Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 93

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716

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THE PIONEER STATE-Rhode Island continued as a pioneer state even in the twentieth century, its contacts with new and puzzling situations lying principally within its own bound -. aries. Its population was almost as diverse in origin as might be found along the remotest far- flung line marking the furthest extension of civilization, or as might be found in a mining camp following the discovery of rich deposits of gold. Within the same town or city one might pass from secton to section finding changes almost kaleidoscopic in the nature of the environment, and suggesting foreign travel as the quarters of one or another of the races of foreign origin were visited. Strange languages were heard in the streets; strange commodities were displayed in shop windows. Thus had the quintessence of heterogeneity been attained, and thus it was being maintained, with race segregation and preservation of Old World languages as the most significant factors.

But here is a public schoolhouse, floating the American flag from its staff ; within teachers and pupils, engaged busily in the tasks of instruction and learning and all using the English language. We ask to see the teacher's register, and glance at the list of names. Once Kelley and Burke and Shea mingled with Angell and Olney and Smith; now the register includes the names of Americans, English, Irish, French, Italians, Greeks, Poles, Portuguese, Russians, and others-Americans all in the public school, all learning to be better Americans. This is the promise for an ultimate homogeneity in Rhode Island, which will break down the barriers between sections and unite all in democracy. This is the institution which is building a better understanding among races in the exercises in common in the public school, in the games played together in the schoolhouse yard, in the intersectional athletic contests, and in the celebration of patriotic holidays. Americans all-without respect to countries of origin-they have adopted George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln, as their national heroes. Their ancestors fought through the Revolutionary War to establish independ- ence from Europe, their ancestors were with Perry on Lake Erie, their ancestors saved the union. For most of these good Americans in the making, the ancestors have been adopted, as have the Flag, and America.

*Chapter XXXIII.

CHAPTER XLII. GOD'S COZY CORNER IN NEW ENGLAND.

A RECORD of Rhode Island weather made in 1884 showed an average temperature for the year of 49.5 degrees, the highest being 94 degrees and the lowest 10 degrees below zero. The average temperature for the coldest month, January, was 24.3 degrees ; for the hottest month, August, the average temperature was 70.1 degrees. Twice during the year the wind blew 33 miles an hour ; on only four days it failed to reach four miles per hour; the average velocity for the year was nine miles. The rainfall for the year was 57.8 inches. A record of temperature kept for twenty-five years from 1904 to 1929 by the Providence station of the Weather Bureau showed an average temperature for the entire period of 50 degrees, the highest temperature being 100 degrees, registered on July 22, 1926, and the lowest, 12 degrees below zero, on December 30, 1917. The average mean tem- peratures month by month for the quarter-century were: January, 27; February, 29: March, 36; April, 47 ; May, 58; June, 68; July, 73 ; August, 71 ; September, 63; October, 52; Novem- ber, 40 ; December, 32. In the same period the average variation between highest and lowest temperature within a month was 47 degrees, and the variation between highest and lowest months was 46 degrees. The temperature record for 1884 could be included in the average rec- ord for twenty-five years beginning a generation later without changing the figures significantly. The differences of half a degree in annual average temperature, 49.5 and 50, and of two-tenths of a degree, 35.8 and 36, in the range between highest and lowest monthly averages, become negligible when divided by 26. The statistics tend to prove that Rhode Island climate is not changing materially, and that the present continues with much the same excellence the climate which was admired even before white men came as settlers.

Rhode Island has a mild, temperate, invigorating climate, whether the measure be max- imum variation within periods or the variation in average temperatures. On the other hand, Rhode Island has a climate subject to an orderly seasonable change corresponding closely to the Julian calendar, which placed winter between the solstice of Capricorn, December 22, and the vernal equinox, March 22, and spring, summer and autumn in successive quarters. In winter the severe cold that might be expected in the latitude of Rhode Island is moderated by a great abundance of fresh water in rivers and ponds, and salt water in Narragansett Bay, which must be reduced in temperature before the atmosphere can become intensely cold ; in summer exces- sive heat draws cooling breezes in over ocean and bay to replace air rising as it is warmed. Narragansett Bay, opening directly south and toward the Gulf Stream, and Cape Cod, shutting off cold North Atlantic currents, both have significant effects on Rhode Island climate. As com- pared with points outside the state, north, east and west, Rhode Island has a more even tem- perature, much smaller snowfall and generally lower velocity of wind. In winter the normal fall of temperature is easily offset by heating homes and wearing slightly heavier outer clothing ; house construction requires no extra strength of roof beams to carry snow and ice, no lining or double plastering of outer walls to exclude excessive cold, no extra pressure on heating sys- tems, all of which are necessary in other parts of New England and in places elsewhere in the same and higher latitudes. In summer the prevailing southerly to southwesterly winds sweep in over the ocean, and are both cooling and bracing. The majority of days are fair and pleasant, yet the annual precipitation, including rain and snow, is sufficient to guarantee against drought, shortage of normal water supply or serious loss of crops. Most of the arable land may be made to produce abundantly without irrigation or other artificial distribution of water; on the other

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hand, water is so plentiful that truck gardeners may, with little extra expenditure, install pump- ing and sprinkling devices which assure water against the probable variation of natural showers.

There is no monotony in Rhode Island climate ; variation proceeds within limits in a pat- tern so intricate as to suggest endless variety. There are no extremes of either continued severe cold or severe heat. Her own hills add to the beauty of the countryside; the higher hills of neighboring states shut off the cold blasts of winter from the north, east and west. Narragan- sett Bay is not only New England's choicest harbor for commerce, but around it God built pleasant places, and on it He showered the blessing of a wonderful climate. This is the Summer Land of the Sagas, "with her valleys pointing to the south, whose water flowed to the four cardinal points, whose water was of such purity as to be termed fountains of perpetual youth, whose brooks were filled with fish enough to feed all mankind, whose valleys had game fitted for the Gods, whose valleys and hills were covered with flowers becoming Eden, whose fruits were given by the gods, whose men were giants and who worshipped from the tops of the hills and paid devotion to the great water."* The Indians called the country "Narragansett," and when Roger Williams pressed for the meaning of the word he was told "to go south and to the top of a hill, and gaze south and he would see for himself." Roger Williams went to the top of Sugar Loaf Hill, looked south and saw a sniall island. He was mistaken, however; he had failed to notice the warm wind from the Gulf Stream blowing directly into his face from the south, which should have given him the key to translating "Narragansett" as "Summer Land." In other respects Rhode Island conforms to the Sagas-valleys opening to the south, water flowing north, south, east and west, pure water in never-failing springs, fish in abundance where water is not obstructed or polluted, game in the wild land, trees and flowering shrubs of southern habitat found nowhere else in New England, fruits with flavor unequalled by the fruit growers elsewhere, and the noble Narragansett Indians, priestly caste among the Eastern tribes.

Even in later years, when Rhode Island had become a manufacturing state, climate was a blessing -- mildness in winters prevented the freezing of streams that would destroy factory water-wheels or prevent operation by ice locking ; in summer cooling breezes tempered factory heat, and gave relief in evening and night. Rhode Island never has boasted of its climate; Rhode Island climate never has needed the lavish praise which has been heaped upon the cli- mates of Florida and California, until one might be justified in suspecting that, like the pie which every diner ate as if it was his duty, they were sadly in need of praise. Rhode Island has had no land to sell, and no great areas to populate.

It might be simple and easy to explain why Rhode Islanders who have yielded to wander- lust long to return to their native state on the basis of the sociological theory of isothermic migration : assuming the truth of the law that population moves with the sun on lines of equal temperature, there is no place to which a Rhode Islander might go and find the parallel of his native climate. Florda is much too far south, too nearly tropical to be attractive to a Rhode Islander for more than a month or two in winter ; in Florida the heat of summer is intolerable to one who has breathed the refreshing winds from Narragansett Bay. By its monotony the climate of California palls upon the taste of a Rhode Islander ; he was not born for unending summer, nor the unchanging length of continued wet or dry seasons. His home winter is broken from time to time by a day seemingly misplaced from the calendar for June ; and late in October or early in November comes the Indian summer of rare delight. Spring weaves the marvellous panorama of reviving life in nature out of doors. No human eye ever gazes twice upon the same aspect of the starry firmament, which in the orderly movement of star and planet repro- duces the same picture only once in the period of 25,000 years that marks the completion of the precession of the equinoxes. And thus it is with Rhode Island climate-spring, summer,

*"The Great Secret," James N. Arnold.

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autumn and winter, but never the same spring this year as last or next or again within the memory of man.

INDESTRUCTIBLE BEAUTY-The beauty of Rhode Island was so marked in the natural state that the white man has not been able to destroy it with his factories and cities, his roads and bridges, his leveling of hills and filling of valleys; Rhode Island is a beautiful state at the end of three centuries in which the white man has refashioned the landscape to suit his own pur- poses. He cut down Study Hill to make way for a freight and switching yard at the railway junction near Valley Falls. He leveled Fox or Corky Hill, one of the landmarks which had guided Roger Williams in the trip from Seekonk in 1636 to the Moshassuck, and dumped the surplus earth and stone into the Seekonk River, burying the State Rock, from which the Indians had greeted Roger Williams and his companions. He filled up the great Cove in Providence, and the river banks until the wide spreading Providence River had been forced back into nar- row courses, and these almost covered with bridges. His steam shovels have cut into Fort Hill, until the ancient fortification is threatened. He removed Fields Point utterly, building instead a municipal dock. The rights of way of railroads have run through great gashes in rolling hills, or out over fills where ponds or lakes have been bisected or small streams bridged. To store water in reservoirs for drinking or to hold back water in rivers to suit his time for use in man- ufacturing processes, he has dammed streams and has created new ponds and lakes, filling great valleys with water. He has cut down forests. In building roads he has forsaken the winding Indian trails which sought levels by avoiding hills, and instead has gashed his way through hills and moved the debris into the lower places, binding his towns and cities together with bands of cement almost as straight as the military roads built by Roman engineers. And yet, in spite of all that has been changed, many times with utter disregard of natural loveliness, so much has been left, because God was bountiful in blessing His cozy corner in New England, that no Rhode Islander need travel far from his own doorstep to gain a vantage point from which to satisfy his eye's longing for beautiful vistas.

If, as tradition relates, Roger Williams and a companion climbed the abrupt hillside to the east of the settlement made near the spring of cool clear water by the bank of the Moshassuck River, they might look from the top eastward over the rolling country with an intervening brook into the wide valley of the Seekonk River, far south over the broadening Providence River and the upper reaches of Narragansett Bay so locked by islands as to have the appearance of a vast inland lake, west over the beautiful Woonasquatucket Valley to towering Neutaconkanut Hill, Mount Pleasant and the rolling hills far flung toward Connecticut and north up the Valley of the Moshassuck decked with the beauty of primæval forests. No doubt the band of pioneers from Pocasset who explored the Island of Rhode Island before selecting Newport as the site for a second settlement climbed Butts or some other of the hills which dominated the northern end of the island and from the elevation viewed the unparalleled panorama of Narragansett Bay-north and west open waterways between wooded islands, wide roadsteads where navies might anchor in quiet water stretching in blue ribbons far as the eye could see. Northeast lay Mount Hope rising majestically as fit seat for brooding King Philip of Pokanoket, and to the right the bay which takes its name from the mount, bathing the foot of the palisaded wall now occupied by Fall River. East and south lay the beautiful Seaconnet River, not a river at all, but an estuary in and out of which the water whirls and eddies north and south with the tide, and to the east of the river fine headlands along the Tiverton and Little Compton shores. Southward the land sloped away, with an occasional rise to preserve the characteristic rolling nature of a Rhode Island countryside, on past Bliss Hill and Tonomy Hill to the Atlantic Ocean, piling surf on white beaches and pounding cliffs or carrying on incessant warfare against the dominating headlands at Seaconnet Point and Point Judith. If the day were clear, Block Island might be glimpsed far out to sea and on the west McSparran Hill and Tower Hill and the ridge of highlands guarding the Narragansett country.

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Fine views of the Seaconnet River and the still lovely eastern shores of the Island of Rhode Island may be had from the heights of Tiverton or Windmill Hill in Little Compton. Few vistas can equal that which greeted Weetamoe, the Wampanoag Indian Queen, from her favorite seat near the Outlook at Tiverton ; it remains practically unchanged, its beauty chal- lenging an artist to transfer it to canvas and to retain its natural loveliness. From McSparran or Tower Hill another panorama begins in the east with the Narrow River Valley, the beaches on the Narragansett shore, and out beyond the West Passage, Conanicut and Dutch Islands, with Newport in the distance, and beyond on clear days, Seaconnet Point; off to the south, Point Judith and the surging Atlantic Ocean, with Block Island, perhaps ; west, the beautiful Narragansett country and the Johnny Cake Trail, with Little Rest cutting off a view which might sweep on to the lakes near the eastern sources of the Pawcatuck. Other South County Hills, stretching in uneven series westward, yield other views of countryside, small streams with quiet pools and rocky waterfalls, lakes and ponds in profusion, and the ocean to the south. In the Narragansett country some of the hillsides are still covered with rhododendron, laurel and holly, and in spring recall the hills "covered with flowers becoming Eden" described in the Sagas. Further west Watch Hill overlooks the ocean, Fisher's Island, Long Island Sound, Little Narragansett Bay and the winding valleys of the two branches of the Pawcatuck River. Northward rise other hills, including Nooseneck Hill, made accessible by a fine state highway and rewarding the traveler with wonderful vistas of pleasant countrysides, valleys and other hills, with here and there a village almost hidden by trees. Other hills afford vantage points from which to trace the winding Pawtuxet River and the Flat River Valleys, and to view the broad lake created by the building of the new Providence reservoir in the valley of the north branch of the Pawtuxet in Scituate and the beautiful rolling hills around Clayville west and south of the reservoir. Now and then a hill juts out from the ridges which mark the watersheds between rivers, and reveals a view of the western hill country of Rhode Island against the back- ground of Connecticut, or far to the east a winding ribbon of silver or of blue set in emerald, marking the course of Narragansett Bay.

The hills of Cumberland look down upon the Blackstone Valley, the favored natural course of a wild and turbulent river hurtling through rocky gorges and rolling huge stones along dur- ing spring freshets. Once when the glacier closed its old path through the valley now occupied by the Moshassuck, the Blackstone turned and hewed a new rock-bound channel to enter the Seekonk estuary at Pawtucket Falls. Now the Blackstone is a giant dammed to rest in quiet ponds and lakes until his master, man, directs his mighty current through sluices and under mill wheels. West of the Blackstone Valley are more hills, the valley of the Branch River, ponds and lakes and small streams, and vast stretches of primæval forests. The hills of Rhode Island are seldom in orderly ranges, and there are no mountains; hill succeeds hill with valleys in between, and always water of pond or lake or stream, mirroring wooded hillsides, or when seen from hilltops topaz-hued in emerald.

Rhode Island remains well forested even after three centuries of white occupation, prin- cipally because the population lives for the most part in compact villages, towns or cities, instead of the open-country scattered farmhouse which is more common elsewhere. Save when a city stretches a desert of roofs and chimneys with an occasional tower or spire or dome, houses are masked by trees, and villages hidden. Even the cities, such is the open building favored by mild winters, have trees aplenty in streets and yards, so that the view from outside from towering hill may be relieved by tree tops thrust upward through the rows of roofs, and the picture be one which suggests clustering houses set in natural groves. Rhode Island cities have few rows of close-built tenements or apartments ; the prevailing type of house is open on four sides and surrounded by areas for gardens, lawns and trees. Older streets are lined with trees. Old trees have been preserved and new trees planted, such as the fine rows of lindens with which John Sheehan lined Power Street in Providence. A quarter-century ago thousands of young trees

CLIFF WALK, NEWPORT

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were planted in the streets of Providence in an effort to preserve the tradition of a city beautiful with trees. "In whatever direction one looks from any lofty vantage point, the city," wrote one lover of Providence, "seems to be almost wholly built in the midst of flourishing groves from which only the taller buildings dare raise their roofs. The native as well as the visitor is often surprised to discover that some even of the more congested and sordid districts that give no hint of having trees as one passes along their streets, are nevertheless dominated by towering trees tucked away in backyards, but ready to assert themselves when one looks down from a partic- ularly tall building or an airplane." Fine as are spring and summer landscapes when foliage is green, or winter scenes of evergreens against a background of snow, the autumnal picture sur- passes the possibility of description, with its dazzling mingling of yellow, scarlet, bronze and green of changing leaves. Wooded hillsides are ablaze with flaming glory; such are the views from Little Rest across the valley to the west, and along the railroad through the South County great swamp, from Nooseneck Hill, and from northern hillsides across valleys, or from valleys up the towering hillsides.

From the islands in Narragansett Bay, or from the shores, out across the estuary in the thirty-mile penetration of Rhode Island, beautiful water views greet the eye. The traveler by boat watches an unfolding panorama of delight. Finally the Rhode Islander who wishes the exhilaration of an ocean voyage and life in mid-ocean may sail to Block Island by steamer from Providence or Newport, or by fishing boat from Newport or the salt pond near Point Judith, experiencing all the joys, and it may be, tribulations as well, of life at sea, and stay so long as he cares to, miles away from the mainland and its busy life and cares. For Block Island is a little world by itself, with quaint ways and a sturdy type of inhabitant, proud of his island home and independent in his thinking. courageous in the daily life upon the water which brings him face to face with nature's realities, adventurous and resourceful. The area of the island is eleven square miles ; the terrain consists of rolling hills and valleys, the latter so numerous that nearly 300 lakes and ponds and peat bogs are hidden in them. The land rises gradually in a general slant from north to south, from sea level to a height of 150 feet along the cliffs which face Europe across the otherwise unbroken Atlantic Ocean. The highest part is Beacon Hill, near the centre of the island, rising 234 feet, and on clear days disclosing a panorama of tossing ocean on all sides. Far away to the north the beaches of South County, Rhode Island, stretch- ing on toward Watch Hill and the Connecticut shore, may be seen; off to the west, Montauk Point, at the eastern end of Long Island ; and to the east, beyond Seaconnet Point, the southern shore of Massachusetts. The visitor to Block Island is as much at sea as if he were on an ocean liner ; no air reaches him save breezes from the ocean laden with the ozone of the sea.

METROPOLITAN PARK SYSTEM-Rhode Island has undertaken to preserve some of the beautiful places. By gift or purchase the Metropolitan Park Commission has acquired twenty- five parks and reservations with a total of 3000 acres. The largest reservation is the newest, a wild life sanctuary in Washington County. Next in size is Goddard Memorial Park at Poto- womut in the town of Warwick, 472 acres of forest, field and beach, a memorial to Robert Hale Ives Goddard, given to the State of Rhode Island in 1927 by Robert Hale Ives Goddard and the Marquise d'Andigne, children of Colonel Goddard. The forest land includes 200 acres of red and white oak, douglas fir, red and white pine and other trees planted under Colonel God- dard's direction and so well maintained as to merit characterization as "the finest example of private forestry in America." The beach has been equipped with bathhouses and dressing rooms for use by visitors. Otherwise, and save for continuing scientific forestry in the woodland reservations, the park is held in its natural condition.

Lincoln Woods, 458 acres, in the town of Lincoln, is maintained, except for winding drive- ways, almost untouched in its natural condition, with

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RHODE ISLAND-THREE CENTURIES OF DEMOCRACY

"Steep hills and lofty groves of ash and pine, Deep glens, and pools reflecting trees and sky, And tiny crystal rivulets that twine Among the grasses o'er the pebbly strand.

One feature of Lincoln Woods is "Druid Circle," a boulder formation reminiscent of the Druid circles in Ireland-

"In vale, on hillsides, where dense forests grow, Are mighty boulders, weather-grown and gray, Left there by glaciers in the long ago When our old earth was new, the wise men say. And still the road winds on through woodland green To vistas new and beauties yet unseen. But for that winding road the place remains Just as it was in those far-distant days When red men roamed its hills and tilled its plains And sat around their campfire's cheerful blaze. * * * * *

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Rhode Island : three centuries of democracy, Vol. II, Part 93

Author: Carroll, Charles, author Publication date: 1932 Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Carroll, Charles, author
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: New York : Lewis historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 716