Tracy was interested to find another subject for the rest of the
vacation, A few days before, Reuben had asked her what an island was.
She felt then, as she answered him, that a visit to such a place would
give him a much better idea of its capabilities than any description
which she could give. So, now, in thinking over an interesting island
within easy distance, for a day's trip, she recalled the pleasure which,
some years before, she had found in a short stay upon Star Island, among
the Isles of Shoals. When she had decided that this should be the place,
she talked the matter over with Reuben, telling him that he might invite
his cousin Frank, a boy of fifteen years, to come from a neighboring
town and spend the rest of the vacation with him; for he would enjoy
studying with them about the Isles of Shoals before they should all go
to see them. Reuben was delighted with the proposition; he secretly
wondered what had made his mother so _extra_ good lately; he
determined that he would love her more and more, and do all that he
could for her; he did wish that his brother Albert was alive to go with
them, but he was so glad to have his cousin Frank, who was certainly
coming to him the next day.
The following morning brought him, after which the days flew quickly by.
Reuben not only showed to him the antiquities of Salem, but told him
much of Marblehead town. They played together their vacation plays, and
had, each day, their hour's talk and reading with Mrs. Tracy on the
geography and history of the Isles of Shoals. At last they were ready to
go, and the day was set. Mrs. Tracy had invited Reuben's school-teacher,
Miss De Severn, a lovely young lady, whom sad reverses had sent to hard
work, and denied much pleasure in travel, to join her in their trip.
Reuben teased his papa to go with them, but business engagements
prevented his so doing. But he encouraged his son in his pleasure, and
told him that whenever he could tell all that he wanted to see in Europe
he should go there on a tour, but not before. Frank, particularly,
caught his uncle's idea, and determined then to read all the good books
of travel that he could find.
On the pleasant morning of the appointed time they were all on hand in
the Salem station to take the train for Portsmouth; they arrived there
in time to take the steamer Appledore, as it started at eleven o'clock,
for its ten-mile trip to the Shoals. The boys were delighted with the
novelty of sailing between New Hampshire on one side and Maine on the
other. As they passed on the right the quaint old town of Newcastle,
Miss De Severn told them of the old Wentworth house, built in 1750,
which was still standing there, and which still contained the old
portraits of Dorothy Quincy and others. She promised to read to them, on
their return home, the story of Dorothy Quincy, as told by Dr. Holmes,
and also the story of Martha Hilton, the Lady Wentworth of the Hall, as
told by Longfellow. While she was telling them of the old Fort
Constitution, which they soon passed, and other tales of Great Island,
or Newcastle, Mrs. Tracy was enjoying the Kittery side, which also had
its suggestive history. They soon passed the twin lighthouses of Whale's
Back. Reuben was still wondering why that name was given to it, when his
quick ear heard the ringing of a bell afar off in the distance. What
could that be? Then Mrs. Tracy told the boys of the valuable bell-buoys,
of which they had never heard. The sea was just rough enough to cause
the bell stationed there to ring most of the time; and as they passed
it, they declared that they never heard anything more dismal. Frank said
that he should always think of that in a stormy night ringing out to
warn the sailors. After a sail of an hour and a half, they landed at
Appledore Island, the largest of the seven which comprise the Isles of
Shoals, and which altogether make a little over six hundred acres.
Reuben said that they were now in Maine, for Appledore, Smutty Nose,
Duck, and Cedar belonged to Maine; while Star, White, and Londoner
belonged to New Hampshire. His mother was pleased to hear him apply his
geographical knowledge of the place so soon. She was sure now that he
never would forget that fact. They spent a short time in looking around
the island, with its attractive hotel, so finely situated, and its half
dozen pretty cottages. One of them Mrs. Tracy pointed out as the home of
Celia Thaster, who, she told them, was a poetess who had written so
feelingly of the sea, and who had told, in a pretty poem, how in the
years gone by she had often lighted with her own hands the light in the
lighthouse which they could see on White Island, a short distance from
them. The boys wished to go there, as they had never been near a
lighthouse; but as Mrs. Tracy felt that in their limited time Star
Island would, on the whole, afford them more pleasure and profit, they
took the little miniature steamer Pinafore, which constantly plied
between the two islands, and in a few minutes' time were landed on its
historic ground.
After they had dined at the Oceanic, a hotel kept by the same
proprietors as the Appledore House, on the island which they had just
left, they found that they had an hour and a half in which to look
around before the steamer should return to Portsmouth. As they sauntered
along over the rocks back of the hotel, they came near enough to the
little meeting-house, which was standing there, to read on its side the
following inscription:--
GOSPORT CHURCH.
ORIGINALLY CONSTRUCTED OF THE TIMBERS
FROM THE WRECK OF A SPANISH SHIP, A.D.
1685; WAS REBUILT IN 1720, AND BURNED BY
THE ISLANDERS IN 1790. THIS BUILDING OF
STONE WAS ERECTED A.D. 1800.
Through the kindness of a gentleman who had brought the key to gain
entrance into the interior, they all went in through the little side
door to see a comparatively small room, with about twenty-five pews, and
a quaint desk with a large chair each side of it. Mrs. Tracy said that
when this church was built, in 1800, that island had only fifteen
families and ninety-two persons, while Smutty Nose had three families
and twenty persons, and Appledore had not an inhabitant upon it. Reuben
said that there was a time, more than a hundred years before the
Revolutionary War, when the town of Gosport, which included all the
islands, contained from three hundred to six hundred inhabitants. Miss
De Severn wished that they had time to read some old preserved records
of that place, which were now to be seen at the hotel.
As they came out of the church, Reuben spied the weather-vane, in the
form of a fish, which crowned the little wooden tower, in which was the
bell, still used, although rather dismal in sound.
As they wandered on, Mrs. Tracy noticed that the march of improvement
had torn down most of the old fishing-houses, as well as the little old
school-house, which she knew had once been there. They soon came upon
the old burial-ground among the rocks, where they found inscribed on two
horizontal slabs the only two inscriptions which were there. On one they
saw this tribute:--
IN MEMORY OF
THE REV. JOSIAH STEPHENS,
A FAITHFUL INSTRUCTOR OF YOUTH, AND PIOUS
MINISTER OF JESUS CHRIST,
SUPPORTED ON THIS ISLAND BY THE SOCIETY
FOR PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL,
WHO DIED JULY 2, 1804. AGED 64 YEARS.
-----------
LIKEWISE OF
MRS. SUSANNAH STEPHENS,
HIS BELOVED WIFE,
WHO DIED DEC. 7, 1810. AGED 64 YEARS.
and, on the other, this high eulogy:--
UNDERNEATH ARE THE REMAINS OF
THE REV. JOHN TUCKE, A.M.,
HE GRADUATED AT HARVARD COLLEGE, A.D. 1723; WAS
ORDAINED HERE JULY 26, 1732.
AND DIED AUG. 12, 1773. AET 72.
HE WAS AFFABLE AND POLITE IN HIS MANNER,
AMIABLE IN HIS DISPOSITION,
OF GREAT PIETY AND INTEGRITY, GIVEN TO HOSPITALITY,
DILIGENT AND FAITHFUL IN HIS PASTORAL OFFICE,
WELL LEARNED IN HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY, AS WELL
AS GENERAL SCIENCE,
AND A CAREFUL PHYSICIAN BOTH TO THE BODIES AND
THE SOULS OF HIS PEOPLE.
ERECTED 1800. IN MEMORY OF THE JUST.
Miss De Severn bowed reverently in honor of such lives having been lived
in the midst of the ignorance and corruption which she knew to have then
pervaded the islands.
From this rocky burial-ground they wended their way to the three-sided
monument, enclosed within a railing, which was on one of the highest
rocks on the island. Frank remembered that it was erected in 1864, in
honor of Captain John Smith, one of the first explorers of the islands;
but as he was ignorant of the meaning of the Turk's head on its top--the
one left of the three which were once there--Mrs. Tracy told him and
Reuben about Smith's successful encounter with the three Turks, as well
as some other tales pertaining to his brave exploits, after which they
read on the sides of the monument the words inscribed in his honor.
As they stopped to gaze around them for a moment, they saw, a little
more than half a mile off, Haley's (or Smutty Nose) Island, with its few
black houses, prominent among which was the one stained by an awful
tragedy. Mrs. Tracy hoped that it would soon be taken down, for it was
too suggestive of terror and wickedness to be always in sight of those
seeking rest and peace on the islands. Reuben said that Smutty Nose was
the most verdant of all the islands, and the one the earliest settled;
while Duck Island, three miles away, was noted for its game. He also
remembered, much to his mother's surprise, that Cedar Island was only
three eighths of a mile distant, and Londoner not a quarter of a mile
away. When Frank added that Appledore was seven eighths of a mile off,
and White Island nearly two miles distant, Reuben, not to be outdone by
him, said that Star Island was three quarters of a mile long, and half a
mile wide, while Appledore was a mile long. They would have gone on till
all their knowledge had been told, if Mrs. Tracy had not suggested that
they continue their walk over the rocks which gave Star Island its
natural grandeur. They would have liked to have remained there all of
the afternoon, to have enjoyed the waves as they dashed up over the
rocks; but they only stopped long enough to find Miss Underhill's Chair,
the name of a large rock, on which Frank read aloud an inscription
stating the fact, that, in 1848, on that spot, Miss Underhill, a loved
missionary teacher, was sitting, when a great wave came and washed her
away. Miss De Severn said that her body was found a week later at York
Beach, where the tide had left it.
On their way back to the hotel they noticed some willows and wild roses,
enclosed in a wooden fence, wherein Mrs. Tracy said would be found the
graves of three little children of a missionary who once lived upon the
island; whereupon the boys searched until they found the three following
inscriptions: "Jessie," two years, "Millie," four years, and "Mittie,"
seven years old. Under the name of Mittie they said was inscribed:
"I don't want to die, but I'll do just as Jesus wants me to."
Mrs. Tracy found herself looking back tenderly to this sacred spot, as
she followed the boys to the other side of the Oceanic to see the ruins
of the old Fort, which Reuben said had been useful before the
Revolutionary War.
On their way to the steamer, which was to leave in a few minutes, they
stepped into a small graveyard of dark stones, of which Mrs. Tracy said
all but one were inscribed with the name of Caswell.
Soon they were on the steamer, bound for Portsmouth, then on the cars
for Salem, where they arrived home in time for supper. They had seen
what they went to see, and Reuben now very well knew what an island was.
Hereafter, geography and history would be more real to him. On the
following Monday, Frank was telling in his home all that he had seen,
thus inspiring a larger circle with a desire to see and to know, and
Rueben was in his schoolroom ready to begin another year's school work.
His teacher was glad to see that he certainly would be a more
interesting pupil for his intelligent vacation rambles, and silently
wished that more mothers would do what his mother has done.
As for Mrs. Tracy, she not only decided to interest herself in the
studies of her boy more than she had done in the past, but she
determined to prepare the way for some little historic excursion for
every vacation which her son should have. Another summer should bring
Concord, surely, and perhaps Plymouth too.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Alex H. Rice.]
End of Project Gutenberg's The Bay State Monthly, Vol. 1, Issue 1., by Various