Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1845-08-14
CORRESPONDENCE oFTHE wATcHMAN.


sea, d. e. the Champlain canal) | am here in the
midst of the ola pOdrida of people, that heat as in
dcated bv thermometer the various ills that flesh
is heir to-" pleasure, or plethora in the purse,
drives to water, for the season, in Saratoga. Uni
yersal humanity is represented here. Company
from all parts of our own country, and many from
beyond the WATER are in town. One finds himself
in close contact, now with veritable son of Yam
keeland, with an eye like eagles, face looking,
for all the world, like peripatec multiplication
table where the g almighty dollar" as the unit of
calculation, assumes an infinite Importance; now
comes up broad breasted, Jolly descendant of the
"Gede Vrows" of the Dutch dynasty; next pres
to, you are cheek by iowl with mahogany colored
sugar planter from the southwest corner of Louis
lana, or perhaps Texas, who has come north to see
the Yankees, with slave or two in his wake to
show his attachment to the patriarchal institution.
But YOU will wish to know how we got out of Yer
mont into the domain of the Rips and Vans Well
then, after doing las is our wont on all occasions)
yeoman service in the matter of railroads, we left
your place in the stage coach for Burlington nice
coy company of only seventeen, and PISSED thro'
the beautiful valley of the On-no, Winooski
we mean. Pah it always disurbs our oltactories
to hear the uncassic name of Onion applied to one
of the most beautiful streams in the Mountain State.
Speaking of the vaey-it seems somewhat strange
that your good citizens manifest no more enthus-
asm in regard TO the beautiful natural scenery in
your vicinity. During n stay OF some days IN the
capital | heard the views on the route to Burling
ton alluded to only once twice, and then turned
off with merely the cold epithet Of pleasant. Why,
sir language is hardly strong enough to express
what every true lover Of nature must feel, when
passing through such scenery as Vermont offers to
the view. The wild and sublime, brought near the
milder and softer phases of mountain scenery, meet
the eve mt every turn Of the road. BY the way,
how easily the step from the sublime to the ridicu
lous is taken When we las is usual with u.s. were
taking n sort of Pegasus ride thinking Of the Boil
ton cliffs as "heaven-kssing," "sky-upholdng,"
&c. &c. with all the poetic energy our prosaic
mind could muster, plump down on us comes re-
mark from one OF the passengers What con-
founded soht of blasting twill take to get rid Of
them rocks!" Downtown dropped our soaring
ideas Pegasus himself was frightened, and we
that is your humble servant were-~wero -ahem
no matter what.
In this day of Internal, or as some would call
them, Internal Improvements, it is almost basphe-
nous to talk of fairies, and fairy rings, but were
such things permitted to exist, one might easily
fancy some of the quiet hooks on the banks OF the
Winoosk inhabited by those sprightly beings, half
human half spiritual. Notions die as well as those
who originate them. In this exceedingly practical
age, when every child can descant like Davey on
elective affinity, show immense erudltlon on chem
ical elements and overwhelm one with the wonders
of g.avitation, it is almost absurd TO believe in |
spirit, except is meant thereby the combining pow
err of chemical equivalents, or an extra attenuated
abstraction of the schools.
The Ineligible forms of ancient poets,
The fair lumanities of old religion,
The power, tho beauty, and the majesty
That had her haunts in dale, or piney mountain
Or chasm % Or wotery dcpbs,6
are nothing more than the creations of the fancy.
In our humble way of thinking, the faith OF the
DAYS when an authenticated ghost could be got up
in every empty house was better than this "cause
and effect" common sense! "practical" sort OF
semi-infdelity. Try if you ever happen to view
4 I. Of nntI
cal men, to impress him with the poetic idea that
fairy sleeps in every flower; each shadowy nook,
each messy rock has its guardian genius, its par
ticuar spirit and if he does not take to his heels
outright from fear of insanity in you, he will laugh
in your face and showing you some skin and bones
sheep, will eeringly ask if these your guardian
spirits, your presiding genii. Millions /
"Alions of spiritual walk the carh," i
sounds very well in poetry-an excellent hyperbole
but to ask the enlightened mind of the nineteenth
century TO believe such a creed absurd! ridcu- b
lous "The world made by chemistry, set in S
motion by galvanic action, and is kept moving by c
the omnipotence of gravitation What place, then,
have spirits in such SYSTEM" None at all sir, {
is our answer.
But to return to Saratoga. GAIL the worlds {
a stage and all the men and women players" is {
well parodied here. Every phase of humanity
seems represented. In close juXtapositon with ro-
Dust nealtn,
ed shape of beauty, and the loughter-loving care
less eye of the pleasure hunter appear faces sharp
ened and saddened by the ravages of dire disease,
skeeton-like forms, almost vsibly in the embrace
of death, and eyes that from their fearful lustre
seem to look at "things which other men see not"
the truths of the shadowy land. Saratoga is
world IN miniature, and one may well spend a few
DAYS here in the study of human nature Human
ity in such place, exhibits its lovely and unlovely
aspects,
1t was with difficulty that we found place to
stop. The principal hotels crowded to suffoca-
ton The United States " has more than six hun h
dred and the others are patronized after the same
sort. The walks about Saratoga are very pleasant,
at least to one who has been almost broled to death
on the sandy road from Whitehall. In the vicinity
the sentimental can find the tomb of Margaret M
Davidson, whose Remains, with Memoir by r.
wing, are familiar TO your readers. Like gentle
flower she boomed for an hour in the literary world,
and withered away. One would almost think she
exhaled to heaven because too pure for earth.
Yours,