The Portland daily press., 1864-08-17

White mountains In New Hampshire, vi lug
Megunticook mountains on Penobscot Bay,
and this is question holly contested, While
still another school of antiquarlans maintain
thar Il was neither of these two eminences, but
a highland near or back of the head waters of
the Georges river, which empties into the sea
below Thomaston. 1t would be well to settle
such important foundation facts, before con-
sidering the present as peryerse generation,
because they do not see sacredness In all the
theories and antiquarian air-eastes which gen.
tlemen who love to pillow into such musty lore
are disposed to build up. But this is aside.
From Camden to Belfast-that gem set on
the margin Of the bay-and far beyond towards
Fort Knox, the eye rests upon panorama OF
natural beauty such as is seldom seen In this
or any other country. / heard Senator Hale
of n. II. say, that from opposite BucksPort to
Camden was one of the most beautiful sections
of country that he ever passed through
magnificent drive the whole distance. Inc
land rises gently from the bay, and at,ains
considerable height, but IL is covered with
beautiful farms, the verdure OF which is per-
fectly rayishing to the eye.
Fort Knox is on an island in the Penobscot
river, directly opposite Bucksport, and will be
fertilization of great strength. 1t is not yet
completed, though several heavy guns are
mounted in its classmates. The trip up the
Penobscot was made in the evening, and tho
the shores OF the river are reputed to possess
much natural beauty, for obvious reasons " l
couldn't see it,"
Bangor is a beautiful city, and place of
great business and wealth. Its growth was
the marvel of the age some twenty-five or thir-
ty years since, uader the inspiration OF the
Eastern Land Speculation, of which the pres
ent active generation, fortunately perhaps,
know less than did their immediate predeces-
sors.
Thirty years ago exactly it was the writer's
fortune, then full-hedged, green country boy.
TO see Bangor for the first time, and to spend
some three months within the limits of her
corporation. 1t was the year the Bangor
House was opered. 1t was when the first May
or was in his prime, and when the streets and
walks presented surface not very inviting to
patent feathers or to those whose neither limbs
we're of unequal length. The city was almost
literally plowed field, undergoing the first
upheaval to bring it to grade, and to reduce il
to the beauty which it now presents. Thirty
years! What changes have come in that time!
The rolliking boy with his thick, matted, dark
hair has changed to an elderly man Of fifty,
with head thinly covered with threads of sill
yer; albeit a silver that commands no premi-
um in the youthful market That then vigor-
Gus Mayor, with most of the men who toiled
with him to plant the germ of the new city
and level of the ground, now sleeps beneath
the sod. Thirty years! In that time it is not
unreasonable to suppose the city has placed
more Of her population below than she has now
above the surface of the earth; at any rate. the
underground city will very soon, il it is not
already, become the most populous. In thirty
years other hands will write her progress
Sad thought, but cheering nevertheless, for
who would outlive his usefulness, or his abili-
ty to do or say something for the world, as an
equivalent for the subsistence be draws from
l.? Benedcent Institution this-the institu-
bAOu VI dEaib, ptCuiiut W iO PNoptSt Lie
heritancc OF all, the safety-valve of the world
against surplus of decrepitude, feebleuess,
| imbecility and decay. But truce to such
moralizing.
1t was my good fortune to-day TO listen for
the first time to a sermon, suited to the times,
from Rev. Mr.. rockingham formerly of your
city. Mr.. Everett OF the Unitarian Church,
and Mr.. Battles of the Universaist are both
way on their summer vacation, and Mr. +.
supplies the pulpits of both in their absence;
the Unitarian in the forenoon and the Univer-
salist in the afternoon. 1t was at the latter
where heard him. 1t was an excellent dis
course, delivered in one Of the most beautiful
church edifices in the State, accompanied by
vocal and organic music to which the connois-
seur might listen with delight.
Tomorrow the Congressional Committee
and their party are to be the lion visitors OF
the city, and after roaming about in the neigh
borhood during the day, they will he met in
Norombega by the lions and lionesses of this
beautiful place. Tuesday morning they will
leave for the East.
Tuesday another and different show is to
come off, under large canvass tent imported
from Boston for the occasion. 1t will be
convention of the genus serpent, popularity
and appropriately known as the Copperheads.
Their Kissing has become comparatively hsrn-
less, aud their slime will mix with other filth,
as the tent is erected on low ground.
SPURwINK