New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-07-24
SUMMER NOTES OF A HOWADJI.
Correspondence OF The Tribune.
The MOUNTAIN HOUSE, Sunday, July %
of The Tribune

I 4 huge engine which Is much too conspicuous
! am speaking. by the bye, OF the Hudson Steam
er and yet, perhaps, the symbol holds for the
characteristic expression Of the nation. For Just
50 llmsy and overtime are our social arrange
menis. our peculIaritles OF manner and dress, and
iust SO prominent and evident Is the homely prac-
teal genius that carries Us forward, with steam
speed through the sloop-suggishness of our
compeers. sharp-faced. thought-furrowed,
hard-handed American, with his anxious eye and
sallow complexion, his nervous motion and con-
centrated expression, AMI wIthal. accoutred for
travelling IN blue overcoat with gilt buttons, dark
pantaloonS, patent leather boots and silk vest
hung with charms, chains and bits OF metal, as
if the Indian love OF uster fingered in the Van.
kee, Is not unlike one of these steames. whose
machinery. driving It along, jars The cut-glass
and the choice center-tables and the crlmSOn-cOy-
cred lounges, and with accelerated impetus,
would shlver the filagree into Splnters.
Yet for ill this. the New World is very pleas
ant place; a ight airy, open and clean deck.
where Won may spy the slyeSt nook of scenery
upon the banks. and a spacious cabin. into which
YOU are not turned at fatal hour with large.
warm men IN moist cellars. who eat beefsteak
and drink coffee to that degree that you can do
nothing but look ut them and wonder-but where
YOU can dine quietly alone OF with a party, and
select favorite dishes, but truth to say, at most
un.avorable prices from a very copious list For
these little dtfos" as Tom Skipping calls them
are quite essential to pleasant trip Gloves are
luxurious vanties, vet how many of our fair
friends would ENJOY the Boulevard or the Casclnc
or Regents Park, ungiored1 To Summer trav
eler not only the dinner Is an essential, but the
whole style Of the repast and. IN all steamer
cabins that know large warm men should not
be taken with A dinner, but afterward, in
draught with a cigar.
Certainly our publctabe habits are mortiy
me to us natives and must be disgusting to stran-
gers. Who can wonder that we are lantern
lawed lean. sickly and serious of aspect when
he has dmed on i steamer or at a great business
hotel We laugh very loftlly At the Rhine din
ners IN which the pudding and fish meet IN the
middle OF the courses But Rhine dinner upon
the open, upper deck of the steamer, is quiet and
ORDERLY and does not offend gentleman, whom
one OF oar greganous repaStS must needs offend
in the degree that he Is gentleman. What
chaos OF pickles. buildings and meats and each
man pungng through every thing as II he and
the steamer were racing for victory The wait
ers usually of one-third the necessary number,
rush up and down the rear of the benches and
cascades of gravies and sauces drip omlnousy
along their wake. 1t Is the seed-time OF dyspeP-
STA, swlnish- Samrnalla, and Dickens IN that
naughty, Antl-Amercan novel which none OF us
read. on principle, describes only too well, an
American Ordinary.
-" And Catsklll :"
Yes, we are rapidly approaching even while
we SIT on deck and our eyes slide along the gen
tie green banks as we mediate American man
ners and the extremes that eternaly meet IN our
characteristics Beyond PoughkeepsIe train
darts along the shore, rafting over the stones on
the waters edge, and rolling with mufIled roar
behind the cuts and among the heavy foliage.
SO nearly matched Is our speed, that until the
locomotive ran beside u.s. did not know how
rapid our silent movement was. But there is
heat and hustle and dust IN the nervous little
train, which looks not unlike pointed reptile as
we see it, and with our stately steamer there IS
drops, where our sharp Prov cuts the river.
A little above Poughkeepsle the river bends
ana the finest point is gained. II Is a foreground
of cultivated and foliaged hills Of great variety
OF outline, rising as they recede, and ranging and
towering at last along the horizon, In the Catsklll
mountains I.was brllantday and the heavy,
rounding clouds piled in folds along the line OF
the mountain9,-takng at length precisely their
own hue and so wallIng up the earth with
so nber, vap1rOus rampant such as Titans and
fallen angels storm. As we glIded nearer, keen
flashes dartei from the wall OF cloud, and as If
riven and rent with It's sharpness, the heavy
masses rolled asunder then more heavily piled
IN dense darkness fold everything fold, and the
startled wIEd changed, and rushed down the
river, chilled and breathing coldbefore the storm
No longer wall, out swiftly advancing, and
devastating Power, the storm threw up pile upon
pile of Jagged blacknesS into the clear terder
blue of the afternoon, and there was a wah IN
the hurried gusts that sweps past US and over
US, and che riyer curled more and more into
sudden waves, which were f0am-tlpped. and
scattered spray.
We wore now abreast of the mountains, and
far behind them he storm had burst Downth
vast rsyines that opened outward toward the
river, | saw the first sJftness of the shower
sklumang along the distant hll-sdes, mOlster
and grayer, until they were merged in mist.
And deep into those solemn mountain forests
leaped the lightning and che echo Of lt,wrathful
roar surged and doomed among tho hills aud
dashed far up the cliffs and dark hemlOck slopes,
and crashed Jyer the gurgling brooks, where vas
none to hear but the trees and the streams, and
they were undlsmayed, and in the shuddsring
breeze Of the pauses the trees rustled and
whispered to the streams, and the s,'eams