Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1872-07-03

Did Falernian draughts which temporarily in.
'pire fools and make wise men mad. To any
whose taste is for a summer resort on a large
aud luxurious soie who delights in apart
ncnts each one Of which is large enough to
accommodate o boarding school who is fo1d .
Of the yands Of an elaborate city cafe sup
plGmented by such unqualified dainties as the .
rich fields and pastures Of the country alone
'an give; who delights in angling and in
Keeling forth from their aquatic palaces the
active and gamy trout, DO place can be more
suitable or delightful and to these whose
tastes are for the beautifully mingled scenery
Of nature, for the mountain and the valley,
for dense forests and deep gIades forever hid
from the sunlight aud for rich fields covered
with the products Of splendid cultivation or
who delight in the varieties Of light and shade,
the marvellous clearbess Of the atmosphere,
the emulation and rolling and piling Of the
clouds, throwing their own enchantment over
landscape that is not surpassed by the Swiss
scenery from Basic to Oten or from Berne to
Lausanne Stowe and Mansfield furnish at.
fractions that no Sybarite would relish, but
which would be the inspiration of every pure
enthusiast Of art or of nature.
When We first assembled Mt Mansfield there
was only loot-path from the base to the
summit. Our quarters at the top were bed
of spruce boughs laid upon the huge rocks Of
the nose, and our covering the blue arch Of
the sky. The field OF vision was open only
in two directions, up and down. above and
below. We could look up to the stars, down
to the sleeping wales and villages. Perched
on that rocky minaret of the earth, on a sum
init that had been struck a thousand times by
the lightnings, looking off over the immense
bastions and escarpments of rock, whirling
through space at a speed of fifty thousand
miles an hour, we seemed to have taken
seat on the coach box of creation aud to be
driving through the regions of night, past
star after star, with no power to arrest the
appalling rapidly of our fight. The night
scene and sensation, as we lay on our back on
the extreme summit of the mountain, will al
ways be thrilling and unforgotten memory.
But the scene by day, though without any aid
from the Imagination, was differently but equal
y grand. The long piles of the southern noun
tains; the northern hills retreating far off into
the level plains of Canada the tin roofs Of Mon
treal gli,tering like faint specks Of silver
the eastern ranges Of the Green Mountains,
their serrated SUBMITS revealing, at intervals
beyond, the distant peaks of the White Hills ,
the western placid lake. winding in and out
of the clearly outlined banks of rock, wood or
plain, and for seventy miles furnishing deep
fosse for the castellated Adirondack territory
beyond; these furnished morning or an
evening scene, with ever varying changes Of
beauty aud sublmity, that needed no help from
the imagination to be impressed on the mind
forever.
Now, while all this scenery is left, and will
never be eifaced or improved by the hand of
man, the easiness of approach to it and the
facilities for its enjoyment are greatly in
creased A broad, smooth road, Of easy
grade, uncois its tortuous folds in and out oil
the forests and along the precipices of the
mountain side, from the foot to the summit
In coach drawn by four horses, or in single
carriage, at his pleasure, the tourist cal
ascend this hill Of the Lord" without tn
least fatigue to himself For ourselves, W
do not think much Of a summit that is reache,
without struggle and difficulty. Our appre
citation of high things comes after they hav
been fairly won by our own muscle aud pluck
= That which costs most is always most valued
n Tyndal standing upon the peak of Yum
Frau, achieved by his daring and passion an
fatigue, enjoys infinitely more than a ybarite
/ wheeled to its frigid nights by the muscle o
weary beasts. Still we quarrel not with noun
. tain carriages, even though they give US vic
tory over the mountains without any conHiC
4. with them for they render accessible to a
!. the visions once enjoyed but by few, 1t i
A well, perhaps, that art aud skill should min
a lister to the lover of nature, and nowhere ha
II this been done better than at Mansfield Tn
ia road to the summit reminds one of th
Simplon, or the Semmering Pass, or the spler
did transit of the Alps from Lucerne t
. Brienz. 1t is noble specimen of the tr
~ umphs Of engineering over the obstacles {
nature. Every traveller to the summit
Mansfield will be apt to bless Bingham, il
wardly and outwardy, for the genius an
determination which have made so peerless
4 hight so easily attained.
; We do not know in the range of New Eng
d and summer resorts anything to bear con
d parison with Mansfield One might almo,
a imagine Stowe to be Interlaken, aud the iu
l. pid stream from the Notch to be Laute
d brunneu, and Mansfield to be the Murror
than which there is not in all the world
II Iovelier region. The snowy Alps are wanting
fl the treacherous glaciers are not tempting me
IF to death the lonely shafts Of granite, shootir
/. up into the sky like needles for thousands
is feet are not there; but for beauty without ii
' utmost sublmity for subliuity without al
r. sense Of peril aud personal danger; for vari
/, tics of loyeliness aud grandeur there are fe
n spots eau equal, there are none that can So
pass Mount Mansfield.
Nd -----
IS " At the Illinois Liberal State Convent,
be last week letter was read from Hon Ca
ip Schurz bitterly deuouncing Grant aud Il
In conduct of his administration, especially