The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1865-07-14
a.,.. for no Rietsres4ss'

| come from 0o
.Sa ana emery and charming country
rso - M fair young sister State. to ind
.a lis and bold rocks, which render
Id 60 many beautiful views free from
see dis6guring advertisements so rulnons
NO many of the favorite resorts OF the
o,der statee. All who have whirled over
the railroads of New York, through the
valley of the Mohawk, or among the
oorees and ravines of the Susquehannah
and Delaware; or have swept down the
Hudson-" the River of the Hills" must
remember how the discovery, here and
there, of huge signs, daubed in characters
so large that he who runs cannot bat read,
has offended and Disguised, by bringing
to mind the ills that flesh is heir to, at a
time when one would fain see only nature,
and forget aught but the pleasant assooia-
tons which natural scenery brings,to ev-
cry lover of the picturesque. At West
Point, one sees with pride the names Of
the Mexican battles cut deeply in the ma
tive rocks, and thus borrowing their i'm
mortality to perpetuate the record OF our
victories, and We feel that it is q rude and
vandal hand that has chosen this vicinity
to thrust upon our unwilling sight notices
of quack remedies, bar room drinks, and
healing (a) lotions. But 60 it is, and on
the bold shores of this noble stream, re-
flected in it's calm mirror-like surface, are
these disgraoeful evidences of penny-seek-
ing notoriety. This barbarous custom has
placed signs suggestive of all that is disa-
greeable upon the bare, storm-swept brows
of the White Mountains, upon ragged old
side cliffs, and on the rocky walls of our
famous Niagara; and where the eye of the
traveller must fall, but few surfaces re-
main undisfgured. ...
At this late day, New York has passed
law that gives landowners and all oorpo-
rations full protection from this most
enduring of all trespasses, and when after
the elements have once more wrought
fresh surfaces upon the rocks, it may be
that we may once more look upon beauti-
full scenes without being obliged to read a
series of medical notices.
Here while the beauties of fair Minneso-
ia remain as they have been for unknown
ages, fresh and unmarried, winning from
all admiration, and arousing that sympa-
thy with nature so perfectly defined by
BRYANT when he wrote
"To him who in the love of nature holds
Communion with her visible forms she speaks,
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has voice of gladness, and smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings with mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness ere he Is aware" %.
Let public sentiment discourage and
legislation forbid, barbarian hands from
degrading natures handiwork to the office
of holding mans ills, and vendors shop
Haunting impudence before our eyes. !,
But once, in pleasant rambles among
the lakes, and streams that tempt one to
stray on and on about St. Paul, has the
writer had recalled unpleasant associations
of auacks and charlatans, and that was
when viewing that gem of waterfall,
graceful, ripping Minnehaha.
Looking through the veil of water, fit in
it's ever changing beauty to curtain the
home of the naiad of all streams it was not
pleasant to see on the little bridge, which
is itself almost out of place in 80 entirely
picturesque a place, a daubed notice Of
some he dry nurses "Teething Syrup at
25 cts a Bottle" What soul has man
who amid the laughing waters, where TO
liage, spray, sunlight and color combine
to render all perfection, can shock ones
mind with suggestions OF crying infants,
weary mothers, and long enduring fathers,
in their misery of come ambitious heirs
first dental achievement9 Again has he
made q raid on the, picturesque, and re-
peated his notice on the rocks that form
the curve of the amphitheatre, 80 that from
every point, he who would see Mime ha-
ha. and dream over the past, the red man 3
long gone past, so full of romance, and
sadness, must be brought to the angry con-
seriousness that white man has detaced
what the savage appreciated.
Shall this example be followed; must
notices of "post no bills +" be painted on
every point Of beauty, on Maiden's Rock,
and the cliffs of the Upper Mississippi 2
or will refined public sentiment punish
by no patronage, and laws by penalties,
the vandal who would prostitute all the
picturesque to his money getting noto-
rriety. Shall it not be that such notoriety
shall be considered infamous, and fail In
the result that tempts the unscrupulous
to thus offend against good tastes II not
in some way condemned and prevented, this
practice will render our summer haunts
mere advertising places, and our rural
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