Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-06-26

WATERING PLACE CORRESPONDENTS
The Mountains Of Virginia.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,

Greanbrier Co., Va, June, 1850 I
Editor Star 1t is my purpose in a series
0i brief epistles to give to your evening read
ers variety Of observations bearing unon a
recent trip from my New Hampshire home to
these celebrated springs, and matters and
things connected with this vast establishment
My plan IS hardly digested and arranged now,
and L will not attempt to foreshadow il, and
Tsit offer only few words upon the scenery
of Nature.
Imprinted must admit that there WAS a
ume In my life-previOus to ten consecutive
voyages along the Pacific boundary of this con-
TRENT, where passed in view of those grand
Mexican mountain ranges off Acapulco Man
zanillO and Mazstlan, and those towering peaks
IN Lower California mantled in eternal snow
when 1t seemed to my mind there could be no
such scenery OF mountains as among my own
Granite hills, especially in the region of the
Coos, where loom up in stately grandeur into
those northern skies the hoary and sublime
peaks Of the White Mountains.
First in sublimity and grandeur Of form and
figure, and in imposing awe inspiring dignity
ct mein and presence, like the great and God
like NirgInian whose name crowns with an i'm
mortal halo its grand and consecrsted summit,
stands Mount Washington Next in colossal
array around their imperial chief typical of
that steady, strong, united and answering
support accorded to the grand commander and
hero IN halls Of independence and battle fields
by those noble statesmen and warriors, are
ever seen Adams, Jefferson, Monroe and La
fsyette. The first, the truculent, high-tem-
pered and sometimes wrong headed, but hon.
est, bold, unfinching and powerful patriot and
statesman Of the old Bay State The next two.
lllustriOus sons of our great conservative south
eTn State, prolific parent Of patriots, states
men, presidents, whose historic annals from
the earliest colonial times to the present epoch
illustrate her devotion to liberty and law, and
her loyalty TO the Constitution and the Union
These names constitute bright and glorious
trlune, and with the noble and reyered for
eIgner whose memory is enshrined in eyery
American heart, they form a renowned and
cherished galaxy, kept in familiar and hal
lowed remembrance by their transfer to those
stately Granite peaks
But the transit of the Isthmus Of Darien by
ran car, near the very mountain whence De
balooa, In the sixteenth century, made the dis.
eovery OF the measureless Pacific sea, and va
ned and imposing views Of the great Central
Amencan and Mexican mountain heights, have
weakened the pride Of my eonceit.S = For. in
the presence of those vast, infinite mountains
those giant members Of the North American
Andes, our little White and Green tiers shrink
into mole hills, and seen at distance are but
rlppies and undulations upon the earth's sur
lace And when, few weeks ago. nv ewes be-
neld diversified and shifting views of the mag
nlhcent Blue Ridge, whose Peaks of Otter
have, by actual measurement, wrested the
sceptre OF altitude from our northern hills. be-
tween whose long line of frowning ramparts
and the grand Allegheny range lies folded in a
strong, secure embrace, the beautiful "Valley
of Virginia" confess to feeling that there
was still something for me to see outside nv
native mountains. And as the lsboring. as
cendlng train compsssed with unwearying
wheels mile after mile Of the heavy grades
leaving mountain after mountain behind and
opening up amid the reeeding SUBMITS, and
others still in the van, new views ef those OIL
gantlc peaks, the scenes are most powerful and
impressive. Those great Northern Cordilleras
referred to IN previous page are higher and
yaster mountains: But their rugged sleeps are
inaccessible to the foot of man, broken into
deep ravines and gorges, and covered with the
consuming lava, or stunted, sickly growth of
scruo6y trees. Their soaring heights look
towering and grand in their vast, sublime soli-
tude- And L have fancied, when borne past
them 200 miles away at sea, or looking up to-
wards their clOud-capt peaks from near the
snOre, that one might, If standing on their
oieak and lonely SUBMITS, almost hear amid
the awful, hushed stiffness, the great globe
ltseif turn upon its axis. But prefer to gaze
upon those glorious peaks of the Blue Ridge
whose sides are covered with vast and beauti.
Iui forests, whence are hewn the great masts
ior our ships and the helve for the woodman's
axe, whose friendly forms shield and protect
from northern blasts the dwellers in those rich
Valleys and plains, and, when all else fails
snAil form barrier to the raging tide of fanst-
lelsm and bigotry which has so long surped
against and now threatens to submeroe his
falr and sunny land. TEIIItyrn