The Pine-tree coast . rs Island lies out in full view before us. She has told us about the lives of the people. -Mr. Whittier has given us one of their most grewsome legends. It is to be feared that nearly everybody conies to Harpswell expecting to see something out of the that nearly everybodyaway disappointed. A comparison between what maybe seen by the eye of genius andthe eye of a casual looker-on wouldbe manifestly unfair; yet all of usare fond of visiting places that havebeen celebrated by genius. It- not, therefore, an ordinary visit weare making, bul a pilgrimage. Forme, the
The Pine-tree coast . rs Island lies out in full view before us. She has told us about the lives of the people. -Mr. Whittier has given us one of their most grewsome legends. It is to be feared that nearly everybody conies to Harpswell expecting to see something out of the that nearly everybodyaway disappointed. A comparison between what maybe seen by the eye of genius andthe eye of a casual looker-on wouldbe manifestly unfair; yet all of usare fond of visiting places that havebeen celebrated by genius. It- not, therefore, an ordinary visit weare making, bul a pilgrimage. Forme, the old legendary storiesof a past generation, which havetheir natural habitat near the sea, have always had a peculiar charm. Xot seldom they invest places, otherwi insipid enough, with a certain flavor in spite of themselves. They should uot be too hastily classed with old wives tales because their origin may be unknown, but should find a place among those secret beliefs to which all of us are more or less THE FLYING DUTCHMAN. ISO THE PINE-TREE COAST. Upon this ground our venerable poet was asked for the nativity of the Dead Ship of Harpswell, which he introduces with the following verse : — Here,He said, as died the faint applause, Is something that 1 found last yearDown on the island known as had it, from a fair-haired girlWho. oddly, bore the name of Pearl,As if by some droll freak of circumstance,Classic, or wellnigh so, in Harriet Stowes romance. Here is his reply : Some twenty years ago I received from Miss MarionPearl, daughter of Rev. Mr. Pearl, a well-known clergyman of Maine, a letter,descriptive of the people, habits, superstitions, and legends of Orrs Island, where, I think, the writer was a legend of a spectre ship, as describedin my poem, interested me by its weird sug-gestiveness. I have no doubt that a quarterof a century ago the legend was talked of onthe island by the aged people. Perhaps ithas died out now. The school teacher
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