All are delectable. Sweet sweet sweet But resign this land at the end, resign it... To its true owner, the tough one, the sea gull. The palaver is finished.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When the committee from Plymouth had purchased the territory of Eastham of the Indians, "it was demanded, who laid claim to Billin...gsgate?" which was understood to be all that part of the Cape north of what they had purchased. "The answer was, there was not any who owned it. 'Then,' said the committee, 'that land is ours.' The Indians answered, that it was." This was a remarkable assertion and admission. The Pilgrims appear to have regarded themselves as Not Any's representatives. Perhaps this was the first instance of that quiet way of "speaking for" a place not yet occupied, or at least not improved as much as it may be, which their descendants have practiced, and are still practicing so extensively. Not Any seems to have been the sole proprietor of all America before the Yankees. But history says, that when the Pilgrims had held the lands of Billingsgate many years, at length, "appeared an Indian, who styled himself Lieutenant Anthony," who laid claim to them, and of him they bought them. Who knows but a Lieutenant Anthony may be knocking at the door of the White House some day? At any rate, I know that if you hold a thing unjustly, there will surely be the devil to pay at last.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The ecclesiastical history of this town interested us somewhat. It appears that ... "in 1662, the town agreed that a part of every... whale cast on shore be appropriated for the support of the ministry." No doubt there seemed to be some propriety in thus leaving the support of the ministers to Providence, whose servants they are, and who alone rules the storms; for, when few whales were cast up, they might suspect that their worship was not acceptable. The ministers must have sat upon the cliffs in every storm, and watched the shore with anxiety. And, for my part, if I were a minister, I would rather trust to the bowels of the billows, on the back side of Cape Cod, to cast up a whale for me, than to the generosity of many a country parish I know.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The attention of those who frequent the camp-meetings at Eastham is said to be divided between the preaching of the Methodists and... the preaching of the billows on the back side of the Cape, for they all stream over here in the course of their stay. I trust that in this case the loudest voice carries it. With what effect may we suppose the ocean to say, "My hearers!" to the multitude on the bank. On that side some John N. Maffit; on this, the Reverend Poluphloisboios Thalassa.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The Great South Beach of Long Island,... though wild and desolate, as it wants the bold bank,... possesses but half the grandeur o...f Cape Cod in my eyes, nor is the imagination contented with its southern aspect.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A solitary traveler whom we saw perambulating in the distance loomed like a giant. He appeared to walk slouchingly, as if held up ...from above by straps under his shoulders, as much as supported by the plain below. Men and boys would have appeared alike at a little distance, there being no object by which to measure them. Indeed, to an inlander, the Cape landscape is a constant mirage.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and t...he history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Notwithstanding the universal barrenness, and the contiguity of the desert, I never saw an autumnal landscape so beautifully paint...ed as this was. It was like the richest rug imaginable spread over an uneven surface; no damask nor velvet, nor Tyrian dye or stuffs, nor the work of any loom, could ever match it. There was the incredibly bright red of the huckleberry, and the reddish brown of the bayberry, mingled with the bright and living green of small pitch pines, and also the duller green of the bayberry, boxberry, and plum, the yellowish green of the shrub oaks, and the various golden and yellow and fawn-colored tints of the birch and maple and aspen, each making its own figure, and, in the midst, the few yellow sand-slides on the sides of the hills looked like the white floor seen through rents in the rug. Coming from the country as I did, and many autumnal woods I had seen, this was perhaps the most novel and remarkable sight that I saw on the Cape. Probably the brightness of the tints was enhanced by contrast with the sand which surrounded this tract.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Most persons visit the seaside in warm weather, when fogs are frequent, and the atmosphere is wont to be thick, and the charm of t...he sea is to some extent lost. But I suspect that the fall is the best season, for then the atmosphere is more transparent, and it is a greater pleasure to look out over the sea. The clear and bracing air, and the storms of autumn and winter even, are necessary in order that we may get the impression which the sea is calculated to make. In October, when the weather is not intolerably cold, and the landscape wears its autumnal tints, such as, methinks, only a Cape Cod landscape ever wears, especially if you have a storm during your stay,--that I am convinced is the best time to visit this shore.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »