Erected
by the Norsemen as early as 1000 A. D. But, out in the ocean
where the blue water is flecked with myriads of shifting
whitecaps rise dark gray rocks, telling of an earlier time than
Verrazano, or the Norsemen, and repeating fragments of that
great epic of the Past.
One finds his impression confused on first entering this city.
The population is as variable as the breezes that blow over the
ocean, for Newport has gained fame the world over as one of
America's most fashionable watering places. As early as 1830 it
began to attract health seekers and others wishing a brief
respite from toil in the unnumbered factories in the east, and
the movement has continued until the section of the island
adjacent to Newport is dotted all over with cottages. villas and
cheerful, luxurious homes.
One is delighted to find well paved streets and a city that is
withal sunny, gay, and full of color.
You never want for new beauty here, for the face of the sea is
as changeable as a human countenance. Then, too, it is
interesting to try and separate the motley throngs into their
various elements. You find it useless to attempt to catch and
paint its fluctuating character. It is as capricious as the hues
of the ocean. Here, as at Atlantic City, from morning till
night, and night till morning, flows that human tide; some
attracted by the beauty of the place, others by the glamour of
social gayety, and still others seeking health in the life-
giving breezes. People of all ages and climes are captivated by
the majesty and grandeur found in the ocean. The step of the old
is quickened as if at last they had found the "Fountain of
Youth." Here the sublime ocean scenery and the health-giving
winds are much less tolerant of disease than most anywhere one
knows.
There are many people who continue to pursue pleasure while they
pretend to hunt for health. Here as at Aix-les-Bains, Baden-
Baden, and Ostend, it is the glitter and pomp of the place which
attract them. Here fashion and folly, side by side, call them
with siren voices, instead of the medicinal qualities of their
healing waters. If they can't furnish as an excuse that they
have a pain under the left shoulder blade and are fearful for
their lung, then they may say they have a twitching of the upper
right eyelid and are almost certain of a nervous breakdown
unless they secure a few weeks' rest beside the life-giving sea.
Even if they are unable to furnish such justifiable excuses as
these, they might take some aged, wealthy relative to a health
resort for the purpose of boiling the rheumatism out of him.
Then, after tucking him away for the night, how much easier to
spend the evening at the dance or card party!
The days for elegant ladies to trail elaborate gowns along the
hotel corridors are past. How styles do change!
There are more people thronging the bathing beaches, who know a
good poker hand when they see one, than those who can appreciate
a fine ocean scene, and even though the states have all gone
dry, alas how many still prefer champagne to mineral water from
a spring! As Thoreau put it: "More people used to be attracted
to the ocean by the wine than the brine."
At Newport you constantly hear jokes, laughter and song, but
studying the drama of the various faces one sees pride,
sensuality, cruelty, and fear that no ocean brine can cleanse.
Mingled with these, too, are noble countenances lighted up by
the fires of holy living within, whose radiance seems to
overflow in kindly thoughts and deeds, attracting those sublime
qualities to them as the moon the tides. How grand it is to see
here the faces of age wearing that calm look of serene hope;
victory over self and purity of soul plainly dramatized there!
Then, too, how glorious the face of youth glowing with life's
enthusiasm, whose dream of the yet unclouded future is the Fata
Morgana which he pursues. A noble ambition seems to linger in
his soul and transfigure his countenance until we see the light
of joy and nobleness shining there. What a contrast the dejected
look of those who travel the paths of ease and self-indulgence
affords!
Many there are who meet here not on the common ground of the
brotherhood of man, but of human appetite and desire. Whether
they hail from Japan, Spain, or Turkey, or whether they come
from Maine or California, they all succumb to the same
allurements. The test here is the manner in which people use the
wealth they have acquired. "Almost any man may quarry marble or
stone," but how few can build a Rheims or "create an Apollo."
When one thinks of the gambling, quackery, and other vocations
far less respectable upon which vast fortunes are spent he
thinks how dreadful the results of all of this spending. "What
if all this wealth that is spent foolishly were used to advance
the common interests of mankind? What if all this indulgence
could be used to promote helpful and healthful ideals so that
they could be disseminated to all points from which tourists
come? Surely a reformation would spread to the uttermost parts
of the earth; but as has been in days past, games, feasts, and
the dance have far more force than the highest ideals, the most
sane theories of improvement and helpfulness," and the careful
observer does not need to come to Newport for this discovery.
One evening, on entering the city, Nature seemed to be planning
to run the gaily attired tourists from the place.
