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NORTH SHORE BREEZE 5 
nolia that makes the summer air so sweet, shivering in 
the spring sunshine, bare of its deep crimson leaves and 
pale blossoms. Neighboring stretches of bay and the 
red blueberry pastures mark ancient cellars near Cat 
Brook. ‘here first settlers tried hard to be farmers. 
But they must have felt it in their bones that they could 
not resist the fatal lorelei of the sea, the final great reser- 
voir. 
On Baker’s farm, where still stands the only one 
of the four ancient sawmills known as early as 1694 as 
“the olde saw mill,” are groups of white birch, the rein- 
carnation of Norway pine. Upon such parchment must 
Orlando have siezed to hang his verse when he wandered 
through the forest of Arden full of love for Rosalind. A 
larch strains her naked arms, yearning in her late winter’s 
sleep for the quickening touch of spring. 
Back to the pines—and wherever there are pines 
there is an envisaging blue light when cold sunshine is 
penetrating the strong boughs almost at a horizontal. 
Through it in Manchester I see the glinting blue of the 
sea and snatches of the fisherman’s road that followed as 
best it could the line of the beaches. Pressing the need- 
ling earth I watched a bird cleaving the pale air. He was 
winging over the three wooded ridges of the town that dip 
into the heavily timbered valley, the natural entrance 
to Manchester from the south lying between the second 
and third crest, much as a gull swoops down into the 
curve between two great waves. But the first 
settlers were not birdmen. They were toilers of the 
sea and when they took their noses out of their nets to 
build roads, they threw them over the very tops of the 
wooded hills, ignoring the’ valleys as if from the heights 
they never wished to lose glimpses of their sea. 
Manchester since the storm of her invading prosperity 
has made so little history, barring the building of fine 
villas, that the traditions coming down from the time be- 
fore she had a shore colony have crystallized. Those not 
of the sea are told in terms of the forest. Over near the 
Essex there used to be a great many rattlesnakes. In the 
miractilous way that the needs of the time are met hy the 
necessary man, a Beowulf of the fen arose who aroused 
these dragons with the help of a dog, only to imprison and 
then destroy them by means of a noose on the end of a stick. 
They also tell of such roarings at night in the dark woods 
as are heard only of lions and devils, there being no other 
creatures that used to roar, despite the fact that the 
trumpeting loon is fondly chased by the hunter on clear, 
cold nights and the tracks of a lone wolf have been made 
out in the deeper woods. 
It was in the woods and in the heart of a poet that 
the idea of building the first summer house was born. 
Richard H. Dana,returning from a visit with a friend at 
Pigeon Cove, stopped his horse on the Beverly road near 
Graves Beach to listen to the harmony of the murmuring 
pines and the breaking of unseen surf in primitive syn- 
copation. 
The forest trees mothered the privateers men that 
brought home so much glory—that was their cargo—from 
the War of 1812. And it was the forest that nurtured 
the one industry the town has known, the cabinet making 
that flourished until the blight of the great fire destroyed 
the largest manufactory. Before mahogany was imported 
from Honduras, many beautiful homely pieces of furni- 
ture were made from Manchester woods. It was amusing 
to hear a man try to convince his friend that a fine chest 
of drawers, evidently mahogany, was Manchester maple. 
He bought it believing it to be the work of Virginia 
craftsmen, but he showed it to a Manchester man who 
turned it over with interest, only to discover on one of the 
drawers the name of his grandfather, who had been one of 
the cabinet-makers of two generations ago. What a pity 
that more of the chests and tables and cabinets were not 
traceable, signed pieces! Nowhere would they be more 
appreciated than in the Manchester of to-day. 
The Forest Service, the railroad foresters and many 
enthusiasts in private life are doing all that is possible to 
save the great forest tracts of this country. The best future 
of woodlands, as a glance at the forests of Europe reveals, 
lies in town and city ownership where intimate patriotism 
may express itself. Thus Manchester has done a glorius 
thing. Her woods will now be lovingly cared for and, as 
in Japan, where for 1200 years they have been planting - 
and growing forests under stringent laws, not a twig 
will be wasted. Precious few are the agricultural villages 
that have suffered from floods and the washing down of 
mountain soil in that country where inaccessible mountains 
were immediately made government reservations as soon 
as they began to be opened up, in order to safely guard the 
rich timber slopes. 
The town hill will grow in beauty and look down upon 
other tracts of woodland as tenderly cherished. Timber in 
Manchester is now sought as in the early days was a 
marine view. It is a prominent part of the country home, 
which is not really complete without its little wood, 
which is as carefully cleaned of brush, undergrowth and 
waste trees, the forest weeds, as any garden is rid of 
chicory, dogweed and runaround. Their shade, their 
privacy, the birds they harbor and their subtle power “to 
tease men out of thought” make the treesy stretches very 
much loved. 
SOCIETY NOTES 
Among the arrivals at Hamilton last week were the 
George S. Mandells. ad 
Miss E. D. Boardman of 416 Marlboro street, Boston, 
has opened “Hill Top,” her summer home at West Man- 
chester, for the season. ie 
Mrs. Wayne Parker of Newark, N. J., 
Smith homestead, off Proctor street, 
Manchester. 
has rented the 
Smith’s Point, 
A ro) 2 
Heman Burr and rie a to occupy the Kimball 
homestead. one of Mrs. Walter H. Harris’ houses, Smith’s 
Point. Manchester, this season. They live on Chestnut 
street, Boston. Mrs. Burr’s mother and the latter’s sister 
are to spend the summer with them. 
SOCIETY NOTES 
Col. and Mrs. Cranmore N. Wallace have opened 
their Beverly Cove residence for the season. 
% 
Dr. and Mrs. Franklin Dexter and their young daugh- 
ter Harriet have settled at their summer home at Pride’s 
Crossing for the season. 
3.0 
Richards M. brattee returned to Boston Wednesday 
from a short trip to Brattleboro, Vt. Mrs. Bradley is just 
about returning from the south. Their estate on Smith’s 
Point, Manchester, has Desa for the season. 
H.C. Frick came on from New York over the last 
week-end in his private car, “Westmoreland,” accompanied 
by his friend Mr. Grier. Their Pride’s Crossing residence 
will be opened for their occupancy early this month. 
