Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-10-13
A Few Hours on Shade Mountain
Last Friday Afternoon.

nspfAaon. Great men, little mCn. honest
and dishonest men, men and women of
character, and no character, religious and
irreiigious people and parties, those full Of
Pleasure and those oppressed with sorrow.
the accepted and Tilted lover. the homes,
deiSer after wealth and the counterfeiter.
the fugitive from the oppression Of State,
the religious recluse and devotee, those of
artistic eye and lovers of grand scenery. all
oitimes lock 10 and by some hidden springs
OF nature are prompted TO long for babi-
talon or sojourn at or on the mountain.
There is shrine in the mountain to which
we all bow. Moses and Mohammed. David
and Saul, and on down from their days to
those of our own George Washington. who
often worshipped at the mysterious shrine of
the mountain, felt its power. Where, er
there is mountain its power is felt, and
some chosen spot on It becomes the place
of admiration and visitation. How this
community. too, are under the spell. Every
year hundreds from this place and from
Lewisiown take up the pilgrimage to Mace
donia, a gorge in Shade mountain four
miles north of Mifflin, and the tide has not
yet fairly set in; as population increases 1t
will swell larger. and what Macedonia NAV
unfold into in .uture years, has not been
revealed.
In our boyhood days, and since, we have
Oit-n found along the river. as have others.
a stone made up of other small stones. or
pebbles. They have always becn curiosi
ties The power that consolidated aud
hardened these PARTICLES after having round
ed their edges by countless ages of surgIng
in the bottom of some sea, of past, uu-
known age to man, is great, awe inspiring,
and Ike the mysterious influence in noun
tain, incomprehensible.
By aud by il was asked ssW here do these
prdding stones or pieces of conglon,erate
rock that lie scattered along the river come
from ~ The answer was, s.From the noun
tain" and as they are not as numerous as
other stones, the formation to which they
belong could not have been exposed to the
floods as were the others. Ii is probIble
that macedonia Gap viii render solution.
Certainly there, if anywhere in the noun
tain, an exposure of the formation should
reveal itself, and thus every time we found
a s.puddiag" stone we came to think OF
Macedonia and long TO explore its noun
tain fastness. On two occasions We found
the way TO its mysterious precincts, but the
social surroundings were of such a nature
that pudding stones or couglomerate rock
were not congenIai subjects for examina-
tion or conversation, and we could only
look in mute admiration on the huge bould-
crs Of that formation that lay among the
pines where our party camped. That was
two years and more ago, and convinced US
to a certainty that the formation exists, and
is exposed somewhere in the mountain
gorge. Since then we have been more re
soh Ell thaa e' or TO go the mountain, but
never succeeded in getting off on that mis-
sion until last Friday afternoon. On that
day at half past O'Clock We stepped from
a buggy, at the third lock, at Macedo=is, at
the door of Benjainin Haller's residence,
ami asked permission TO place our overcoat
and companions blanket in his house,
which was kindly granted. More than two
years ag" we requested similar privilege,
aud slowed a parcel Of wearing apparel IN
der the protecting rocf of the same family.
II we live a dozen years more we viii relate
4 "Reminiscences in connection with that
storage of apparel, that few of the ladies'
knew a word of, and those who knew it
through and through have not had heart TO
tell, though there b. no harmful thing in it.
To US il is a incomprchensible as when the
mystery firs, revealed Itself, nd pleasant
denoamenf MAS expected before an audience
under the pines thh would have enjoyed
the humor Of the pi"t.
:. Alas the plans Of men and mice gang
oit ssiec."
Our company on this last occasion 10 the
mountain was DIR. Thomas Elder, a most
companion for such an occasion,
and one of the chief champions of the
Politico Temperance movement in this
county. OF course, the whole object Of the
trip and the amenities of life kept unplea-
SAINT political differences at a heavy dis
count but we do know TO a certainty that
before We got out of the mountain the Doc
tor would have been satisfied TO strike
truce with the practical application OF cold
watcr.
We determined to go to what is called
the Middle Ridge" IN the range of noun
taias. The better way would have been di-
rccily up the gap, but by going that way all
OF the scenery that extends from the noun
t..in southwark would have been shut out,
SO The roIte selected WAS the rugged one,
right up the face of the spur that forms the
western side OF the gap. The woods and
rocks were entirely clean of brush and leaves
and old logs and stnmps, having all been
burned up in tie great fires that swept over
the mountains during the early summer,
and all twigs and saplings less than three
inches in diameter were deadened. Fifteen
years vii b, required to bring up a new
growth to the development that existed at
the time the fire took place.
The autumnsl foliage on the trees, the
leafiess, deadened young timber and bushes,
the clean ground as if it had been swept,
for the ashes had all been washed away by
rain, and the tufts OF grass and plots of fern
and other mountain plants that wherever
there was sufficient soil to germnate them
presented themselves, made up variegated
wood picture that it is not often given TO
enjoy. Next year it well be different. BY
that time new growth of bushes that
have already sprigged their way through
the ground will have been heightened to
sav.rat fret and a rro!r sion of brown