Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-02-23
For the Free Press and Times;

When the great apostle became man 1t
put away childish things, and in this re-
spect the greater part OF humanity fol-
low his most worthy footsteps. But last
Friday there We're found twelve present and
past members VI our respected u. V. NJ.
whose little knowledge was 50 dangerous a
thing, as not to deter thcw from such an
unreasonable ard ohject,s- ,n.erpr.s, US
the ascent CT Mount Minsfcld. ra2RsHe.
The party, under Professor Barbour, lett
the city on the mail train, Friday night, Tor
Essex, there meeting Mr.. Fulsum, who drove
them rapidly to Dixon's. The first incident
oil aote happened as the stage was leaving
the junction, when one of the gentlemen
discovered that he had left his gloves in the
smoking car. which he occupied all the way
from Burlington, believing it to be the
Pullman coach. Ono ofthe trampists being
a telegraph operator, the missing articles
were sent for in the most inexpensive man
ner ID. H..
DixOn's was reached t half past seven,
when, after a good WI, m. supper and the
necessary preparations for the morrow,
the company retired to slumber peacefully.
Although every precaution was taken, it
appears that the older and more sober mem
bcrs of the enterprise disturbed the sleep of
the more youthful, by las it secmeD re-
pairing the furniture or moving the beds
into the warm corner. However, morning
came at the usual time. and breakfast fol-
lowed with unusual promptitudo, which
meal over, We were packed in a sleigh like
atoms in a molccule. Mr.. Dixon cracked
his whip long and loud, and away we sptd
toward the rising sun. In spite of the ill
omens OF the previous night, boreas had
cleared the sky and the summit of
our ambition lowered msjestically be-
fore us. We put our snow-shoes
on. near the academy" fastened on
our packs and began our real work. At
first We found the crust strong enough to
support us, but We soon reached tho snow
which neither rain nor sunshine had affect
ed thence to the very summit we had from
to 5 inches of soft snow. We reached
the top at about eleven O'Clock and made
directly for the Mountain House, which
gave Us warm reception, for Mr.. Bing-
ham, Of Stowe, had very kindly sent up
two men the day before to open the house
and build the fires. But for this we must
have suffered severely, as the zephyrs were
getting quite uncomfortable. After lunch,
nearly all of the party repaired to tho
nose" to smoke and talk over the tramp.
They remained there, however, but u very
short time, and reported the velocity of the
wind fire hundred miles per hour and the
thermometer thirty degrees below zero.
They said the mountain had severe cold
in the head and was continually blowing
its nose.
Concerning the view, it is sufficient to say
it is equal to Summer scenery under The same
en- cumSfdnceS. One person declared his be-
lief that should he live to be eleven hundred
years old be should never sec anything more
handsome.
The journey down was full of incident
The game of follow the leader" was pretty
freely INDUCED in. Each person seemed TO
be trying to play 'leap-frog" with himself,
At one time there were nine persons in one
heap, out of which tho snow-shoes were
taken by pairs and the owners thus identi-
fled.
The procession when in line made quite
a gay appearance, and there was dignifed
learning in red cap, aristocratic breeding
10 pea-jacket, various learned and useful
professions in all sorts of guises,-in fact the
company looked like a lot of gay masque-
raiders going to irolic.
Mr.. Dixon was waiting for us when we
came down, and after taking US back to
his hospitable inn no sent us on our way re-
joicing, under the careful direction of
Messrs. Howe and FulsOm. The party re-
turned home agreed that snow-shoeing was
delightful and profitable in the highest
degree. X.