Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1851-08-27
For the Port Tobacco Times.
HARPER'S FERRY

Mr.. EDITOR: The American people are natu
rally fond of scenery, but like children out whortle
berrying, they skip the best looking for BETTER
Spurnlng the sublime handiwork of Nature lying
at their very doors, "common place, - and fond
ay dreaming that Art is the ssbeau ideal'' of the
beautiful, away they go at hopskip- and jump to
other chimes, diving into antiquities, and turning
up the Wondering ruins of ages looking for the
first rock that tumbled at the fall of Carthage,
the point of Cleopatra Needle, probably trying
to find out where the blood that dripped from Ca-
sars heart now is, and where it came from. So
much for curiosity. Smart people these; they love
to do what they can't possibly do Theygo to the
Old World to and to wonder, and the prettiest
sight they see is the 'ssight" of the money thew
spent in going their greatest wonder is, how
Purseless and forlorn
They can up jb and "slope."
Now would not be understood as being op-
posed to historical researches, and Yankee Peeps
abroad; because they are beneficial. They are the
forage stores of the brain; they have a tendency
to expand the intellect, refine the sentiments, and
Improve the colloquial powers, pouring in their
supplies whenever necessity demands them.
know that "there are more things in this world
than are dreampt of in our philosophy" and ]
think that the sooner it is found out the better
But l say that s'frst come, first served''-we
should look as we go like Pat and his bill of fare,
we should eat from the top to the bottom. Well,
we will commence on Harper's Ferry. This place,
am web aware is known to all, and has been seen
by many, and, as it not ae,c and so close home too
/ have no doubt but that it is looked upon no.
thing extra, and all descriptions of it schoolboy
attempts to make something out of nothing; but be
this it may, it 1op off none of its beauties.
When was boy lived there four years, and
every scene associated with it is fresh in my
ry. About week ago visited it to see what
Time had done for it the skill of the architect
had wrought some change, but there stood Nature,
ever constant, ever true, calling back the halcyon
days of my childhood.
Harper's Ferry is about five hours run in the
cars from Washington. The scenery along the
road is beautiful: on one side you behold rows of
lovely dwellings of painted stone, breathing forth
retirement and domestic bliss, while on the oppo-
site side, trees, flowers, and purlng brooks greet
the eye. Now you dart by splendid fields of way
ing corn, now tobacco, now little village flashes
upon the view; and then comes a deafening roar
and all is dark, you are rushing along passage
fewn through solid rock. Thus you go, till at
last lofty mountains burst upon the sight. You are
whirled around, ard there lays Harper's Ferry, a
little town of about three thousand FIVE hundred
inhabitants, in Jefferson county, Va. 1t is a
place of considerable trade-contans a United
States Armory, and reaps decided benefits from
the three great inYentons-the railroad, canal,
and telegraph. But it is the romance of the spot
that makes it notable. Here the arts of man and
the works of nature seem to blend in such harmo-
- al
the railroad along the river. To the east, which
IS on the Maryland side, not more than hundred
yards from the town, the Blue Ridge towers aloft,
seeming to battle its handicapped summit in the
very nectar founts of heaven, displaying front,
rugged, but unequalled in grandeur There is a huge
hill of rocks upon the side of the mountain some
eight hundred feet in height, called the ssFerry
Pinacle." These have .peeped one over another,
until they have formed perfect curve, rendering
at seemingly dangerous to pass beneath them. The
entire surface of the mountain is diversified with
clusters of waving trees, and wild flowers in full
bloom, while here and there lie groups of moss
covered rocks, reminding of past ages, when they
were as Cushioned chairs to the red man of the
wood; and from their slippery fronts streams of the
purest water can be seen oozing forth and sparkling
in the sunlight, calling to our minds those eloquent
words of the Bible, ''He smote the rock, and the
waters gushed FORTH - Upon one Of these cliffs, on
this side Of the mountain, is large rock standing
sentation ola human face. This they call s|Wash-
ington s Profile, " and though it may be magma
ton, |, and every who has seen it, have always
thought it bore striking resemblance to all the
portraits of that great and good man. 1t seems
as though Nature, proud of her work, in order to
give it the finishing stroke, stamped it with the
image of Washington. Facing this, west and
northwest of the town, lies another part of the
Blue Ridge similarly arranged: on this side, three
miles down, is Buzzard's Rock, and among the
grand and sublime views ofthe EARTH this must hold
"a respectable rank, for here is feast for the soul
"a perfect Paradise for the naturalist As far
as the eye can possibly reach beauty gds the scene
Some think the Capitol at Washington is visible
from this peak, but it is mistake. To the north
rises hill almost as high the mountain; at the
foot of this stands the town half way to the sum-
nit, upon foundations formed by cutting in the
hill, and formed chiefly of stone, are two neat
churches, the one Episcopal, the other Catholic
ing to Jefferson Rock. This rock is shaped some
what like pulpit, commanding view of every
thing around. Here, it is said, Jefferson wrote
some of his notes GA Virginia. 1t is now gashed
up with the names of those who were bold enough
to reach it.
Eastward again, directly between that portion
of the mountain of which l first spoke and the
town, thereby separating Virginia from Mary
land, rolls the old Potomac, though it seems spun
out into mere string, yet it is the same blue Po-
tomac. 1t is very shallow, and paved almost en-
tirely with stone, while here and there it is adorn-
ed with pretty circular islands, filled with the
greenest grass, shrubbery and often flowers The
current of the stream is about variable as the
hearts and minds of men-now unruffled and with
out murmur it steps calmly on-as a martyr to
the stake-and then again, like some furious tiger
it comes growing on, splitting out its frothy foam
upon craggy rocks that dare oppose it. Still it
dashes on Soon the little Shenandoah darts
boldly out to check it in its flight; then comes the
meeting of the waters, and, like Ajax and Ulysses,
the clamor of their armor makes the welkin ring;
but the timid maiden can do nothing in the arms
of the Indian King-power triumphs, the Shenan-
doah yields, and in one majestic union the two
rivers roll mngling on forever. IT'S thought that
these two rivers uniting their strength forced their
passage through the Blue Ridge, bursting its giant
mounds asunder, thereby forming one of the most
picturesque and romantic spots imaginable. There
IS mountain frowning upon mountain, wave en-
bracing wave. There is the Old Dominion, the
cradle of the great, while within stones throw