The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1872-07-20
A Visit to the Home of Madison.

Mr. Carson, a whole souled Irishmin,
who now owns the place, soon made his
Appearance aud ioyitcd me iuto the par
lor This room IS alJrncd with hand
so!uc portrait of Madison, painted few
years ago IN Philadelphia, sosc laal
senpes, a piano, marble centre table.
etc was not left long to inspect the
parlor, Tor Alr. Carson was ali cu,ha,i
asm 10 show me a new lorcc.;um aud
10 display It's power Accordingly. hi
hurr,sl me to the door opening upon
the 'front.' purtieo, aud thqrc, lo my
amazsmsnt, burst upon uS pauorlma
which Tor beauty aud extent Is scarcely
surpassed in all Yirsiaia
The i'cout lawn, extending some two
hundred yards to large gate aud
hedge, disclosed beyond the hedge am
pie fields thieky set in clover and iu-
CLOSED in scmicire.e OF dark green
woods, beyond which, At distance OF
ten miles or more. stretched the mighty
wall Of tho Blue Ridge llouutain liter
ally athwart the whole horizon. Grand
and expansive as the scene was, it was
ehieay remarkable Ipr tho absence of
human hisita,ious. The forest appeared
to bc s.bgoken 10 the very base of The
mountains. Clelriogs and dwellings
there A5ubiloss were ia that vast ex.
pansc, du; they were hidleu by the
golden hsze. Montpelier lookcd forth
upon tsis wade area of natural beauty
scIi.ary and alone, as might some castle
OF medieval times upou baron's broad
domaias. \ more Impressive sight i
seldom sega.
MIR Carson forced me away from
this splendid spectacle to witness the
working OF his new pamp. Then I must
see the gigantic chestnut tree, one OF
which was thirty and another forty,
feet IN diameter; aud no; far away ha
led ne to hill overlooking little deli
carpcted with tondercst grass aud sha.
dod by nearly a hundred beautiful wal
nut trees--a lovely dell, indeed. where
firies might dance aud reveI. Then to
the garden, where we lcasted on grapes,
pears and ligs, and back to the pOrtieo to
see the suu 60 down in glory behind
the purple baLtlemeuts Of the Ridge,
tha SKY all amber aud orange, and the
landscape fading, melting, gloomius
down through all the tiuts OF the spec.
trum.
The picture of Montpelier House in
llowe's "llistorieal Collections" is, as
| have said before, simply execrable
The facade, though it does not rival
Upper Brandon with its noble front OF
two hundred aud forty feet on the
James River, nortoweralolt Ike the cas-
tellatcd homes of the Bruoes 10 Halifax
county, is nevertheless suflioieatly i'm
posing for the residences of President.
aud fits well iulo the magniii ent laud.
scape which it commands The view
from Monticello is no doubt more ex
tcnsivo and picturesque, but the soft
beauty Of the scenery around Montpe.
lier cannot be exceled The contrast
between the rear aud trout lawns is most
extraordinary, ana embraces the beauty
OF both.
Behind the house you are excluded
from the world ia nooks aud levels OF
greeuery; iu front tho world bursts
upon you in startling grandeur, but ii
is still the world of Nature, Tor the
works Of mems hands are scarcely yis
ible. | know nothing like il, nothing
quite equal to it, The house il built
to last for ages. There are seventy.two
acres ia the lawus. "Nhal place Tor a
student! +! What home for a man Of
wealth aud taste What Summer re.
sort it would make for there is 20
healthier region probably in the world
What site for female college OF a
select school for boys !''-Litpacott,s
-Nagdsa,e.
The fruit crop in Illinois promises