The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1880-10-09
THREE DAYS IN A PHAErON
ny REV. J. RICHARDS BOYLE.


In these days, when railway companies
map the continent with elaborate excur-
sion routes and steanlshiplin lines bring Europe
10 our very doors, and when all the world is
on wheels or aAoat, and the prospective
circumnavigate the globe, selecting his own
lines of travel, adjusting his intinerary
naming his hotels, paying his fare, and
almost finishing his course before he begins
it, anything less than trip to the Yosemite
Valley or the Pyramids seems scarcely
worthy Of mention. Aud yet the authors
ofthese great tours have left good deal of
country near home, and, II we like, we may
find health and pleasure in modest and in
expensive plgrimages through it.
In single day a Philadelphian may
walk, If he have good legs, TO localities in
which all the conditions of healthful sum-
mer rest are to be found, and in n week he
may drive horse, if he will, through val
leys that rival those Of France for beauty
and over mountains whose atmosphere is az
pure as that Of Switzerland itself.
A fortnight ago party consisting of three
gentlemen and their wives tested this pro.
position in some measure, in Carbon and
Monroe counties Of this State. In a large
and comfortable double phaeton they lef
Mauch Chunk early one morning and made
/ hair Rl IL Al n.
hills that throws its arms around that pic
turesque borough. Crossing the Lehigl
river at Weissport they drove eastward
through the valley that lies short distanc,
north of the Blue Mountain range. A few
miles Of road, penetrating one Of the bcs
farming districts in Carbon (Which, al
though it contains good land, is richer il
mineral than in agricultural wealth, as it
name indicates,) led them to the Pohopok
creek; and from Franklin into Towamen
sing township. At the point where tn
highway crosses this stream are scattere
the ruins Of what was forty years ago tn
Maria Furnace, an operation managed b
Mr.. Samuel l.. Richards, and which man
of our older ministers will remember as on
of the few regular preaching places know
to Methodsm in its early days in this sectio
Of the State. On the higher lands beyon
it arc snug, well-tilled farms that the thrift
German settlers have recovered from III
hard, rocky faced hills.
Stemlersville, little hamlet situated o
this rise three miles from the furnace ruin
commands view Of widening and az
parently fertile valley on the north. Fu
ther on, the Blue Mountain looms up o
the south, its azure summit making an a
most horizontal line against the sky f
miles, except where it 10 broken by II
graceful Wind and Lehigh Water Gaps.
Trachsville iS hotel and post-office 70,
miles from stsmler'S, and deserves MOTIF
|, Tor the remarkably sweet and cool wat,
4 which the accommodating landlord, Willial
e Snyder, draws from q well sixty feet
II depth, for his temperance guests.
y Some distance eastward Of this hosiery
r the Monroe county line. We enter the ne
r province conscious that the "era Of GOO
n feeling" which charseterzed the admins
J. tlation in honor Of whose chief it was nan
, cd, has not been lost out Of our hearts, an
are in Poik township, district suggestin
the presidential canvass Of 1874, aud
q which it is said that for years after its form
alton but one WhigVote was polled. II "
knew where theaShes Of the sturdy vetsra
who cast it were laid, and could persuad
b our friends to accompany us, (which
q doubtful,) We would feel like making pi
8 grimage to his tomb. Failing in this "
: pass onward through what few years al
r was dense forest, and only last spring WI
D swept by an extensive fire, but is now sra'
: ually and finally yielding TO the ak an
!. plow.
}, Beyond Polk is Chestnut Hill township
g and in this is Pleasant Valley, region 1
= rich and beautiful that not inaptly it migl
D have been named Paradise. For miles h
country is a succession of green meadow
s dense eornfelds, fruitful orchards, comfor
d able farm. houses aud respectable village
n the silence Of which, as il was observed /
}, US, is only broken by the blesting of u
Il sheep in the fields aud the distant plowbo
1f or the stroke of the asil aud the whirr
d the thresher in the barns.
s. At Brodheadfville, town in the heart
IS this Eden, and twenty-six miles from OF
r starting point, halt OF three hours is ma,
for dinner and rest. A bountiiul repai
m ordered the day before, is spread before
at by mine hos. Eyeritt, aud ample justice
le done to it by our sharpened sppetites.
of Here we have the pleasure of overtakiI
,d Congressman Klolz Of this district, WI
II though he spells his politics with wroi
!stters, aud defeated our good friend, &c
r Albright, two yearsagO,wa a gallant ofiC
m under soost in the Mexican war,a free soil
" who defended KEuaasin 1854, aud Colo
a. 81 in the war for the Union, and is nov
as portly gentleman Of sixty years, weight
iP i've hundred aud eighty pounds, and