Ill I (, r 
 
 l^h^ 
 
 
 1 
 
 -^"--, 
 
U. '^^ 
 
:l 
 
 > 
 
 r.£n5t 
 
 r/1. 
 
 U 
 
 OR' 
 
 AST BY 
 
 AST. 
 
 99 
 
 "Where?" Just there, exactly! and a beautiful place 
 it is, too. Jf only you could see it for yourself! Tr}' 
 it. Two hours in the cars from "The Hub" brings us 
 to our host, who is waiting with c( rdial greetings and 
 a jet black team. As we start off, the old buildings 
 and narrow stieets ( f the city and its inany tine trees 
 make us wonder what the place was like in its younger 
 
) 
 
 days. We are hardly ready to say good-bye to the 
 qiiaintnesses that hold our eyes eager for the '-What 
 next" ("The Whyness of the Whence," Concord Phil- 
 osophy, might say,) when, crossing the railroad, we 
 suddenly find ourselves oh a long bridge which spans 
 the picturesque river, with ship[)ing on either side of it, 
 and here we may leave city life behind. Along tlie 
 winding road the olden time flowers are welcoming us, 
 — hollyhocks, dahlias, and bachelor's buttons. The bar- 
 berries, alder and elderberries are awaiting our coming, 
 and as we look over golden-rod, thistles and milk-weed, 
 the meadows beyond are yelh-w with Fall dandelions. 
 Such a wealth of beauty in so small a space I The 
 very road itself, how lovely — now winding under wil- 
 lows by the little brook; now taking us into a very 
 nest of grand elms whose waving branches frame such 
 pictures as never artist painted, and all too soon we 
 
Q 
 
 C 
 
^ 
 
 leave them for the o])en hill beyond. But these loveli- 
 nesses repeat themselves very artistically, not just alike, 
 and a two hours' drive thrdngh such a country is a rest 
 in itself, while ''Nor' East by East" is already stealing 
 our hearts. The mountain, ten miles away, is pointed 
 out from the liist place at which the road affords a 
 view, the town line is a mark of interest, even the 
 guide-boards are amusing, as we can hardly follow their 
 leading without ])roving some to be Jion-truthtellers! 
 Many a story l)rightens the time as we are hurried 
 along, jokes of tlie best kind are to be had, and ''He 
 that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast." 
 
 Nine miles j'ast, — the beautiful river we crossed a 
 few moments since again comes to view, aiid in the 
 distance a white chui'ch spire nestles among the elms 
 and maples in their autumn glory. We look forward 
 eagerly to the ancient village so near us. and hurriedly 
 
c 
 
glance at this or that okl hiiikliiig as we pass through. 
 The jail of two Imiidred and fifty years at our right 
 beyond the burying ground of an early date, — while on 
 our left is the "Old Court House," and the wonderful 
 store combining dry and fancy goods, "groceries'^ and 
 "notions," post office and i)hannacy, all in one! The 
 mail is not yet open, so our host concludes to "send 
 later," and through the main street, beautifully lined 
 with great elms, we reach a hilltop and strain our eyes 
 to see the blue horizon line, the first glimi)se of ocean! 
 Fifteen minutes later we are actually l)y it, the "extra 
 treat" being given us of a drive, off the regular road, 
 on the hard beach close to the grand breakers which 
 are rolling in "five deep" every time. 
 
 Landed at about midway of this two-mile sands, 
 we are more than content, and all we are to enjoy in 
 and about this i)lace is, fortunately, not beholden in 
 
r 
 
one dance. The evenings are full now of special charm, 
 the moonlight on breakers and spray is no poor show, 
 and a seat on the near rocks is very alluring. ''The 
 moon and its broken reflection" on each rising breaker 
 seen far to the left of the moon-path, is a wonderful 
 study for an artist, — or anybody else I 
 
 Nearest at hand of special interest, is Roaring Rock, 
 seen best in a storm, so in rain and wind we prove to 
 our own eyes the truth of what Prof. E. P. Tenney 
 writes of it in his Agamenticus:— ''The chasm cuts the 
 coast at right angles with the sea. The top is a yard 
 wide for a distance of seventy-hve feet inland, and for 
 twenty-four more it diminishes to twelve inches and 
 then four. At bottom, the mouth is six feet wide, nar- 
 rowino- to four and two. The crevice is twenty feet 
 deep. The inner half of the bottom is covered with 
 small pebbles, which are heaped up by the incoming 
 
r 
 
I; 
 
 waves, and then washed down by each receding wave. 
 In a storm, the inrushing brine rises like a fountain to 
 a height of forty feet above ground. This is by far 
 the, iT^ost musical rock upon the coast of New England.'' 
 iVu are willing to get a wetting for the sake of such 
 d /sight. ^ X 
 
 /f At Yiiur leisure read F. W. E^d^er's hymn on "Peev- 
 ~ Iiness" and see what he thinks of such a place I 
 
 The Nubble Lighthouse must be (.ur next friend, 
 and a mile walk through charming i)astures on toi) of 
 a rocky promontory brings us to the land's end, but 
 not to the lighthouse 1 The smooth, huge rocks keep 
 us among their fascinations for a while,— but let us 
 wave our hands and see what will happen! From the 
 top of the rocks just over the way some one is coming 
 to ferry us across to the ''isle of our dreams.'* Many 
 surprises await us here, indoors and out. Stuffed birds, 
 
 '^ 
 
^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 grebes, sea-gulls, ducks, etc,, with shell work of various 
 kinds, tell of busy hands through isolated winter hours — 
 and serve as mementoes for many visitors. From the 
 smooth, high rocks on the shore side of this island we 
 are amazed at the liuge gorge sixty feet deep on its 
 ocean side where the fury of the waves has eaten out 
 terrible seams and dark chasms, and tossed blocks of 
 rock about as if it were wood and not stone. But 
 wait, — it is low tide ere we leave, — we must hurry 
 df)wn, before it turns, to the beautiful pools lined with 
 sea-urchins, star-fish and sea-anemones dwelling in a 
 fairyland of white, pink, green and maroon sea-mosses 
 „ i and weeds, too beautiful to talk about. How charming 
 it is! The spouting rock of the Nubble is a well-like 
 tunnel, fifteen feet deep at low tide — each swell fills it 
 almost full, then sucks all the water out, — and in a 
 storm the spray is thrown seventy or eighty feet into 
 
i 
 
 the air. We are given a row around this ishmd home, 
 and once more are landed on the Western Continent ! 
 A walk along the north shore of this peninsula well 
 repays you when the swell is strong. A short beach 
 then brings you to liigh bluffs, beyond which is Pebbly 
 Beach, — a good place to spend a day with nothing but 
 beautiful pebbles and ocean for company, the surf doing 
 its best for you. Perhaps as the sun just sinks to rest 
 and the shadows lengthen, you/ will be glad to hear a 
 familiar voice saying behind you " Here we are again," 
 and be quite ready for a dpye to the mansion of our 
 host, — hardly caring, even amid such beauty, to live all 
 the time " b}^ yourself alone I " 
 
 Just bej^ond this beacl^is a charming little river, 
 which suddenly meets our view as a turn in the road 
 and down a short hill brings us to a bridge from which 
 one might see in either direction material for lovely 
 
sketches, — old wi'eclcs toward the ocean, — old rocks 
 landward, — })ines in the background of one, — AAdiite birch 
 and oaks on toj) of the latter, and "'■the river winding, 
 winding," till we lose it altogether. 
 
 Bald Head Cliff, four miles farther on, furnishes 
 still different rock scenery, and is too well known for 
 us to miss visiting it. Chase's Pond is also of pecu- 
 liar beauty, and a drive of six miles brings us to its 
 shores. Like a river it winds "'in and out and all 
 about" for three miles. The jagged rocks tree-crowned, 
 on its north shore sometimes make room f(n- a beauti- 
 ful })asture with a black cow! while the southern shore 
 is lower woodland running out in low, sharp points of 
 broken rocks, most picturesque — and old Agamenticus 
 himself is mirrored in its waters. The drive home 
 tln-ough forest ot" pine and hemlocks with spruces is 
 very delightful, and makes us wish it was "longer and 
 
t^ 
 
 more of it," as the saying is. 
 
 For a beautiful morning in the prime of autumn 
 we conclude the best thing is a drive. A fine horse, 
 and a driver ''as knows hcnv to drive," add much to 
 our pleasures, — when in addition we have picturesque 
 places chosen and pointed nut for our benefit, — and the 
 bright side of things alwaj's shown, we are so much 
 the more fortunate. Passing beautiful gray stone walls 
 hidino- under the graceful arms of the brilliant wood- 
 bine and wild ivy vines, branches of the "briar rose" 
 drooping heavily with their weight of bright red fruit 
 clusters, we take the road which turns b}' the ancient 
 jail, and from under the archway of fine trees are on 
 our way toward the river country. Do look at this 
 marvel of a gate on our left! S(j pictures(][ue in its side- 
 long hanging (for there is nothing straight about it) ; 
 how it holds its own will always be a mystery. Ar- 
 
^ 
 
 ') 
 
 I 
 
 tists should revel in it; perhaps, romantically, % it! 
 As we cross the bridge the pine-topped rocks on one 
 side set off most charmingly the meadows, farms and 
 Avoodlands by the winding stream. Following the road 
 to the nortliward, glimjises of the shining waters are 
 caught through the branches of mai)les and yellow- 
 beeches, and over and .through the uell kept farms are 
 seen distant woc.dlands, fields and });isturelands. 
 
 Re-crossing the river after four or live miles of this 
 beauty, we are near the noted Garrison Houses, which 
 of course, we must visit. But it is well toward noon, 
 a sharp turn from the regular road starts us up a hill 
 from whose summit the view of ocean horizon and the 
 country around is far-reaching and beautiful. 
 
 Before returning to the ocean itself, we visit, on our 
 way there, such a cascade as for beauty we might ex- 
 pect to see only in the mountain country . much far- 
 
ther north. A beautiful picture for memory's walls, or 
 some other place. 
 
 Of trips to the heart of forests, hiding grottos of 
 rare beauty and grandeur, of the attractions far and 
 near on sea and land, it is hard to tell at once. We 
 wonder if all who have stayed the summer through are 
 not still strangers to scnne few nooks and brooks! 
 Surely, the truth that -the sea is His and He made 
 it, and His hands formed the dry land," sinks into 
 our hearts to cause rest and rejoicing in that we can 
 take all these beauties as gifts to us from the very 
 hands of Him who made ihem and as. 
 
 Only a part of ''Nor' East by East,"— if you have 
 found out where it is you should see it for yourself, 
 not via. pen and ink, — at least, so thinks a / 
 
 Lover of Old York. 
 
c 
 
 ^