The daily gazette., 1880-07-31
THE PENNSYLVANIA NOUN
TAIES,
From Harper,s Magani ne for August.

From Barper's Magazi ne for August.
The Doctor, therefore, with the two
ladies, took passage for Harrisburg
They were equipped for the noun
tains, with valises, short flannel dress
es, waterproofs, pound or two of
good tea and tin pot. The Doctor
carried gun, fishing-tackle and flask
of Scotch whisky, which was his own
catholic remedy, in the woods, for cuts,
fevers, colds or rattlesnake bites.
At Harrisburg they took the Mag
ara express to Lock Haven, a cheerful
little lumber town lying high among
the hills, where they spent tine night.
Early in the morning the Doctor call
cd Sarah to the window of the inn par
lor.
"Ihere is my old friend Hoeven
with the spring wagon. | wrote for
him TO meet us. Hoeven is the cabi-
net-maker among the Nittany Noun
tains."
81 am afraid this is. a civilized
wilderness to which you are taking
US Doctor" said Sarah. "No, cabi-
net-makers adorned our Virginia Ca
man."
ooh the Pennsylvania spurs of tho
Alleghenies are tame compared with
those of Virginia or the Carolinas.-
The very hills are leveled on top, you
will observe, as if some ancient Dutch
Cog or Magog had set his broad foot
on every peak, fattening them down.
Elk and Mexican Counties are tolera-
bly, savage, but even there the yellow
farmnouses with green shutters and
the big barn are beginning to show
themselves. A few deer, bear and
foxes still hide up in the Businesses of
the hills to which we are going, but
they are fast disappearing. There
are no wolves nor panthers, such as
we shall find in the higher ranges of
the Appalachian Mountains in North
Carolina and West Virginia. Every
county in Pennsylvania is yoked down
to civilization by a pike and toll
taxes"
'I'm very glad to hear it" exclaim-
ed his wife. "And what society shall
we find, George?'
"You will not have chance to study
any of the picturesque phases of hu-
man nature, of which your fond, Pm
afraid, my DEAR" said the Doctor anx-
iously. "Plenty of half-savage bear
hunters and moonshiners in North
Carolina. But the Dutch or Scotch
IRISH farmer has taken possession of the
most solitary recesses in the Pennsyl-
mountains outside of the mining dis,
tricts. His wife has her patent churn
and wringer, her palor with hair-clotb
chairs, and photograph album on the
table; his boy is at some cheap local
college, and his daughter drapes her
calico polonaise by the latest fashion
in the Bazaar.
But what kind of society is
there ?" demanded his wife, impati
emily.
"There is church twice a month,
sewing-bees and apple-butter STRINGS.
The older women seldom leave their
kitchens except to go to church. The
wife of a near Pennsylvania Hill
farmer is perhaps the hardest-worked
living being in the United States. But
as for the girls, schools and magazines
and day or two at the Exposition in
1876, have leavened the young people.
The girl does not make as good butter
as her mother, but she works tides
and decorates pickle jars. She has
her lover of course. He does not bring
her flowers or opera tickets, but a leg
of mutton. weekly from the sheep his
folks have killed. But there is as fine
an aroma of love in it as in the costli-
est buuquet.
bL"Don't talk such nonsense to Sarah"
said Mrs. Mulock, sharply. "What
did we come to these mountains for,
wonder If only to study vulgar love-
making and tawdry apings of fashion,
we need not have left New York"
"We are going to study nature, and
| am taking you to Centre and Clinton
Counties, my DEAR" said the Doctor,
meekly, "because the mountains there,
though lower than others in the range,
are more precipitous and picturesque
than any in the State. | can show you
there in miniature the peculiar fea-
lures of Californian scenery; the same
effects of volcanic action on the hills,
the great sand deposits and the can
uope -