Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1931-09-08
New York.
Letter

notes from . vacation diary.
I am not sur which Is more i'm
portant In this section: Evangeline
or friendly hospitality. 49,. Poor
Eyangeltnel. .Longfellow's heroine
bumps into you 1T every corner.
There's Evangeline tobacco, chew
ing gum. candy; Evangeline hotels,
tours. face powder; E~vangeline
pamphlets. paintings. drawings.
posters. ... Wonder II she looked
like any OF them?....O Or rather II
her prototype did,. Certain. she
bears slight resemblance to pho
tographs OF old Acadians n sees
about Museums. And what were
those Longfellow lines I had TO
learn in SCHOOL,. Have to do q
little homework when ! get back
TO New York.
And that hospitalityl.... You
couldn't call 1t southern or west
ern. Its native, with a rural
warmth one finds on adsides..
No one seems too busy TO help you
find your way around. "A clerk
left his store TO show us how to
reach a certain eating place.. A
newspaper editor dropped his work
70 get us started on the right road
into the wilderness.
There's a solid, easygoing quiet
about the way folks do things and
90 about. This is the town where
thy won't let auto horns toot after
a certain hour at night. . Maybe
the New York noise abatement
commission could get some ideas
I'D here!
Through the fog and most of
early morning. the landscape looks
like the Brittany coast. Lots OF
Scotch Irish hereal outs with ac-
cents ike those OF the southern hill
people in the states. "A small
boat sputters past the liner, with
a huge tuna on deck. -. One OF the
crew lets down a hand-line and
brings up a good-sized m~ackerel...
A photograph shows Zane Grey
landing a giant t>la.. Scores OF
little fishing boats slip through
the harbor. bouncing out TO sea-.
The town is half hidden behind the
fo~g-curtain, quaint and unspoiled
They've never done much re-
building since the explosion OF IT.
remarks an old-timer. Hope that
ourist-consciousness doesn't get In
It's influence. -. Such towns should
retain their fine old flavorl
So on to Liverpool and Annapolis
Royal -. Lumberjacks and vast
Jams gathering in the rivers and
bays. .Seafaring folk and Indians
Annapolis Royal Is the oldest
town in North America" says the
folder always thought st.
Augustine, Fla, claimed the age
distinction. 80. Funny that the
oldest. town" should look so new.
Its because it's been rebuilt SO
often" says a native. We've had
many disastrous fires. One was
Just q few years back after a
drought. Almost took the whole
town"
Tourists from all over the world
coming by train. notorious and
private autos proving owe the
hilly acres about the old fort.
Tourists nosing through historic
fragments. trying to recall forgot
ten chapters. A confusingly
checkered story OF a colony's change
from the hands OF the French TO
the British. back 10 the French
and back 10 the British and so on.
Just beyond the fort. the sort OF
graveyard you've always wanted 70
find. Headstones dated back TO
1T07. and engraved with such
epitaDhs as Here lyeth We BODY OF
Bathiah Douglass. the same endow-
ed with piety and virtue 80" Some
have little verses. the words of
which are all but erased by wind
and rain.
A "tea room shoppe." Of all things
operated by a young mar who
points proudly 10 chairs and clocks
owned bv his great-grandfathers
and fingers of water everywhere,
leading TO wilderness and open seal