And we have such home-made butter (The bill of fare
"to be issued in our next"). A Frenchman might think that "we return to
our muttons" frequently; still, as that viand suggests at least the
famous English Southdown in excellence, we are resigned.
A noted wit has said: "Doubtless God might have made a better berry than
the strawberry, but doubtless God never did;" and if one is so fortunate
as to come to this country in proper season he can feast on that
delectable fruit in its perfection, - that is, the wild fruit, so much
more delicious and delicate in flavor than after its boasted
"improvement" by cultivation. If one arrives before the close of the
fisheries, salmon, fit for a royal banquet, graces the table; while
even in July and August he may enjoy shad; and strange enough it seems
to Philadelphians to be eating that fish at such time of year.
There are in the town a number of inns, and summer guests are also made
welcome and comfortable in many of the private residences. In one of
the latter - a large old-fashioned house, with antique furniture - three
sisters reside, who possess the quiet dignity and manner of the old
school; and here one would feel as if visiting at one's grandfather's,
and be made pleasantly "at home".
We are surprised to find that this old town has generally such modern
and New Englandish aspect; and are told that it has twice been nearly
destroyed by fire, even in modern times; therefore but few of the quaint
buildings remain. Some of these are picturesque and interesting, the one
combining jail and court house being a feature of the main street. The
window of one of the cells faces the street; and the prisoner's friends
sit on the steps without, whiling away the tedium of incarceration with
their converse.
The oldest dwelling in the town stands on St. George's Street, nearly
opposite the old-fashioned inn known as the Foster House. Its walls were
originally made of mud from the flats, held together by the wiry marsh
grass, which, being dried, was mixed in the sticky substance as hair is
in plaster; but as these walls gave way from the effects of time the
seams and cracks were plastered up, and by degrees boarded over, until
now the original shows only in one part of the interior.
The houses throughout this region are almost invariably without blinds
or outside shutters, and consequently look oddly to us, who are inclined
to screen ourselves too much from "the blessed sunshine". Bay windows
are popular.
We saw one small house with four double and two single ones, giving it
an air of impertinent curiosity, as the dwellers therein could look out
from every possible direction.
