are gradually destroying
the life of the old elms. On the street
corners cheap shops, called into being
by the demands Of a manufacturing
people, display their wares. A NOV
ing-picture theatre caters to this same
=, demand. .
ITO those reverencing the past, all
this seems incongruous and unspeak-
ably sad Yet there was a time when
on Forefathers' Day, in every house
hold in Plymouth, history was re-
viewed, old scenes visited, old customs
revived. But where are now those
homes and their inmates? One by
one houses are becoming shelters for
the italian, the Pole, the Swede, the
Sicilian and the Russian Jew. For
eign youngsters tumble in and out Of
the old Colonial doorways, and the
yards, once fragrant with box and
old-fashioned flowers, are Uttered and
untidy. Historic landmarks are rap
idly giving place to freshly painted
tenements. On the street one often
hears scarce a word of English.
Unknown Tongues Heard.
Qrfe
tossed over their heads pass hither
and thither chattering in unknown
tongues, and one has TO pinch himself
TO realize he is really in America al
all. The cranberry boys, submerged
by springtime floods are alive with
Portuguese laborers, while from un-
der the leafy mating of the forest
floor tiny brown hands ruthlessly up
root the mayhowers and tie them In
punches for the market.
"The Pilgrims themselves were i'm
migrants, you say. True; but with
them from their old homes they
brought no vision of commercial gain
. Freedom to worship God was their
cry and with this goal in view they
built I'D a Plymouth which breathed
their creed. For, after all, out OF the
heart the mouth speaketh.' The out
ward is but the expression NJ the
inward, and Just as the sweet sol
emnity of old Plymouth was the SYM
Dol of the aims of its founders SO
the present town bespeaks the pres
ent-day ambition lying behind 1t
Plymouth has been cheapened and
popularized because the commercial
ism Of the mill town has taken the
place Of the spirit of the old-tims
New England village. Burial Hill
the Rowland House, Plymouth Rocl
itself, have become grotesque bits Of
a busting life in which they have nc
more place than they would in Brock
ton, Lowell or Lawrence.
No Longer Picturesque.
1.-THE day will come-nay, II is ever
now here-when reverent travellers
iourneying from a distance to seel
out the sacred scenes Of our earlies
history, turn away with bitteres
disappointment. and depart to theii
homes sad and disenchanted. Pic
lures had crowded their minds Of {
quaint seaport town with the arom;
of the past clinging to it as fra
GRANGE clings about a bit of sandal
wood; instead they find only a vii
lage not busy enough TO be interest
ing, not sleepy enough 10 De plcluf
esque-a mediocre place which ha
blotted forever from their minds tn
cherished vision they had harbored o
the most revered spot in our Ameri
can history.
eve would not hinder the progress
of industry, so necessary 10 the pros
perity of our nation; nor would vi
close our doors to the law-abidini
foreigner who knocks for entrance t
our great country; but to the Ameri
can born whose ancestors have, per
haps, trodden the soil of early Ply
mouth and from which almost ever,
historic milestone has been swept, tn
passing of this shrine of our first his
tory cannot fail TO draw the regret
'Oh, that Plymouth might have beef
sparedi'"