The Van Buren press., 1876-02-01

OUR lsAMBI.II.
What We Saw. and How il Affee-
ted Us.


At this season of the year-when nature
has torn away the summer veil fom the face
Of old mother earth; when trees, that A few
months since. with greenest vesture. kissed
back the edorous- brcathed zephyrs that mur-
INJURED playfGlly amid their emerald leaves
lift their naked branches to the boistereus
galcs--it is a great pleasure to rambe among
marvelers beauty of mother earth, though
shorn of all its gay habilments. The frown-
ing rock that in all the majesty OF its barren
splcndor, sits thrcateningly upon the very
verge of the overhangng cliff. filling our
mind with apprehension Dire lest, as We pass
beneath its shadow, it should totter from Its
base, and wake the quiet delIs of the noun
tain passes with the terrible thunder of its
fall the merry murmufings of the sivery
cascade, as it comes tumbling roaring, foam
ing adown the rough deeliYities of the rocky
mountains sides; the piteous moaning of the
dismantled trees, as the wfntry winds fan to
fury the naked branches with their icy, pitt
less breath, are all pictures sublimely beauti-
full awaking to new life. the better quail
ties that have so long laid dormant in our
hearts. For years have the tornadoes, in all
their wild, melancholy dirges, reveled alone
amid the wild hollows of these mountain
Businesses the wild brt.s have loaded each
breeze with their screams. uninterrupted by
human hanl. But, now change has come !;
the ring of drill, and shovel. and sledge-ham-
mer and pick, mingled with jest. and laugh
and song. come cchoing back irom rock aud
cavern and cliff, so melancholy strange that
1t seems as though The rocky hill sides mur-
INJURED at this intrusion upon their solitari-
ness.
Along the bank OF the river where the
mighty stream was wont to disport in maies-
rc fury. its wild mutterings unmingled with
human articulation, house and shed and tent,
are peopled with merryigroups of men, whose
labor Is to level the vast rock beds preparato-
ry to the ponderous tread of the horse.
Upon the tops of cliffs whose dizzy heights
snake men but pigmies SEEM" men are plae-
ed who east down the rugged sides, the rocks
their needs may call for In gulles, where
the water comes tnmbling from the hills
above, the men are busy building culverts, at
other points preparations are being made for
blasting, and. on every hand, the face of the
valley and mountain side, has greatly chang
ed its appearance, Ere long, these wild
mountain-wastes will quake beneath the
tread of busy feet. Where. one year ago, all
was quiet save the mystical music of ma
turc's harpers," there is now hustle AMI noise
Lahorer answers to lahorer IN fun and jest
The merry ringing OF the drill. as it pierces
the huge boulder of rock. sings new song
to the barren hills, Trees that long have
walled upon the sympathetic air their dreary
dirge. and never quaied before the angry
snrglngs of the dreadful tempest, haze bawed
and bent and fallen before the hewcr's axe.
The terrible blast that lifts from its bed of
centuries the rocky reef, that no human hand
might stir, thunders its unearthly din over
the weird hills that stretch beyond the scope
of human vision.
These, dear reader, were some Of the retec-
tons chat took possession of our mind, as we
"rambled" over the" right of way" of the
railroad, that we might see with our own
eyes what was going on comprehend, with
our mind, the fact that the railroad REALLY
was coming. and press, with our feet. the land
over which the road is to pass. We are salts
fed. The cobwebs of doubt that have been
woven In the dusty corners of our brain by
the dim, uncertain promises of the past. are
swept away by the bright prospects that shine
out like golden sunbeams across the pathway
Of the future. Let us all F." rejoice and be ex-
ceeding glad" for the railroad is really com
ing
.