Life — July 8, 1897 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

of Newport, and comprise plug-tobacco barons, blood-purifier kings, noblemen in dry and wet goods, and gentlemen in oil, ale and pig-iron. The literary ele- ment adds to the gayety of the Pier, for we have here the editors of business agency serials, chiefs of literary bureaus of department stores, a few bookmakers, and the American de Goncourt, A. Quiv- ering Grunter, accompanied by his two famous, yellow-covered dogs, Barnes and Potter. . . . HERE is a country club and an anise bag at the Pier; but they are only used on the arrival of some lost and abandoned British nobleman. Mountains, cascades and rivers are not used at Narragansett Pier, though, of course, they could be bought and paid for, if there was any demand for them. Architecture is the most forcible feature of the place, and the Villa Nicotina has more renaissance to it than any $500,000 bath-house on the bay, and it is made of real stone, The noon-day bathing festival is the hour of the Pier's radiant glory; the whole population assembles to witness the ceremonies, even the retired bandits VIEW AT NARRAGANSETT PIER. who drive hacks abandoning their ve- hicular derelicts for the time bein Some daring souls enter the water with reckless abandon, but the more conserv- ative ladies, robed in garments. with expurgated skirts, recline upon the warm, wholesome strand, viewing the ocean with profound distrust and their own anatomy with deep admiration, Rates at the hotels are higher than the temperature of the matrons of the Casino, though no charge is made for the atmosphere, ocean or scenery, out- side of the Sherry reserves. Guests have the choice of sleeping in their rooms or the halls, according as they store their trunks inside or outside of their apartments. The cold and formal manners of South Boston are not popular at the Pier, nor do the hauteur and austerity of Twenty- eighth Street cafés meet with favor. The proud and disdainful leading lady unbends there, and converses affably in French and tights with the two-chinned, terrapin-lined gentleman from Baltimore; the haughty and unyielding floor-walker puts on flannels and urbanity; the syn- dicate literateur forgets to quote his own contributions to contemporary letters ; the poet of the pill factory sits down in peace and mutual admiration with the beach artist in water colors; and life is one grand, sweet song, punctuated with cocktails. * * * i ARRAGANSETT PIER and the Narragansett peerage are proudly indifferent to Newport's frigidity and sneers; they will be at Newport when the haughty ones there are shedding tears and foliage and are soliciting pat- ronage for their tea joints, bonnet fac- tories and flower bureaus. They know the social cycle of fate and understand the invincibility of the dollar; they are now enjoying the tropic pleasures of their coin; in time they will cross the bay and blow themselves on decrepit and imported noblemen. Tourists and excursion raters will find Narragansett unsympathetic ; if they escape the hackmen, the hotel mafia and Sherry will ambush them. If they remain forty-eight hours and escape on the New London freight, they will be able to understand why G. A. R. men so frequently recall the late lamented war. Two weeks in August will exhaust the constitution and capital of the aver- comicbooks.com