The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-07-23
George La Bar. the Water
Gap Centenarian.
lie Is LII Years Old Now, and the Philadel-
phians Only Ask Him to Live Until 1876.
Intense Excitement at the Water
Gap and the Cause of It.
What the Water Gappers Think Of the Della
ware, Lackawanna and West
ern Railroad.
Philosophical Reflections Upon tho
Typical Gum-Drop Boy.

PHILOSOPHICAL heuecClOuS upon lilo
Typical Gum-Drop Boy.
DELAWARE WATER GAP, July q, 1873.
What constitutes mountain and what consti-
tutes hill is sometimes, no doubt, as difficult to
determine as the difference between great man
and small. The one often merges into the other,
and we lose the vanishing point and become inca
pable of explanation. The wooded protuberances
in front Of the principal hotel at the Delaware
Water Gap belong to this order. 1t is the fashion
OF the guests there Though why people who pay
their way, and pay 1t well, too, at public cara
vansery should be denominated guests" Is prob
lem whose solution is sunk deep in the breasts Of
hotel proprietors)-it Is the fashion Of the
guests at this inn to while odd moments
away in specializing as to the height
OF these majestic prominences. The most
practical way Of measuring it is to walk up one of
them alter breakfast; but as this is apt to awaken
the prejudices and to interfere with punctual
return to dinner, perhaps it cannot with conf
dence be recommended There is general dispo-
siton, however, to discredit the statement OF the
guide book and the asseveration OF its compiler that
one OF the mountains-Mount Tammany (which
every New Yorker firmly believes to have been
named after once celebrated "ring ")-is 600
feet high and the other 1900. These statements,
am sorry to say, are attributed to the peculiar de-
pravity with which the hearts OF landlords among
the mountains are supposed to brim and which
leads them to manufacture capital for themselves
out OF the creduity Of their victims-I mean their
"guests."
not unpleasant place is the Water Gap to re-
main in for week or two II you like q quiet
s0ourn with nature and are not in quest Of excite
ment. There are three principal hotels and about
dozen smaller ones and private families who take
boarders-I should say who receive inmates for the
Summer; for your reduced gentewoman OF rustic
life has quite as much pride and senstiveness ON
the subject OF taking boarders as her more genteel
and languishing city sister has. The board at the
principal hotels is twentyone dollars per week at
the private houses 1t varies all the way between
eight dollars and fifteen. None of the hotels are alb
soiutely nrst Glass; though the two have mentioned
have many pleasant qualities and are charmingly
situated. From the summit of one . magnificent
view is obtained OF the fair expanses sacred to the
memory Of Netawatawees and Teedyuscung, and
watered by streams once known as the Mnisink
and the Maccariskittang. The locality is stepped
In Indian traditions. You fancy the complexion Of
the primeval savage in the shifting shadows cast
by clouds upon the mountains foreheads, and you
hear the splash OF the canoe and the whirr Of the
arrow when you take an evening walk in the d.
recton OF the Lovers Leap or the Hunters Spring.
WALKS AND DRIVES.
1t Is my private impression that Immediately
after dinner is swallowed every guest at the
Water Gap Immediately betakes himself to bed,
there to replenish his exhausted powers until ma
ture and the gong summon him to tea, four hours
after. You have your choice OF breakfast from
eight to ten dinner at two, tea at half-past six and
supper at halfpast eight. cannot say I admire
the last arrangement. l object to 1t on humani-
m n n a ato
attempt on the part OF the hotel proprietor to
fatten upon the indigestion Of his fellow mortals.
To be required to eat another meal before the first
Is digested is to make a corner in dys-
pei STA and invoke a Black Friday in
the Wall street OF health. However,
the facL remains that with the care
cluson Of the dinner hour every mortal, excepting
the hotel clerk and the hotel proprietor disappear
as silently as a scene at Booths. They leave the
dining room with countenances encountered with
o sense OF duty to be performed and the last t'@t
is seen OF them they are trudging solemny up
stairs, as though prayer meeting were in every
dormitory and personal experience were the order
or the day. IL Is due to the Water Gap to say that
this shameful and nagltious proceeding does injus-
tce to the beauty OF Its walks and rides. or the
former OF course you may take as many as there
are points in the compass. The drives, too,
are numerous. The favorites are those
which conduct to Castle Rock, the State
factories and quarries, the New Jersey
Hills, Cherry Valley and Stroudsburg, Crystal
Hill, Marshars FAILS, Shawnee HILL Transue's
Knob, Buttermilk Fails ana Buskill Falls To
reach the summit Of Mount Minsi is the ambition
OF every one who remains long at the Gap. cir
cuitous drive OF six miles Will attain that object
but pleasanter method is by horseback or by loot
via Prospect Rock. Still neither riding nor walk
inn to dytitr oil In har
tomato to the number OF visitors, OF whom 200 are
at one Of the principal hotels and $50 at another
&c. M olu-issnionea team drives up TO
soemnly out OF sight. There is no dash and
twnsls mere There all the daerence
watering place that there Vq between eea
the cataract, admire the largeness OF lis sparkle
and the richness OF its foam saturate themselves
with the occasional rainbow that sashes it, and
sympathize in the sp0ntaneity OF Its rush and roar.
That all very well for young people, perhaps and
for as many Old people as can stand III but mere
or the canal The lazy motion Of the boat and the
sober pull OF the horses are quite enough for him.
water Gap for the other. And here comes party
OF pretty pedestrians carrying crooks, like Celia
and Rosaind in the Forest OF Arden, to reconcile
US TO the sobriety OF mountain life by their pic
turesque dress and vivacity.
THE CENTENARrAN.
Do not let me forget one OF the curoslties OF the
the belt from Death alter friendly conducted con-
test in the ring OF life. How old is her hear you
say. Now don't ask me. OF course he Is hundred
or he would not be O centenarian; but when you
ASK me how many years he Is more than that the
veracity OF my nature shrlnks from reply. Let
us let well enough alone. II the poor old gentle
man mas really lived one century don't see why
We snoud expect him to go through another,
merely Ior our accommodation. Lie IS too serious
= a. performance , TO be thus heartlessly encored
we well tn ,;1' people do say that Mr.. La Bar
phlans have already sent a delegation to him to
persuade MIN 70 live until 1879 In order to swell
then collection OF people who have shaken hands
vtn cenerM Warrington: 1 have no objection to