The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-12-04
THE GARDEN OF TIE GODS.

THE I'D HDLN OF TIE u OD.S.
If ever there was place on earth where
the gods of the Greeks and Romans may
be supposed to have lived and had a good
time, that place must have been in Colo
RADIO. Near the foot of the famous noun
tain known as Pixies Peak lies the Gear
den of the DDS" 1t is n small valley,
just on the edge of the Rocky Mountains,
and is completely surrounded by a high
perpendicular wall of white sandstone.
There are two entrances through this won
derful wall one Of thcm-the larger-is
called '.The Beautiful Gate 1t is a mar
row gap in 4 mass of rock more than 100
feet high. As you enter, you look over
valley fenced i'll on all sides with white
sandstone and, nearly opposite, at the
top of hill, is another smaller gateway,
half concealed by a huge rock about the
size of an ordinary cottage. This mass O.
rock is so balanced OH the edge of the slope
that it looks as if it might jump Oft and go
laundering down the hill while you look at
it.
The Garden of the Gods abounds with
beautiful trees and foliage, and towering
amidst this loyeliness, are some Of the most
extraordinary, queer and fantastic shapes
ever made OUT of rock. Ages ago, when
this part of the world was i'll state of ter
rible comm 0tion, vast layers of rock were
forced up out of the earth in all sorts of
positions. Some were vertical, some slant
ing, and some were criss-cross and mixed
up generally. Learned men say that was
the way these layers Of sandstone, which
once were fat, got up edgewise and in all
other ways. We must take their word for
it. There was nobody there to see.
Trees and shrubs, after time, grew up
around, and the disturbed earth had peace.
Then came tho mountain winds and the
long autumn rains. The wind blew the
sand against the rocks, which are so soft
that you could dig holes III them with
strong jack-knife. The wearing of the
sand and wind and water against these
stony surfaces carved them into all sorts of
wild and funny shapes. Ages ard ages
passed away, probably, before these gro
tesque sculptures looked rs they do now.
Here and there among the trees raise up
fantastic shapes like spires, towers and
steeples. Some ofthe fanciful names given
these are ''Montezuma's Cathedral" "Cle-
opatra's Needle" Washington Monu-
ment," ''The Cathedral Spires, and Nee
die Rock
But, of course, the halfhuman looking
objects that gave a name to this curious
garden are most likely to attract attention.
The names by which they are known are
as fantastic as the shapes themselves. One,
n figure of woman draPcd and standing
mournfully alone, has many names. 1t is
called ''The Mourning Bride" "The Wild
ow," ''Thc Old Maid and by other titles,
any one f.which may happen to stick to
the pathetic figure, that might be called
'Lot's Wife," only that it is pillar of
stone instead of pillar of salt. Then
there is huge vafer-worn boulder, that
looks for al the world like gigantic frog
in the act of getting ready to jump. You
get tired looking at this stony frog. He
seems about to leap, but he never does.
He has been in that position for | don't
know how many hundred years, aud lie
has not jumped yet.
One part Of the wall, where the white
sandstone is mixed with red, is a gigantic
head Of buffalo. There it rests,-horns,
ears, nosSrils and all,-glowering down at
you, just as If it were q petrihed mammoth
bufalo's head stuck up there as trophy,
as the head and antlers of deer are some
times hung np-trophies of the chase.
Another singular group is ''The Nun and
the Seal" You will have no difficulty in
making out this picture and, as the seal
is peerirg over the rock at the nun, who
seems to have been at prayer, this groupis
sometimes called interrupted Medita-
tion." If it may be allowed, should say
it might be called The Height of Impu-
dence." 1t is about fifty feet high--K7's.
Eliza Greatorer, an 81. Nicholas for Dec.