The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-12-15
Entered at the Post Office at Richmond, Va. as
second-c class matter.
oRREsPo PoNDENCE.
Our Philadelphia Correspondent
in Winchester.
WINCHESTER, VA, Dec. 10, 1880.

WINCHESTER, Va, Dec. 10, 1880.
MeSSrs. EditorS,-My parishioners have
settled upon plan of kindness toward
their pastor and your humble correspon-
dent which to him is as beautiful in prac-
tise as in theory, viz: to insist that he
shall take weeks rest at the conclusion
of each communion season. The COM
munion period is always a eliminating
point of pastoral and preaching work and
| can say that little rest from the oner-
Gus duties of city parish is very helpful
In cleansing the fever from ones brain
and In re-burnishing one S moral and spir-
itual armor as we'll 1t is a sort of null
tiplication of vacation times, and l am
pursuaded results in the freshening of
the minister himself in such fashion as to
return a twofold blessing to the people
in wholesome preaching, Would that all
hard-working ministers of Christ might
have so thoughtful and kind a people.
1t is for this reason your correspondent
dates this letter from this point in the
Valley of Virginia Vacation would
mean little without getting to the coun-
try, and so we are here-well away from
the bricken walls and the narrow hori-
IONS, and in the midst of this grand val
ley and its famous farms and steadings
To one who really desires to see glorious
scenery
A Trip to the Shenandoah Valley
will amply repay the outlay of time and
means-I had almost said more amply
repay than any journey of like extent
from New York or Philadelphia as a CEN
tre. From Washington the train, as soon
as you reach the Potomac, carries you
through some of the most picturesque
mountain and river scenery in the world
laundering through the tunnels of the
Point of Rocks until you emerge at Har-
pers Ferry-famous for its historic asso-
Citations in peace and war. We have often
thought that the desolated town, with its
dismantled churches crowning the heights
its stone foundations as the only memen-
toes of the Government Buildings once so
.fne-its perforated houses, its manifold
traces Of the strife that ragged about it
and in its streets, blown up again and
agaln-war-scarre and ruined quite-is
a fit accompaniment to the wild aspect of
nature which renders the spot so famous.
With mountains, precipitous rocky, and
wild, with the Shenandoah and Potomac
rivers meeting together and rolling down
the gorge over the roughest sort of a bed
and over great rocks which toss the water
into foam, and cause the spray to flash
back beauty in the morning sun-with
all the aspects of nature so rude and des-
olate-it enhances rather than detracts
from the grandeur of the scene to turn
toward the old town and see that it bears
Aho rTln 6 I
that from the goats that leap among the
rugged rocks of the steep Maryland cliff,
there is no rude transition to man who
shelters himself against the Virginia cliff
In homes battered with war, and grim
visaged as it is. Imagination has abun-
dant room for play in both directions,
and 1t IS imagination which adds the
charm to the landscape and to man.
From Harper's Ferry it is but few
miles until you are fairly introduced to
the broad and beautiful Shenandoah Val
ley, the CRAM Field of the South, and to
my mind, the most inviting region for
immigrants in America. The fertility
Of the soil, and the mildness Of the win
ters will always make it a most desirable
part of the State for agriculture. Be
tween the extremes of northern cold and
southern heat, it is marked by an equa-
bllity of climate that renders it desira-
bic residence to all persons afflicted with
GconsumPtive tendencies. No part of the
Union, save Colorado and southern Cal
liiornia, Is characterised by more fine
days by clearer skies, by less excessive
RAIN and snow fall thus permitting out
door life with scarce an interruption from
one end to the other of the year. A
!!aoie-land in its geological formation, it
is also high and dry-and with the noun