Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-05-14
Irnon AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT
CHARIEMoxr, Mass, May II, 1872.

| are apt to overlook the odd, the beautiful and
romantic within her borders, and yet we ven
ture to say few states present contrasts of nat
uraI scenery more clearly defined and strongly
marked. In three sections, at least, the opposi-
tion is so diverse as 10 be at once comparable
and Incompatible. The woods of Maine, the
White mountains of New Hampshire, the forest
streams of Vermont, are features of each several
state. New York only, in her great lakes, her
noble river, the blue Catskiils, the grand scenery
of the Adirondacks, equals, or perhaps surpasses,
Massachusetts in the gifts of nature.
In outline, ordinarily uniform, by some odd
freak of nature a strange eccentricity has been
developed in the queery shaped tongue of land,
designated by the short, sharp, crisp name of
Cape Cod which curls up at the southeastern
extremity, and is no less remarkable for the
quality of its soil than the oddity of its shape.
Its dreary waste Of shifting sands, and position,
like sheltering arm, warding off thei angriest
surges of the restless, moody Atlantic, make it
the chief characteristic of this otherwise regular
and well formed state. The school boy at once
sezes upon this salient feature; and once heard
of youth, who, in response to the question of
a teacher regarding the nature of the soil of the
state, said twas SANDY" supposiDg, doubtless,
what was so emphaticaly true of part must
surely apply to the whole.
The Northampton meadows, especially as seen
from Mt. Holyoke, present picture as totally
different from the last as can be imagined, not
equalling in variety and grandeur the glorious
expanse visible from the Mountain house on
the summit OF the Catskils, but far superior in
the exceeding loveliness of the landscape. The
broad, perfectly level plain, checkered with fields
of various colors, constantly changing with
the changes of the seasons, dotted with
villages here and there, most spicuously
of all the ancient village of Northampton, its
spires rising above, the noble elms, amid which
its clustering houses occasionally appear; far
to the east Amherst, "Queen of the hills" the
placidly flowing Connecticut in its winding, tor
tuous course, like a silver thread in the dis
lance, sweeping at last grandly through the
twin barriers of Mt. Tom and Holyoke, with the
numberless additional features neither pea nor
language can depict, make altogether scene
which the word lovely, hackneyed though it
may be, alone adequately describes.
The valley leading from Greenfield to the
Hoosac tunnel, on the other hand, is one con-
tinuous line Of wild, rugged, romantic scenery.
The railroad follows closely the frequent tun-
ings OF the Deerfeld river, from either side of
which the rough, Jagged mountains often pre-
cipitously rise, or lofty hills smoothly clad in
green, down whose sides white torrents fire.
quently pour while the Deer6eld river, a very
beautiful stream, flows gently or tempestuously
along, winding on its way to the Connecticut
past many picturesque villages "between noun
tains, woods, abysses, paradise of wilder
nesses." By the way, there is a remarkable
| circumstance attending its junction with the
latter river. Just below the town of Greenfield
it takes sharp turn to the north, and at the
confluence the Deerfield flows NORTH while the
Connecticut flows south. Prof. Hitchcock, in his
geology, says there is only one similar instance
in the country or world. Sometimes, however
the valley developes into a narrow plain, never
more than mile in width, though rich in YER
dure and cultivation, and so through this at
tractive region, either by a good carriage road
or the railway, You continue gradually to ascend,
often supposing the encircling mountains must
denote the end, until finally further progress
| for the present is barred by the Hoosac noun
| tain, which, upon the completion of the tunnel,
| sometimes designated the Everlasting bore, %
will prove a barrier to the course of the empire
of trade no longer. The summit commands a
| magnificent prospect of the valley below, where
lies the busy town of North Adams, and wide
extent of territory, Wachusett being dimly
visible to the east, while in other d.
rections Greylock and Monadnock plain
ly appear, and cold Williams, and the
mountains grand that round her lie" so that,
all in all, the panegyric of member of the leg
stature when he characterized this portion of
the state as the Switzerland of America" is
really in some measure deserved.
The first resort is fascinating on account of
the novelty and the ever fresh succession of
pleasures old ocean always affords; the second
fills the mind with images of the beautiful, and
dreams of perfect quiet and content, but after
all, commend to me in freedom from care, as a
refuge from the rush and roar and turmoil of a
great city, sojourn among the hills of Berk.
shire and Franklin in the time.worn, weather.
stained house on the mountain side, with its
| capacious kitchen and airy rooms, and noble
views of the valley and the mountain ranges
where good nature dwels with the Jolly old
farmer who bids you heartily welcome, and the
true disciple of genial, quaint, honest-mindeC
Isaac Walton can successfully follow the teach
ings of that skilled fisherman and pleasant com
paniOn.
1t was my good fortune one day en- route tt
| IN in,
farmers, one Of whom was the image of lamb
like simplicity, while the other, rather long
| lean, thin, lank, cadaverous individual, plainl,
showed in his exterior, especially by the cynica
sneer that curled his lip, the skeptical turn o
mind. The former remarked upon the openin!
beauties of spring everywhere visible, "Wha
makes the grass grow, the leaves shoot out tn,
apple trees blossom" and then in reply to himsel
SAID, "lt is the spirit Of God" His sharp minded
but irreverent fellow traveller, who had evident
| ly drank deep at some peculiar fountain o.
scientific knowledge, instantly rejoined in ac
cordance with none of the "eurrent metbods'
with which the writer is acquainted, "And wbat
is the spirit Of God but electricity? %
The work upon the tunnel was begun eigh
teen years ago, and since has been steadily pro
crossing, sometimes in gloomy dependency
and sometimes in bright anticipation, until now
rapidly nearing completion, it is pushed on witt
the vigor and energy that inspires effort whei
the goal is in sight.
| 1t is designed to form the connecting link be
tween railroads already completed on either sid
of the mountain, furnishing a short and speed,
| line OF communication between Boston and Tro-
and the far west. When completed, with dou
BILE track the entire distance, its probable efTec
will be to increase the imports of Boston one
fourth. The tunnel will be four and a hal
miles long, Of which there is completed at tn
cast end two miles, at the west end it'll
over one mile, and at the central shaft about
| quarter OF mile towards the east. The Messrs
| Standby the present contractors, engaged II
complete it in FIVE years, and will probabl,
| finish il so that trains can run through by In
| first Of March, 1874, when their contract ex
pircs. 1t would have been finished somewha
earlier, but for an Unforeseen contingency
which did not once enter into the calculations
on account Of which progress has been made il
4 L. Al II