REMINISCENCES. 



( Continued. ) 



BY GEO. M. BOOT. 



BEFORE THE ADVENT of the jolly German, with his rotundity, 

 expressive of good lager, the great breweries, and the numerous 

 small hotels and refreshment saloons, which have dispensed such im- 

 mense quantities of the amber foaming fluids, the old-fashioned inns, 

 where one could "take his ease," were few and far between. Nautilus 

 Hall on the Eastern shore was a famous resort, where families came from 

 the city to breathe the fresh air, where the politicians met at all times 

 to discuss never ending questions, and swarthy captains and sun- 

 burned passengers, waited with impatience their release from Quar- 

 antine. Seated in the wide piazza all saw the bay glittering in the 

 summer sunshine, while far away the dim Naversink Mountains almost 

 blended with the line of the gray-tinted ocean, and the bold bluffs of 

 the Island, crowned with the old round forts, and the signal station 

 loomed up, while between, fringing the curve of the shore, wooded 

 heights and farm houses gave a richer color to the scene — the brown 

 battlements of fort Lafayette on the small Island, the green banks of 

 Long Island opposite, the houses and spires of the city melloAved by 

 distance, the ships at anchor in the bay formed a picture that could 

 never tire. It was something to see the approach on the afternoon 

 of a hot day, of the South breeze. Like a burnished mirror the 

 waters reflected the sk}-, the sails hung lazily, the boats drifted with 

 the tide until looking seaward you beheld a gathering haze over the 

 far faint blue of the lower bay, a darker line of green began to shad- 

 ow the waves, creeping onward until it marked a distinct line across 

 the entire space of water. After it spread innumerable little billows 

 of white, then onward rushed the cool surges of wind, the sails bent 

 to them, and every tired and heated denizen of the land gave them 

 joyous welcome. A short distance below Nautilus Hall was the 

 Planter's Hotel, now occupied as a photographic gallery. This was 

 also a great resort for Southerners who came to spend the summer 



