New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1874-08-13
An Editor Abroad,
Iurst HaIs.ead on his way to Iceland
Attractive Scenes
from the Cincinnati COMMERCIAL

aiurat HaIs.ead on his way to Iceland
Attractive Scenes
From the Cincinnati Commercial
We were of for Perth, on the way to Aber.
deem. Every name of Il station seems 10
have flavor Of history, romance or poetry.
Here is I.inlithgOw, and Bannockburn. and
Stirling, the Bridge of AIau and Dunbane
The Stirling Castle looks down from the rocl
where it was built like an eagles nest, upon
the scene OF the tournaments Of chiyalry of
old Scotland.
There was call at Dunblanc for Sweet
Jessie, the Hover thereof but she came not
forth. The scenes in Scotland are dOubIy at
tractive. They are filed with the poetry Of
the past and radiant with the beauties of the
present. The forest of fir and pine cling like
cloaks of velvet to the shoulders OF the lofty
hills. The tender green of the oats CON
trasts with the silvery glitter Of the barley,
and the deeper hues of the turnips, while
the trees and hedges are masses of itch YER
(ure, pleasing the eye with their color, and
fascinating it with striking varieties of form
So Scotland seems like a painting with all the
finishing touches.
Two of the party turned aside at Perth, and
ran up to Blair Athol for an excursion thro'
the Highlands. Blair Athol is one of the
favorite resorts of Americans in the High
mountains by the way of Bamoral to Aber-
deem. The first ten miles was III a carriage
over delightful road, through the frs, and
along the rocky banks of sparkling stream.
and through green, refreshing lanes lined
with the ancient trees and well-trimmed
hedges and stone fences, every leaf a brill
liant specimen of verdure, and every rock and
wall and tree, and turn of the brook and
phase of the mountain, beautiful, exceed
ingly.
1t was like drive through an enchanted
land. The mountains finally crowded us aud
the stream we were following grew narrow
er and bostcrous, and the road, which was
as perfect as that through the most cosy nook
of Clifton, faded into a rude pathway. There
was Il sign-'Carriages Turn Here Ponies
and guides were waiting for us, aud We
pushed on.
The mountain pony is not the most docile
OF animals. 1t is within my certain knowl-
edge that heavy thorn stick was worn cut
on one OF them, without producing any par
ticularly amcliorating results. The pony
would still insist on slow movements on the
most practicable parts of the path, and on
stumbling on the edges of the ugly places.
Our comfort was heightened by a Scotch
mist, which, i'll any other part of the world,
would have been said to have the character
istics of IA heavy shower. The mountains
here present scenes of desOlation that it is
difficult to believe can be exceeded even i'll
| Iceland.
There was but one house BY the roadside
in sixteen miles, and that the Earl of Flies
| hunting lOdge-tOr the earls and dukes di-
vide poor Scotland between them, and estab
lIsh deserts that they may hunt deer. y heap
OF sod, rude imitation of a throne, told
| where I" Her Majesty had lunched," and
| took the view of the glen. The stream that
the path we pursue follows, divides the es-
tates of the dukes and earls, so that all to
the southwest is sheep pasture, and all to
| the nOrthwaId is sacred to deer. The only
inhabitants, therefore, are the shepherds and
| gamekeeperS.
At Forest Lodge, the end of the pony ride,
| it appears that Mr.. Cyrus Fields infallible
kilograms had once failed. The carriage
that was to be ready for us was not there.
| There was some comfort, if not consolation,
| in eating some of the brook trout that were
| taken, we were assured, by the Earl of Fife
himself Eaten in the kitchen in the midst
of the warmth of a peat fire, as the noun
tain air was damp and chilly, and with the
sauce of hunger, they were very pleasant to
| the mouth and did not turn out to be bitter
in the belly.
AS the carriage did not come, and we had
the happiness OF view that proved it could
! not be on the way within two miles, we tried
one OF the spring carts Of the country, with
a little straw to serve as springs. This was
the time for ''Scotch mist" to visit us most
etiectually, and it did so accordingly. The
rainfall was severe, and we grew by degrees
rather damp. However, just as even the
man who laid the tclegraphic cable through
the Atlantic had yielded the point that the
day was not the finest that had been seen ia
Scotland for twenty years, which had been a
tayOrite prOpOSitiOn horses and carriage an
pearcd, all smoking in the rain.
A rapid drive in the carriage down the riv-
er Dee, through country whose variety OF
attractions seemed ineXhaustiblc, we struck
a stage route, which in turn connected with
the Aberdeen Railroad, and brought us back
into the regular current of the circulation
of men.
The stage passes the Queens palace 10 The
Highlands -Balmoral. On seeing the sur
roundings, one is not surprised that this is
2 the favorite residence of Her Majesty. The
Prince of Wales has a shooting box in the
nelyhborhnod, and the mountain tops, show
ing against the sky, are crowned with memo
rails of events in the history of the roya
family.
There is very conspicuous pyramid that il
, in memory of Prince Albert. There is anoth
er that commentaries some remarkable ac
ton getting married, probably,) Of the
Prince of Wales. Still another is supposed
to refer to the marriage of one OF the Queen
daughters with the Marquis Of Lorne.