rooms, comfortable bedsteads and
mattresses, and all the delicacies of the season, and submit to being
stowed away on straw-beds or cots, even upon the floor, half-a-dozen in
a small chamber, or four deep in an entry, to be half-starved into the
bargain upon badly cooked fish and other equally cheap commodities, for
the mere sake of being able to think that they are enjoying the
sea-breeze." Had the writer of this satire lived to lodge for a night in
one of the palace hotels which now adorn Nantasket Beach he would have
sung another song.

The peninsula of Hull is graced by three gentle elevations,--Atlantic
Hill, a rocky eminence marking the southern limit of the beach; Sagamore
Hill, a little farther to the north; and Strawberry Hill, about midway
to Point Allerton. The last of these elevations is the most noted of
the three. On its summit is an old barn, which is not only a well-known
landmark for sea-voyagers, but a point of the triangulations of the
official harbor surveys. In 1775 a large barn, containing eighty tons
of hay, was burned on this spot by the Americans, that it might not be
secured by the British. The splendid scene which this fire must have
produced was doubtless applauded with even more enthusiasm than the
great illuminations which are now a part of each season's events at the
beach.

It is said that fierce conflicts among the savages used to often occur
on the plains extending toward Point Allerton, before these parts were
invaded by the white man. The theory has arisen from the finding of
large numbers of skulls, bones, arrows, tomahawks, and other relics in
this locality.

The trip to Nantasket from Boston by boat on a summer day is most
delightful, affording a sail of an hour among the most interesting
objects of Boston harbor. The point of departure is at Rowe's wharf,
near the foot of Broad street, where the passenger steps on board one of
the well-equipped steamers of the Boston and Hingham Steamboat Company.
The course down to Nix's Mate, and thence to Pemberton, is quite
straight, but the route the remainder of the way, especially after
entering Weir river, is so tortuous as to cause the passenger to
constantly believe that the boat is just going to drive against the
shore. Upon the arrival at Nantasket pier the passenger is aware that he
is at a popular resort. Barges and coaches line the long pier; ambitious
porters give all possible strength of inflection to the names of their
respe