The daily gazette., 1874-09-18
Our NesU York Letter.
THE DELICIOUS BULL-T
sCENERY--RENOwNFD CAvEs-AN
EXCITING INCIDENT, ETC.


SIDNEY PLAINS, N. Y,
September 14th, 1874.
The train has failed to connect, and il
necess' 'tates our layi 1g over here for the
! next, which will be at our sci vice in two
hours. To pass the time pleasantly we
propose to write a few lines to the GA
zBITE.
1t will be remembered that promised
to tel your readers all about that bull
frog supper which failed to get in Syr-
acuse, and for which have waited pa
tiently anticipating its coming. 1t has
come. A happy thought. The dish sat
before me as we sailed on our way down
the beautiful St. Lawrence. 1t is beyond
my power to describe it, but l will draw
the familiar illustration and let you i'm
asine it il you have ever, upon a sum-
mer's day, quite exhausted and fatigued,
| CHANGED to feast upon well fried spring
| chicken.
| As the dish sat before me I leaned
| back in my easy chair and gazed upon it,
| discerning from their form what they
were and where they had been. Thoughts
crowded fast upon me. considered each
aud let it pass. thought of the name !;
OF the many stories heard os them. l
Went back to my boyhood days, and the
familiar scene passed before me of the
old road over the mill-dam with the trees
forming the tell arcl which shut ont the
last gnmmer of light, aid l remembered
| that there, in the darkness of night, the
many times l had been frightened by
| THEN awful, harsh and boisterous noise.
Thought after thought came and went.
gazed around the table and saw the
many happy faces Ell 10y 1g their repast;
| some feasting upon frogs, some upon
| turtles, others upon terrapins, spipes,
?els and chickens. Which was the worst
| could not tell, but / squared myself
| for the bulldogs that had been set be-
fore me; l tasted them and thought Of
home; Z. sted them again. and the ex-
tng prejudice in he cradle of which L
hod been rocked from infancy fed the
chaff before the wind, and now, I assure
you, whenever the oppo. our tv is afford
ed, 1 shall avail myself of a least upon
| bull-frogs.
am well aware that among my read
ers there is great prejac;ee existing
against eating bull-frogs and muskrats,
but
What's in nsne? That winch we call a
rose,
BY any other name word SINE as sweet"
As time is flv'ng we cannot dwell lon
ger upon our trip uown the st. Lawrence;
after which, having ridden ten hours at
a very lively speed we came to the head
OF the beautiful Otsego Lake, the source
OF the great Sdsquehanna river. Not
breeze stirred; not leaf was shaken.
The lake was as smooth as glass, and in
the cool of the evening, after the sun
bid himself behind the mountains, Nat
tv Bumppo, named for distinguished
character of the Leather Stocking Tales,
plowed the deep with his bIazen beak,
making all happy as they rode down that
beautiful lake, The scenes of j. Feni-
more Cooper. upon the banks of which
crept the Pathfinder, and where "Old
Leather st ockings" had his haunts. As
we sat upon the fore-aeck tbioking of
those characters and their distinguished
author our eyes passed first to the right
| and then to the left of those beautiful
green mountain sides where rise
| Woods over woods in CAV theai &c pride."r
dotted kere and there with the fs ma
PIE painted brilliantly by the hand of
Natures author. The scene was grand
and sublime. shall never forget it. 1t
is the most beautiful lake and Surround
ings that ever beheld, Seneca and Sar-
the lake to its extent, nine niles, we
came to Cooper5town, where J. Fenni-
more Cooper lived and died, and where
his tomb stands to-day as monument
Of him as a distinguished American au-
thor. Cooperstown is an old place, but
the houses ere new and neat. 1t has be-
come somewhat of summer resort as
well as Ricbfi''a Springs, at the upper
end of the lake. Its surroundings eve
ed upon the lake in the evening and VS.
| tied the cemetery on its banks, and the
cave of "Old Leather Stock iugs."
Inc next point of interest was Howe's
Cave, in Scholarie county, N. Y. 1t is
, one of the most remarkable curiosities
Ill America. For beauty, variety, Wild
ness, wonders and extent it is only equal
led by the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky
1t is the only cave in the world lighted
with gas. This oIdei 1ul excavation
extends miles, and is not yet fully ex-
plored.
We were furnished with suits for the
occasion. On entering the cave the first
points of interest were the reception or
lecture-room, Washington Hall, Bridal
Chamber, Chapel, Harlequin Tunnel,
Cataract Hall, Ghost Room or Haunted
Castle, Music Hall, and Stysian or Crys-
tai Lake. These ha"s aud passages ere
80 feet wide are of solid rock, the wa"s
are built of solid columns, and the arch-
es and domes, from to 60 feet high, has
been cslved and hewn out by an unseen
hand. In the Chapel several couple have
been ho'tercd in the bonds of natrinony;;
In crossing the lake, several hundred 4
feet long, we came to Plymouth Rock" :"
Devils Gate Way. 81 he Museum.T
Geological Rooms, )" Uncle Toms Cab;
in" Giants Study" " Pirates Cave, :"
"Rocky Mountains . Valley of Jehoso-
nhat, Winding Way" "Fatman's
Msely" and Retunda." AZ OF these
are very interesting, extending niles
under ground, now in a na"row passage,
now in a large hall, now passing under
low f"ches.
Stehlctites, resembling icicles. in form
and are attached, ike icicles, to the
roof and sides of the cave. These sta
lactitcs are beautiful hans ng about
those halls; they are fol med by the
percolation, through the rock above, OF
water holding bi-carbonate of lime in
solution.
There is a small stream of water run
ming in the cave; in. the Spring, they
say, it swens to be large stream and
comes thunder ng out of its mouth.
Inc cave y on a slight slant and
goes up under high mountain OF so"d
rock.
There has never been found any ira
\ ces that the Indians knew of the cave
! Our pui,le told us of circumstance