Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1926-05-26

And when all things respond in close
atune
She dances out of life-and it is June!
A. H. NJ.
In Lewiston Journal.
Dear NJ. B. Friends:
1t is with deep regret that am
obliged to inform you that Aunt
Madge is i'll of grip and complica-
tions, and cannot attend to her duties
as guardian of the M. B. column this
| week. You may imagine how
blessed Laura from Lynn" when
went to Aunt Madge's desk, and in
the pigeon hole assigned to M. B.
| letters ito be published,' found this
splendid epistle containing such a
charming description of Fort Ell Nor
ro Thank you, my dear Porto Rican
friend, for you rendered life more
helpful and hopeful" to Aunt
| Madge's feeble substitute,
"Narcissus."
San Juan, p. r.
| May 8, 1926.
| Dear Aunt Madge:
| First 1 want to- thank Aunt Susan
| bytheSea and H. B. of Jacksonville,
! Fla, for their appreciative remarks
| about the letters l have written to, the
| column since 1 have been in Porto
Rico, and all who have written per-
sonal letters, not leaving out Aunt
Madge.
l enjoy reading the column very
much, and get a great deal of help
from it. The letters are all very in
teresting. Capt. John Foss, of the
steamship Coamo has a farm in
Bayamon, and I intend calling on him
soon. 1 was very glad to know that
ne was a Maine man, and reared so
near my old home in Hancock county.
l recently made little trip through
the old Fort Ell MORO, which is stu
ated at the entrance to the harbor of
San Juan. Weentered the fort from the
land side, passing over dry moat or
bridge which formerly had a draw.
We could see an opening on the op-
posite side of the patio for the en-
trance of the sally port. In the sally
port was the entrance to the old guard
room. We entered the patio on the
street level. turned to the right, and
climbed a long ramp to the top of the
fort.
A lighthouse occupies a part Of the
top of the fort, new since 1899, to re-
place the one destroyed by the bonn
bardment by SIMPSONS fleet. The rest
of the space is taken up with old
time gun emplacements, and small
safety tower of the fort commander,
~; ol,
thick This little tower is on the OPP
posite end from the lighthouse. Here
one can see also the fire steps, from
which the infantry men fired their
rifles at the approaching enemy, and
the gun embrasures through which
the ancient cannon roared defiance at
foreign invaders.
Since the fort is now a part of the
port of San Juan and is no longer
separate headquarters, the fiagpole
has been removed from the top.
We looked out over the Atlantic, and
could imagine that we could see the
smoke of New York and were almost
sure we could look up as far as CAL
weston. On the land side Coward the
east) we could see all of San Juan, see
the old San Christobal castle, the new
cath dral and the five bridges that
connect San Juan with Santura and
Condado. These five bridges are on
the extreme opposite end of the island,
and are all within a hundred and fifty
yards of each other. On the south we
looked over the foothills of Rie
Piedras, Bayamon, Catano, and
Paloseco. and into the larger hills of
Caguas, Generic and Vega Baja. The
wonderful shadows and reflections of
light made these hills look like the
pictures in our Biographies, like the
old time relief maps.
Then we went to the main patio, by
travelling down another ramp. The
floor of this patio is cemented and un-
der it is an enormous cistern to con-
serve water for the dry seasons that
come almost without warning. On the
right, just at the entrance from the
street is a chapel, or the room that
was a chapel when the fort was in the
hands of the Spanish army.
On the left was the opening that we
saw when we entered the fort. We
found it to be another sally port, with
a downward ramp, and on each side
of the ramp was flight of steps about
a ward wide. Just as we started down,
we saw little door in the side wall
We entered, and found that this was
one of the dungeons for political
prisoners, and that at one time fifty
persons were confined in it. 1t is also
known as the Chinese ROOM" due to
the fact that at one time China
man was confined in it, and when the
fort was turned over to a new COM
mander, nothing was said of his
presence in the cell. The child of the