Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-07-23

Mont GEMS TUNNEL.-This graphic de.
scription of passage through the Mont
Gents Tunnel, is from the pen of Mr..
JaMes NJ. Stewart, editor of the Walpole
Standard:
We leave the station, and for half an
hour We are conscious that our strsining
and putting engines have hard work to con-
quer the steep grade of the winding road.
and even the passenger cars seem to groap
and labor as the heavy task is being accom-
plished. A short pause at length. and we
take look abroad. Our attention is call
ed to village below, the roofs of whose
houses we could almost drop stones upon !;
and houses, men and railway cars seem
dwarfed to the size of a child's play toys.
This is the village where we at last stop
ped to take long breath Directly ahead
of our train is the yawning mouth of a
tunnel, whose massive masonry and general
appearance indicate that it is a place OF
importance, on which the last resource of
engineering experience and labor had been
bestowed. There is something fascinating.
awe-inspiring, as We gaze upon that black.
mysterious hole, where we almost fancy that
devils have their home but we must enter
and pass through their cavernous abode.
For many minutes we are in the darkness
of strange midnight, only relieved by a
faint, sepulchral light from the dimly burn
ing lamp above and intensified and made
more horrible, at intervals, by the great
redly flaming lights at the sides of the tun-
mel, whose beams can scarce penetrate
through the gloom of thick smoke in which
the car is enveloped. Our train is still
heavily laboring, slowly, slowly. for the
grade is very steep, and the clanking wheels
have a monotonous sound. like steady,
sharp pulsations, scarcely varied as the
minutes creep reluctantly by. The atmos-
phere we breathe is heavily charged with
unpleasant gases, and breathing becomes
slightly difficult. There is strange warmth
in the dense air of the tunnel, which We
feel, but are not warmed by. 1t envelop-
es US like mysterious mantle whose heat
is not akin to the natural warmth of the
body. How long this terrible strain upon
our nerves lasted we cannot tell, but it
seemed an age, when there came An in
stant's relief, as our car, poised on the SUM-
NIT Of the pass, assumed new position,
took new motion and livelier vibration.
And now the clanking wheels give forth
sharper, quicker sounds as we commence
the descent. Sharper, quicker. quicker
and sharper still rushing ! rattllug ! till
all sounds are indistinguishably blended in
one long crash and even this seems to be
constantly changing to quicker and sharp
er crash, as our speed incr eases to fright
full velocity We feel like crying out in
agony like lespiDg from the car like
throwing ourselves out upon the rocks and
quickly ending oil. But our safety is
assured by locked doors, 50 that . sudden
frenzy may not lead us 70 20 rash and fatal
deed. The strain is terrible, and pro.
longed almost beyond endurance. "A fash
of binding light Darkness What is it :
Is there thunder storm inside the moun
tnain Another fash and again the dark
ness Of midnight with its olouded moon
All these flashes which alright Us are
Signals from passages opening upon the
outer air, which tell us that We have come
through the great mountain whose vast