The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1859-08-08
n. P. WILLIS ON THE "BALTDiORE AND
OHIO"
THIRD LETTER.

lDLEwILD, July 26, 1859
DEAR MORRIS In this. as in my two precedin
letters, you will remember that am on a rout
winch has been recently we'll described bv other,
snail therefore be desultorv-dweling only upo
sucn points, here and there, those pre-pencilier
oy the way have left in outline.
Suppose | describe to you then-this beino m
season when such spots most inquired forth
two ''watering-places'' on the Baltimore and Obi
route really do not know how II ore of instruc
ton, health and interest could be combined in
summer journey, than to visit them both, lust now
! seeing, at the same time, all the wonders of thi
magmhcent railway over the Alleghanies!
flrst the esgle.eyrie, in aristoeratc old Virginia
ton used to ego to the Springs"
IN an afternoon that was like a delicious JUNE
JuleP, aWeather-mlxture OF invigoration, sweetness
ana ana fragrance, we arrived at Sir Johns Run-s
village which has thus far escaped having it's nam,
changed, by act of Legislature, to Smitbyille
though 1t does commemorate the uudemocrati,
existence of an English Baronet who once resided
mere. And, for the two miles and half up tht
KUN" (the mountain stream where Sir John cauoh-
ms trout, we were to be indebted to the oldfash
Toned stage coach, which, as a usage forms kim
OF conservative vestibule to the oid family" fast
| ness of Berkeley Springs
Advised of our coming by the alactr;cit, M, ,o,
before US (the ghost of Sir John will nIaase mot r.
be astonished with what is a mere teIegraph factl
the Kun stage with its four horses stood waitino
at the station. we hastened to herring-pack oul
party, as the ''nne inside" used to do in old fines
but as the team first frightened up the traces anf
| struggled along over the stony road, it seemed
must confess, little slow. The ten-thousand dol
lar locomotives, at thirty smooth miles an hour
was ashamed to lind, had corrupted NV taste Goof
heavens! that should ever feel there could be anv.
thing better than "stage," particularly as a con
| veyance with which to cross mountains!
!. IN returning however, the next morning, let mt
dlgress Ior moment to say,) | recovered nv four
| horse fascination, by riding with the driver Fl,
was capital whip; and to see him shy mud-bole
and run hollows, dodge the rocks md straddle tn,
rGts, touch en- up the slow 'un and go it down hill
with old-fashoned faith in Providence and the mol.
talking charmingy all the while of his leader!
| ana Wheeiers, and interspersing the knowing sen
fences with the team-tak of chirrups and re
pr9acnes whlcn their pricked-up ears so evidently
understood-the past was present with me AGAIN
AS HOOD came very near saying:
''It was a childish ignorance
| But now no little ioy
| 10 nave stage go just as slow
| as when was boy"
III was Just twilight we overcame the summit
| OF long b1l and descended by minute or two nj
sharp driving, into little well wooded valIev-a
place that seemed like hanging nest with mossy
sues and Its depths sparkling with diamonds for
!e lghts OF the far down cottages were Just begin
| ing to CLEAN up through the leafencircIed dsrlr
| ness busy-looking ''store" with its lounoers q
| turn or two at a smashing pace through A crooked
street, sudden curve around the trunk of plori-
GUS large tree and we pulled up at a long poTtico
eAactiy IKE that OF Saratogas old CONGRESS- Hall
Ladies and gentlemen were promepadnc IN and
| down, and the courteous landlord stood upon the
| steps. Through the windows cleaned the liohts
m ana snowy cloth upon long table, Negro
| walters peeped out from the doors at the new,
comers. wilderness of columns and orean
hospitable. -'0"'5' anu
AS we were to return to the railroad at an early
hour the the next morning, | accented the land
lords kind offer (after supper) of a EttIe s;nbt
seeing by candle-ight The famous mineral snTinp
Wnch forms the attraction of the place. is of course
Wlthln the enclosure; and, crossing the well laid
out grounds, we came to pretty niche where tho
abundant fountain poured its limpid wealth into a
stone oasln. The water was warm-seyentv-
degrees Fahrenheit. Close by stood large naviIion
called the 'GentIemens Pool'-an immense draw.
lng-room, for the male guests to promenade With
their heads only out of water: the largo ooyor
ed with an ornamental roof and surrounded with
private boxes for the preparatory undressing. As
saw nothing OF the kind for lady guests I pre
sumo they are not considered as amnhihio1sl,-
soclaole as our sex-a new distinction TO me hpt
Is 1t not corrob1rated by the fact that ladies ore
often addressed in poetry 'birds never as sTfshP
II yon recollect, it is proverbially 'my duck of a
husband, but, as proverbially, "mv dove of wife
VI man, we say, "'fat as a porpoise"-of a wo
man, ''plump as partridge" | obser TOO nv
reference to geological works that the amphibions
are designated az the more cold-blooded animals
who, from slower circulation, can remain IonraI
under water"--a specific difference, between men.
(as natural walruses and seals, and women as the
warmer-hearted doves and humming-birds,) which
sulhclently account for the Recommendations at
Berkeley Springs.
A gay party of ladies were assembled in the
draWlng-room after tea a tempting music of old
Virginia names, in the Judges tantaIizinp renort
after VenturIng ln)-but most of us were too dusty
l4r lhe uress END OF the portico, to say nothing of
the exhausted end OF long day of merriment in a
rall-car. l was very much interested myself in
taxing look at the pictures on the walls of va
cant parlor. They were the early sketches of the
oasotner 'ifJ SO well known to Art, Jour landlords
gltted son. and mostly of humorous subjects all
alive with the boys full-grown comic imauinetion
which the mans skillful hand has since so success
fully overtaken. Some of these would engrave ad-
mlraoly, drawn FROM just as thev are
sat over my goodnight glass of ale on the
portlco, and mused upon the historic hauntings of
the pace-the summer ruralizings within that close
horlzon OF hills, OF the Fairaxes and Washiprtons
and 1 regretted exceedingly that our aori2, DO
parture, the next morning, would not give time for
the looking up of their doubtless weli-known cot
tages and once familiar localities What wonId
George' the young surveyor, have thought if,
in his fatigue marches" across those wild NOM,
tains, it had been whispered to him, by apv nro-
yokng spirt of the spot" that in fifty years after
his death, guests would be coming to RerkeIav
Springs by ten thousand dollar engines, at thirty
miles an hour-to take rooms which had haan
bespoken by electricity, in a minute and a half
from Richmond or Baltimore Let us hone tha +
great souls can look back over the graves az thev
could once look forward beyond it. | cannot be-
lleve that the immortal WASHINGTON is NOT st;II j.;
terested in the land of which he was sstha Fatbar
and that he has not looked down. upon its last half
century of miracles, with wonder at Gods Provi
dence and care.
But, (the mind travelling comparatively slow.
please telegraph your attention westward for hun
dred miles, to the other ''watering-place' on the
Baltimore and Ohio:
OAKLAND AND THE GLADEs
The backbone OF the Alleghanies is A wild and
untenced level prairie, thirty miles broad called
The Glades.' At this ridge summit 1.-TWO thou
sand six hundred feet above the level of the sea
the streams hesitate and divide-of the twin drops
Una .,lat mere part one seeking the Gulf of Mexico by
the Ohio and Mississippi, the other seeking the Al
lantlc by the Potomac and Chesapeake
1t Is to mount this backbone by RAILWAYS that
the tram IS piece mealed, more powerful engines
put on, and, for seventeen miles the ascent IF
hundred aud sixteen feet to the mile is made-that
incredible Yankee achievement which the unbe
lieving English engineer las mentioned in nv pre-
Vlo9 letter. came across the Atlantic to make sure
could not be DONE
With Bayard Taylor and Thomson 7 was in
duged for these seventeen miles, with seat upon
the coW-catcher of the locomOtive-not so tbriIInr
rlde as had afterwards on the same gridiron at
double the speed, but most delightfully."- ADVANTAGE
Gus as to command OF scenery and KNOWLEDGE of
obstacles overcome. To those who are on the
look out Tor new emotions, can safely recommend
this ascent as the way to experience sort of supe
human sense of ery-insurmountabla n,oun
talns mracuously making way for a man. gulfs
and presclplces behaving like mere shadows across
moonlight, lips no obstacle The difference for
summer ldler, between walking a portico at Sara
toga or thus crossing the Alleghanies, 1.-TWO ways
OF passing day which equally cheap and
easy,( Is the difference of consciousness that MIGHT
De imagined between silk in the package on a s6op
counter and silk in soaring balloon
Gaining the glade elevation at Altamont. we
passed on, Tor the ten miles to Oakland over the
almost level wilderness thus beautifully described
by Brantz Mayer:
"These beautiful glades, or mountain meadows
are not connected in level field like our western
prairies, but lie in broken outlines, with small
wooden ranges between them, or juttng out from
their midst IN moderate elevations At this heipht
the AR Is extremey y raretied and cool throughout
summer; so that, although the country IS NOT
adapted for agriculture, it is calculated for every
species OF animal and vegetable life that is disposed
to run wild and take the world as it finds it. 1t is
rich IN all the natural grasses that delight herds
man, relieved by islands of white-oak interspnrsed
with alder; it is full of copous streams kent full
and fresh by the clouds that condense round tbe
submits; its waters alive with trout and waste
themselves in deep cascades and falls after furnish
ing pools for the fish; it pastures innumerabe herds
OF sheep, whose tenderness and flavor rival that of
the deer which abound in the woods: wild turkeys
ana pheasants hide among its oaks, beeches, wal
nuts and magnolias; the sugar-maple supplies it
with tropical luxury in abundance; the woods
are vocal with larks, thrushes and mocknp-birds.
ana IN the nowermg season nothing is gayer than
the meadows with their snowy flowers.
"a little village is growing up at Oakland in the
midst OF these glades sort of nestlinp-place for
folks who are willing to be satisfied bv being cool,
quiet and natural during summer lido
not despair OF seeing the day when the MARYLAND
Glades, the head-waterS of the Potomac and Cheat
and the romantic cascades of the neighborinp BLACK
water will be crowded with health hunters The
turn of Nature to be in fashion auain n,ust oon,o