8 NORTH SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 
anything except danger and death. This comparison is 
intensified by the doleful ringing of a bell-buoy just off 
Norman’s Woe. 
Norman’s Woe is a large rock lying a few hundred 
yards from the mainland and it may be seen from 
NORMAN'S WOE 
the path near the Chasm. It has a curious forma- 
tion as may be seen in the accompanying photo- 
graph, resembling very much at low tide a gigantic skate, 
he tradition connected with Norman’s Woe is interesting. 
In alluding to it in his above-mentioned book, Mr. Leon- 
ard quotes Mr. Babson as follows: “ It is a large rock lying 
a few rods from the shore which the sea leaves bare at low 
water. ‘The tradition that a man named Norman was 
shipwrecked and lost there, has no other confirmation 
than that derived from the name itself. A William Nor- 
man was an early settler in Manchester; and a Richard 
Norman is shown by the probate records of Essex County 
to have sailed on a voyage from which he never returned 
home, some time before 1682. The doleful name applied 
The Hermit of Cape Ann 
THE hermit of Cape 
Ann, M. A. Wal- 
ton, is beginning to re- 
ceive his usual quota of 
summer visitors. His 
register shows an aver- 
age of 4,000 visitors 
yearly. Among. those 
who have visited the 
Hermitage lately are 
merbers of the W. S. 
Locke family of West 
Gloucester and Win- 
chester, Miss Sibyl Wil- 
bur, the writer, and 
others from as far as 
Ireland and Denmark. 
It will be 30 years in 
August since Mr. Wal- 
ton left Boston broken 
down in health and 
sought the woods of Cape Ann, where he soon regained 
his health. This month he will be 76 years old, and boasts 
of having never worn glasses and that he is able to walk 
into Gloucester every other day of the year. He has a 
brother, Dr. Alfred Walton of Bar Harbor, Maine, who is 
still a practicing surgeon at the age of 82. 
The Hermitage, which he built himself, is a snug 
little cabin, fitted out with a modern cook stove, settees 
and one arm chair, The walls are lined with shelves 
THE HERMIT’S CABIN AT’ GLOUCESTER 
to this spot may commemorate a misfortune to one of 
these individuals.”’ Many writers, and particularly poets 
claim that the above tradition is founded on fact. 
Longfellow has, perhaps, given Norman’s Woe its 
greatest fame in his ‘‘Wreck of the Hesperus,” of which 
the last verse is the most impressive: 
“Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, 
In the midnight and the snow! 
Christ save us all from a death like this, 
On the reef of Norman’s Woe!” 
As we look at the formidable reef, and listen to the 
weird ringing of the bell-buoy, we silently agree with the 
poet in his prayer. 
Retracing our footsteps to the Chasm, and then fol- 
lowing the path along the shore for five or ten minutes, 
we come to the Flume. This is a channel extending into 
the cliff of the shore about one hundred and fifty feet, 
with a width of forty inches, and with almost perpendicu- 
lar sides. The bottom of it is not covered with water as 
is the Chasm, and it is possible to climb down to the 
bottom. Standing at the bottom and looking up, one can 
see several large boulders wedged between the perpen- 
dicular sides, forming natural footbridges for crossing 
the narrow channel. The booming of the water in the 
entrance reverberates back and forth in the narrow fissure 
with a hollow sound, and causes a mantle of solemnity . 
to fall upon the visitor. The Flume is as interesting as . 
the Chasm, and equally as picturesque. 
Thus with but a short expenditure of time, the visitor 
can enjoy these three places of natural interest, which all 
possess that indefinable mysteriousness of Nature. Such 
a visit should not be neglected by anyone who appreciates 
the beauties of Nature. 
stacked high with books, 
magazines and curious 
trophies from the woods. 
The best time to visit . 
Mr. Walton is Sunday 
afternoon. Then he: will 
talk freely of his boy- 
hood days in Maine; his 
experiences with wild 
animals; how he differs 
belief that animals rea- 
from Burroughs in his 
son; and tell stories of 
the summer people who 
pay him © neighborly 
visits. 
He has made a study 
of edible mushrooms 
and knows of 45 varie- 
ties. One of his inter- 
esting stories is how he 
initiated into the knowledge of mushrooms, and incident- 
of South Bend Ind., who were his neighbors for several 
ally saved their lives, the Charles Arthur Carlisle family 
summers. 
The Hermitage is a short distance from Gloucester 
and is easily found by going about Western ave. to the 
top of the first hill (Bray’s hill). Then the first road to 
the right is the “Old Salem Highway” which is followed 
three fourths of a mile over a rocky way ta the cabin, 
