ration, until the bark came off and
exposed the stems most beautifully vermiculated, giving the effect of
fine carving. Back of the house a meadow slopes down to a little beach
in a curved bay that has rocky headlands, and is defended in part by
islands of rock. The whole aspect of the place is peaceful. The hotel
does not assert itself very loudly, and if occasionally transient guests
appear with flash manners, they do not affect the general tone of the
region.

One finds, indeed, nature and social life happily blended, the
exclusiveness being rather protective than offensive. The special charm
of this piece of coast is that it is bold, much broken and indented,
precipices fronting the waves, promontories jutting out, high rocky
points commanding extensive views, wild and picturesque, and yet
softened by color and graceful shore lines, and the forest comes down
to the edge of the sea. And the occupants have heightened rather than
lessened this picturesqueness by adapting their villas to a certain
extent to the rocks and inequalities in color and form, and by means of
roads, allies, and vistas transforming the region into a lovely park.

Here, as at Newport, is cottage life, but the contrast of the two places
is immense. There is here no attempt at any assembly or congregated
gayety or display. One would hesitate to say that the drives here have
more beauty, but they have more variety. They seem endless, through
odorous pine woods and shady lanes, by private roads among beautiful
villas and exquisite grounds, with evidences everywhere of wealth to
be sure, but of individual taste and refinement. How sweet and cool are
these winding ways in the wonderful woods, overrun with vegetation, the
bayberry, the sweet-fern, the wild roses, wood-lilies, and ferns! and it
is ever a fresh surprise at a turn to find one's self so near the sea,
and to open out an entrancing coast view, to emerge upon a
promontory and a sight of summer isles, of lighthouses, cottages,
villages--Marblehead, Salem, Beverly. What a lovely coast! and how
wealth and culture have set their seal on it.

It possesses essentially the same character to the north, although
the shore is occasionally higher and bolder, as at the picturesque
promontory of Magnolia, and Cape Ann exhibits more of the hotel and
popular life. But to live in one's own cottage, to choose his calling
and dining acquaintances, to make the long season contribute something
to cultivation i