St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-11-14
A Letter From st. Johnsbury.

Editor Atwood, of the Chatham.
Mass, Monitor, was in town last Sep
tember visiting his daughter,
Joseph Hammond of the Centre-aDd
writing some letters to his paper, thus
describes il locality in our town which
not very many of our readers know
about but those who have been there
will duly appreciate:
On one of these beautiful mountain
Gus farms of two hundred acres, situat-
ed on the east side of the river and
owned by Mr.. Otis Hallett, man of
Cape Cod origin, is probably the high
est elevation of cleared land in CaIedo-
MA county. This lofty peak is called
Mount Pisgah, and ovelloOks all the
surrounding country. BY invitation of
the genial proprietor it was proposed to
stand OH this lofty height. A little
company was formed consisting of Mr..
Hallett as guide, the village pastor and
wife, lively young lady from New
York, another of the s;Ime nature from
Chatham, and the writer. The ride foI
mile and Il half was continually up-
hill TO Il point where it was no longer
safe to ride, when all, by necessity,
adopted the climbing process, which
was hard work to new beginners, cs-
pecialIy ladies; but by perseverance
and frequent tests on the slate rocks
that projected everywhere, the summit
was finally attained with ii good deal
of painting and putting. 1t is useless to
attempt any description of the view
different towns could be seen. and away
in the southeast in full view, forty
miles off and apparently not one quar-
ter of that distance were the White
Mountains, lifting their towering heads
to the clouds. On the west for MANY
miles were scores of farms, green and
fertile, with groups of houses, barns and
other buildings snugly settled in the
valleys, while the cattle and sheep graz
ed on the hills or gathered iu the shade
of the maple orchards with which the
landscape was checked. On the North,
Burke Mountain, solemn, grim and
alone, twelve or more miles distant
reared its lofty head three thousand
feet upwards, and the granite walls Of
Willoughby Lake, two thousand FIVE
hundred feet high few miles to the
west, seemed little more than "a gun
shot OFF, and away i'll the northwest,
near the Canada line, was jay Peak.
four thousand feet high, gazing at us
ffty OF sixty miles distant. At such i'm
elevation distances are deceptive, and
miles become rods in appearance. Dis
tance can only he calculated by the in
tensIty of the purple hue that wells the
more distant peaks. A village seven
miles off seemed very near, and the
different houses could be readily dis
iInguIshed and known one from the
other. AS the sun began to sink in the
west, we were reminded by Mr.. Hallett
that 1T was time for us to descend from
our lofty position. We were all invited
to the residence of "Grampan Halletf.
as the girls begged the privilege of call,
ing him, an invitation we readily ac-
cepted. The house was thrown omen
for our reception and every thing in the
domains of "Gramna" Hallett were
found in the same neat condition ana
good order that ruled on the farm with
out. The tea-table to which we werD
all invited was loaded with the most
attractive articles from the farm. mad,
doubly appetizing by our ramble o;,
the hills. The rich bread was from
home-raised wheat, the sugar flowed
from the naples on the hillsides. tho
butter, milk and cream from the cow
standing by the gate, the pies and 9th.
er luxuries, from the apple trees than
shaded the windows. We Thought on