| Show mpa ISLAND HOME S ov sio iiii jaide alie rocks of apple ore ut alie koae today thu shoals are given up to the Laigh tons and their summer guests they are the sole owners of the group and their great hotels and the adjoining cottages represent a property of half a million dollers doll urs the laighton family is closely identified with the isles about half a century ago thomas bell laighton was defeated in a new hamp baire election his wounded pride and thwarted ambition led him to eschew his kind he removed from portsmouth to the islands and he never returned to the mainland his grave marks the heart of appledorn appledore App ledore he was a man of stalwart form great intelligence and force of character and withal a good hater such as dr johnson would have loved he was a devoted fat berand gave daily lessons to his children oscar cedric and celia it was a strange isolation in which th ey passed their youth but nature is by no means the least desirable of tutors abo two sons had shown great business sagacity in making the islands famous as a summer resort the daughter says 1 I came here when five years old and lived with no society no school no church till I 1 married at sixteen and left the islands only to return with each succeeding summer her husband was loii thaxter the prophet of browning to america when u schoolgirl 1 heard him lecture on browning and I 1 have never forgotten the rich thought which his deep insight BO ably set forth airs thaxter is best known by her verses and if her scope is less wide than other surely the sea lias never found an interpreter more picturesque or a colonel more subtle the pulse of the tide throbs through all her poems she has also written a charming book among the cottages grouped around the big appledorn Apple doro hotel fg an unpretentious but roomy before which ia a wonderful garden such a glory of color wag elsewhere coaxed out of new En glands unfriendly soil indeed its a bit of tropical splendor that rewards mrs car for she is op with the birds and devotes the early henrs to her flowers one happy morning it was my good fortune to pay her a visit do yond the vine covered porch is the large room where she receives at once studio library and salon the hard wood floor is spread with boft green rugs and the dull green wall is lined row upon row with pictures bits of venice or florence photographs of the paintings of old italian dominating all a strung figure drawn in charcoal by william M hunt on the floor leaning against the grand piano were many spirited water color sketches just sent in by childe hassam on tables windows mantel everywhere were flowers tall cylinders with graceful poppies bine bowls heaped high with red roses glasses filled with delicate sweetener and great masses of dastur or the yellow california poppies made an indescribable wealth of color in the midst mrs chaster in a pale gray gown a silver star in her snow white hair the tan of the sea on her cheeks and the bine of the sky in her eyes beside her on the deep sofa piled with cool green cushions sat the widow of a famous musician whose violin was loved from tha fiorda fiords of norway to massachusetts bay opposite was a professor from cambridge who recited poetry in a voice deep but sympathetic and near him a distinguished pianist whose father devoted his life to setting bams to music As the conversation drifted on mrs thaxter gave us an interesting description of her visit to mary cowden clarke and her meeting with browning afterward she read us kome of his letters and then at tho professors request the epitaph browning wrote for mr Th axters grave isles of shoals cor worcester mass spy |
