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Show OLD NEW ENGLAND. Newcastle, Today a Small Fishing Community, Has la the Past Played an Important Part in the Life of This Great Nation, (Special Correspondence.) ' If you say to some peoplo that Newcastle, New-castle, N. II., is a place of historic association, as-sociation, that onco played n'n important import-ant part in tho llfo of the nation, they laugh at you because the placo Is so small. That compact little fishing community Is ludicrously diminutive with our present standard of national expansion, but, doubtless, the very qualntness nnd charm which con stantly attract visitors from tho big rushing world Is a survival of tho past, or bettor still, wo like to think tho llttlo town has yet tho slmplo and wholesome llfo which made it "onco a stronghold of freo government. As a military outpost the tiny town of Newcastle haB always played a part In both colonial nnd national Inter-scsts. Inter-scsts. Doubtless that Is the sourco of Its name, for not only Is tho Island girt about with a rockbound shoro and buttressed Into the sea as if built by nature as a fortress, but It has nearly always been surmounted by a walled fortification of some kind, which Is a part of Its picturesque features. Thoro was early built "an earthwork with certain great guns," but a regular regu-lar fortification wns erected thero 'as early as 1C88. There was a great stir In Newcastle when, In December, 1774, tho King's colors wero hauled down from this fort, and It Is said that tho ammunition which supplied the continentals con-tinentals at Bunker Hill was stored here. The site has been alternately fortified forti-fied nnd neglected from the earliest times up to tho recent Spanish war, when tho fear of an attack from the Spanish fleet frightened all the sea-coast sea-coast At that tlmo the ruins of Fort Constitution wcro again rehabilitated and tho soldiers stationed there mado things lively for the quaint old town. But only tho season prior every one had looked upon tho place Just as a melancholy ruin, and old residents would toll tho story of Its ancient building In tho tlmo of William and Mary. The names of those sovereigns were then associated with It, hut the vicissitudes of Its history have each given It a different title. During tho revolution it was callod Hancock, and when rebuilt In 1808 tho nrfmo was again changed to Constitution. From Its exposed situation at the mouth of the Piscataqua, Newcastle has always been not only a placo of dangor from attack by hostile armies, but to marinors at every season its shoals are to be dreaded. Sailing parties par-ties know how easily the squalls como upln this vicinity, and dread the approach. ap-proach. And yet for years tho Islands had no lighthouse At last the Fort Point lighthouse, was Installed, an Inner In-ner light for Portsmouth harbor. It was during tho administration of Gov. John Wentwortl that tho first ono was built, in 1771. Before that a lantern hung from tho flagstaff of tho fort waB tho only beacon for sailors. When tho governor, In his most elo-quont elo-quont phrases, appealed to the assembly, assem-bly, thero was talk of "squandering B -Krmj-.rr- LiBM P jBMBv' w8P!IE B j 9sr vEjlujTi-i cBfcs Edne of Fishing Village, tho peoplo 's monoy," but tho governor built tho Hghthoii80 and the nssombly afterward paid for It. Tho woodon Colossus nt that tlmo was 00 feet In height, so tnat It bocamo confused with tho Whalcsback. to It wns shortened short-ened CO foot and later, In 1879, displaced dis-placed by tho prosont iron lower. Martello tower, west of tho fort and lighthouse is tho most plcturcsquo oh-lect oh-lect in Nowcnstlo. limit on n ridgr of hlgn ledgo. It is n favorlto obJ-t for nrthtJ to paint. It is snid to have been constructed In a sltiglo n'tfht bv fltlzens nnd soldiers together, wh1 woro hourly fearing nn attack of the Hrltlsh, hut romantic persons am np to wcMve legends about so flno nn oh' n-.n. Hardly less nntlruo In Its hUtnr1 '-oc'ntinns thn- thn fortress Rppf ho rid Jafrv hero which thou- somowhat remodeled, has yet in Its structure great timbers like a ship, so It may Bland tho wear and tear of two or thrco moro centuries. It was built previous to 1680, though Just when is not known, and in Its picturesque location It lias always boen a center of romantic Interest. It Is a favorite resort of lovers, many, of whom have been married there, and, it has been much visked by noted poo-Turn poo-Turn of Crooked Lane. plo. Longfellow Is said to havo here mused on tho ballad of Lady Went-worth. Went-worth. The big parlor was for a time used as a meeting place of the provincial provin-cial assembly, and tho militia waa drilled there during 1812. A single Lombardy poplar tree Is a famous landmark In Newcastle, since it Indicates all that remains of tho Walton Wal-ton house of witchcraft days. The delusions of Salem did not propagate extensively In this wind-blown town, but there was one woll-doflned circumstance cir-cumstance of a "missllo-throwlng devil" which stirred deeply for a time certain pious souls. Ono deacon had to wear his head ' -- J Puddle Luck. bandaged in consequence of a scurrying scurry-ing -klllct which this uncanny Bplrlt had sot flying through tho air. There aro said to havo been saucepans and pokors launched upon tho Innocent, and even at times they rained upon the house, but always this doomed houso of Walton was the scono of havoc. Prayer meetings wero held regularly regu-larly In consequence, that evil might bo averted, but long ere these sessions had been given over the missiles had ceased to fly, and apparently this particular par-ticular devil had moved along. Now oven tho Walton house exists no more and only this solemn tree is standing in a negative way, with half Its branches naked of leaves, a sorry survival sur-vival of the flourishing group which shaded a onco proud doorstop. , Tho oldest houso In town is standing stand-ing as tho molancholy background of a lusty cabbage patch. Such patches havo of lato acquired much dignity, and becauso of tho literary as well as tho historic distinction of tho old houso tho laundress occupant novor "calls round" for tho washing, but with grent hauteur receives tho weekly week-ly burdens from tho boardors down tho lano, nnd thus It Is ,tho oldest houso becomes tho motive of a pilgrimage. pil-grimage. Tho bravo hlstorlnns of Newcastle ascrlbo to tho llfo of this tiny hamlet throo distinct poriods, two of which are included as tho rlso and fall, indicated in-dicated by Its historical association, and tho third period of prosont prosperity pros-perity comes to it as ono of tho thriving thriv-ing summer resorts of tho Now England Eng-land coast. It Is a quaint souvonlr of tho formor dlgnltlos.of tho Island that tho lordly hostelry which has grown up hero slnco colonial times should bear tho name of tho colonral governor whom Longfellow has hnppily immortalized immor-talized in Lndy Wentworth. Tho favorlto diversions of a summer's sum-mer's day for visitors nt NevastIo aro sailing and deep sea fishing, nnd thoro Is a great fascination in following follow-ing this pnstlmo of tho ancient resl-dents. resl-dents. Llko tho other scnfarlng communities com-munities at Salem nnd Marblehead Nowcastlo still ndhcres to Its marl'-tlmo marl'-tlmo lntfrcts, hut whero onco this llfo took theso men qulto round tho world, It letuls thom nowadays only to tho distant northenst hnuntn of cod and mackerel, so that thoir lives havo become yot moro remote and solitary Most of theso towns hnvo In cohbo iuonco degenerated, hut not so Now-nstlo. Now-nstlo. Tho very IsoIuUon of this is-'and is-'and homo, with its spirit of political mlopondniicQ nnd sturdy resourceful-osa. resourceful-osa. appears to hnvo kept thoir lives uro and wholesomo. They aro still primitive people, but tho historians- '-Intlons thoy can boast aro not dark--ed by n slnglo crime. |