Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1880-10-09
LURAY Cd VERNS.
by THE EDITOR.
to nee the cave ?"

IhlS ls common inquiry VI tAo
stranger in Luray by the average res
ident Of that picturesque town.
We had "come" not altogether to
explore the wonderful caverns tunnel
ed perhaps by
"The gray old gods whom Chaos knew
But partly to view again the scenes
bounded by the horizon upon which
our vision first opened. Human ma
ture the world over certifes to the
universally and power of the home
instinct. Here, for us at least, Prov
idence erected the meridian whence we
reckon the worlds latitude and longi-
tude, Just as every other birth place
is "tcpographed' in some memory by
the eanctity and sympathy which
attach themselves to home.
Between the lofty walls of the Blue
Ridge and Massanuttin ranges our
natal horizon is more q rectangle than
circle. 1t may not circumscribe the
best of the worlds surface, yet all we
know of the best is here. When Ma
ture ordered it she seemed to have
commanded "This shall be the pal
ace of beauty. Here will l up-pile
my rugged hills, and scoop into soft
ness my nestling valleys; and over
them all will suspend the sunsets of
Claude and the azure of Italy"
If Luray and its vicinage, there
fore, do not enjoy with more pomp-
Gus social and commercial CEN
tres the distinctions which population
and trade bestow, they shine with no
faint splendor in the reflections of
land and sky. There is no clamor
here, no human crowd, no shrill
blasts of the locomotive. With all
this exemption from the busy worlds
bustle, the people app ear inadequate
ly grateful, for, like other unsatisEed
communities have done before them,
they are watching and waiting for the
day, long deferred, when the narrow
valley shall resound with the shrek
of the iron horse and tremble at the
thunder of his tread. The eastern
gateway has been thrown open and
all things are making ready fer the
advent of the monarch of the iron
turf" with all that his august coming
implies.
But we came to see the great Cav
erns nevertheless. In boyhood our
bare feet had pressed the Scared sur
face which overhangs it. This dry
ground, with its indentations, "sink-
holes" said to be bottomless, reaching
away through the woods to the "Srake
Posture" and beyond, had excited
by its weirdness and loneliness our
boyish wonder and fear. 1t was meet
We should see the underground mar
vels betokened by the abnormal
surface breaks.
So far as we can we shall avoid tie
minute details of many who have pre-
ceded US. Nor shall We specifically
endeavor to account for the phenome-
nal developments of grandeur and
beauty which here prevail, for this
task is ftly reserved for the genius
who, looking back into the mytholog-
ical twilight of creations morn, dis
Germs the Titans and demi-gods rear
ing the continents and following the
ocean beds.
Notwithstanding the general char
acter Of ruggedness presented, the ex-
tent so far traversed may be describ-
ed somewhat after Teufelsdrockh:
In fine vicissitude beauty alternates with
grandeur; you pass through stony hollows,
along devious passages traversed by tor
rents oyerhung by high walls of rock now
winding amid broken, shaggy chasms, and
huge fragments, and now suddenly emerg-
ing into some emerald valley, where the
streamlet collects into lake.
Looking forward from the "Grand
Entrance" over and beyond Wash
ington's Pillar, the first view of the
black profound is presented. Truly,
Darkness found here fit dwelling
place, and Silence established herself
in the bosom of Strength" During
unnumbered ages they have nestled
here unprofaned by sun or sound.
Each stride inward brings the ex-
plorer to something suggestive, fanci-
full, classical Who would anticipate
Flower Garden" in this deep re-
cess? Yet here it is, with its hues of
greel and gold, just as laid out, pos
sibly, by the love-lavish hand of some
Flora of the Stone age.
We pags in succession the "Amphi-
thoatre "uMuddy Lake" real "Nat-