Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-11-14

u
pital flag still | must confess that "a vagu
unrest, and nameless longing fills my breast
whenever | meet one. From end to the othe
OF Augusta county-on the tops of noun
tains-a among the cyclopean towers; in the val
leys, even in the very dens of foxes and abb
ding places of bats, go where | may, l an
haunted by yellow dog This one had vii
famous countenance, and looked as if he haC
been whipped from generation to generation
but ne wagged his tail as approached, and
looked at me appealingly, yet familiarly, az
though he had heard of me from all his distant
relations
AT the entrance to the cave the guide gave
each of us tallow candle stuck into socket
In front of sort of tin shield with handle to
1t. Each carried this piece of furniture with
the shield toward his face, the candle toward
his neighbor's back-an admirable arrange
ment, by-the-by, for presenting ones friends
| with illustrations of Greece.
STOPPING low and walking in Indian file we
passed the guard-room, where anumber of sta
lagmites, in rigid order, stood like so many SEN
tnels, as if to protect the entrance to this
strange and marvellous house, not made with
hands. Passing these unchallenged, all the
weird stories heard In my childhood of en-
chanted castles, and giants. and fairies, rushed
upon my mind. The massive walls, of russell
color, rose around me, carved in the quaintest
devices, calling to mind what / had read of the
catacombs Of Rome and the ghasty architec-
ture with which monkish taste has embellished
certain other convent vaults. Next in order
came Solomon S throne-a raised seat of pecu-
liar formation. and little further on we were
shown stone canopy so delicately formed. so ex-
quisitely colored, could iken it only to an i'm
menSe mushroom deprived of its stem and sus-
pended there. From this point we entered the
shell-room, where the beautiful mingling of rus
set and white had charming effect, and the
shell-like formations pendent from the ceiling
were beautifully transparent as the guide passed
his light behind them. Here in front of us
rose TALL isolated, white bit of natural sculp-
ture, which glittered purely in the blaze of the
many lights displaying an empty niche which
seemed to have been formed for statue. This
the guide named ''Cora's Throne" +" in honor of
one of the young girls present, and next we
we're shown the meat-house, huge cavity,
much like farmers smoke house for drying
meat. The guide understands how to throw
just enough light on this place for the visitor
to indistinctly see nice stone ham suspended
from the ceiling, and another lying ON the
ground. Il asked for bread and ye gave me a
stone wickedy pops into ones head at this
point, and we pass on to view the elephants
head, which, trunk and ALL is dlscernible across
small chasm, and further on We look down In
to deep pit, the 'bottomless pitt of course,
as it is just next door to the Devils Bake
Oven" where one looks into dismal cavity
through small, irregular aperture, and sees
nothing, Next comes the Tapestry Chamber,
where the walls seem hung with marvellous dra-
perry, and the solid stone assumes the grace OF
Iady's laces or the rich sotness of magnificent
ly draped velvet paused here in mute won
der aud gazed about me in dumb awe. For
how macy centuries had nature Ia her solitude
wrought upon these wonderful hangiugs, more
rare and more exquisite than any Gobelin ta-
pestry that every adorned the walls of princes
or commanded the admiration OF kings? In
impenetrabe darkness-a darkness unknown to
the outer world, a darkness which no sunbeam
has over dispeled and no star-ray ever pierced,
she has curtalned these massive walls with ta-
pestries which the looms of India can never
equal-threading her shuttle with mystic
thread, such as human ingenuity has never pro-
duced, and weaving her fabric into festoons
such as surpass the most fabulous works of art.
There they hang in their frozen fragility-del-
cate as the drapery of lady's boudoir, yet
firm as the solid rock Frai enough in appear
ance to be stirred by the motion of GIRL S fan,
yet immutable as the laws of God No wind
has ever shaken them, no touch has ever re-
arranged them, 20 human hand shall ever lift
them aside. Passing on, we entered the cathe-
dra also most brilliantly Illuminated, the can
dies around the strange chancel and upon the
magnificent altar burning with weird bright
ness and Pickering upon roof brilliant with
many pendants and upon walls which in many
places seemed set with precious gems Was
any one ever married at that altar? Was any
one ever buried beneath those aises? Next
came the armory, containing The Shield of
Ajax"-a beautiful shield-shaped formation
projecting from the wall Next we entered
''The Drum Room, where certain stalactite
struck in certain way gives forth the sound of
a beaten drum. Next came the ball-room-a
long apartment with a smooth hard hoor-a
natural platform at one end for the musicians,
a stalagmite some four feet high beside it to
hold lamp, beautiful stalactite pendant from
the ceiling just in the centre of the room for
chandelier, and beautiful grotto at one side
fora lady dressing room. This also was illu-
minated Mr.. Kinney had brought along a
member of his band, and
IA hundred lights are glancing
In yOnder mansion fair,
And merry feet dancing,
They heed not morning there"
Such dance! How grotesque must the
scene have appeared to any one who could have
peeped down at US through some chink in the
rock above Daisy and Adele in brown skirts
and red jackets, and their heads tied up in
green wells, few about like two little imps with
green heads and red bodies, native and to the
manner born" Yonder. out of the shadow
and into the light and again out of the light
and into the gloom, float graceful girlish forms,
and the senior partner dances as if the weights
of business had dropped forever from his feet,
and the fiddler fddles as if his body and soul
had become absorbed in the instrument; and
from the walls strange forms seem to start out,
and gnomes, and imps, and elves, and fairies
seem smirking and smiling at US as half breath
less; at last we follow the guides out of the
ballroom and through Fat Man s Misery -
This is crooked, narrow, low-ceiled passage,
through which the lean wriggle and the stout
squeeze, all half bent, half walking and half
crawling, and emerging quickly, for the way is
short, beside round-raised platform, perfectly
fat, and called 1.-The Tea Table" Down on
this table emphatically sat Mr. S., declaring he
could go no further. Mrs r and Mrs B.
achoed his sentiments and we regretfully left
them alone in their glory though Mr.. S.
cheerfully assured US that he had seen ''the
elephant" and was satisfied We now descended
steep stone staircase, known as Jacobs lad
der land worthy of the name since Jacob
Mohler made it) aud passed through 1.-The
Senate Chamber, where dapper little stone
senator had the floor, and, no doubt, has had
it for hundreds and hundreds of years, and in
to Washington Hall or The Palace of the
Gnome Kings" The illumination here was
particularly fine, showing off the vast apart
ment to excellent advantage. This room is one
hundred yards long, about forty feet high, and
averages twenty feet in width. In the centre
rises a fne staagmte, which, viewed from one
side and in certain light, bears resemblance
to Washington. Looked at from another point,
| i lx,Eo tho hac Epo -