22 
CAPE COD. 
headed that way. Indeed, that part of Dennis which we 
saw was an exceedingly barren and desolate country, of 
a character which I can find no name for; such a sur¬ 
face, perhaps, as the bottom of the sea made dry land 
day before yesterday. It was covered with poverty- 
grass, and there was hardly a tree in sight, but here and 
there a little weather-stained, one-storied house, with a 
red roof, — for often the roof was painted, though the 
rest of the house was not, — standing bleak and cheer¬ 
less, yet with a broad foundation to the land, where the 
comfort must have been all inside. Yet we read in the 
Gazetteer — for we carried that too with us — that, in 
1837, one hundred and fifty masters of vessels, belong¬ 
ing to this town, sailed from the various ports of the 
Union. There must be many more houses in the south 
part of the town, else we cannot imagine where they all 
lodge when they are at home, if ever they are there; but 
the truth is, their houses are floating ones, and their 
home is on the ocean. There were almost no trees at 
all in this part of Dennis, nor could I learn that they 
talked of setting out any. It is true, there was a meet¬ 
ing-house, set round with Lombardy poplars, in a hollow 
square, the rows fully as straight as the studs of a build 
ing, and the corners as square; but, if I do not mistake, 
every one of them was dead. I could not help thinking 
that they needed a revival here. Our book said that, in 
1795, there was erected in Dennis “an elegant meeting¬ 
house, with a steeple.” Perhaps this was the one ; 
though whether it had a steeple, or had died down so far 
from sympathy with the poplars, I do not remember. 
Another meeting-house in this town was described as a 
“ neat building ”; but of the meeting-house in Chatham, 
a neighboring town, for there was then but one, noth- 
