Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-09-22
Mount Washington.

The view from the top of Mount Wash
ington-the hi chest point OF New England
soils MAGNIFICENT, and takes in a vast
area of mountainous and picturesque
country. Ii is generally stated that
Washington is the lof,iest peak east of
the Rocky mountains; but the dome of the
Black mountains, in North Carolina, is g.
go feet above the sea level, and has Nd
elevation from base to summit of 4,760
feet, while Mount Washington, which
rises 10 6, 2S5 feet above the sea level, has
an elevation of 3.617 feet from base to
summit The difference, as will be seen,
is slight, and Washington is quite high
enough tor most Ten and women. More
over, the question of temperature aside, it
matters little whether one IS 5000 or
! II, 600 feet above the sea, since the sensa-
tion in either cases is almost the same, the
view nearly as perfect, and the sky just as
far away. Mount Washington is the royal
head OF the northern Appalachian chain,
and is the stronghold of eastern botanists.
scores of inie: esting plants having been
| found upon its slopes; its temperature is
SAID 10 be that of middle Greenlind, though
the weather is comparatively mild on a
pleasant August day. The view from the
summit is bnundc3 " a horizon having q
circumf,rS-cu u 900 miles. the Green
and Adirondack mountains being visible in
| the west, Canada in the north, the Allan
tic ocean in the east, and the ridges OF the
Franconia range in the south. The details
of this view are innumerabie, comprising
some of the most interesting scenery in
New Hampshire and Vermont. Near by
rise the rocky crests of Mounts Adams,
jefferson, Clay and Madison, the former
reaching an altitude of 5,794 feet But.
after all, the chief and deepest pleasure to
be derived from this comprehensive view
is TO be found, not in details of topography,
but in ones own imagination; for on
kinply summit like that of Washington
the soil and body of a man seemed to be
lifted above the common level of earth and
merged into an ethereal and grandlose
solitude. Here, more than anywhere else,
perhaps, one may look passively upon life
as a long and still unbroken dream, out OF
which the ages have flowed in their wild
torrent courses, and from which, in late
hour Of the world, have been shaped those
spiritual atoms that we call men. Here,
too, the Inauguration Is stirreu as e'io"5
wind stirs the sunken waters In profound
abvsm. and one is almost tempted to
heIieye that the stands amid those ancient
islands. since overrun by the Ice and snow
Of glacial penod, which are now the
lovely attitudes of the New Hampshire
ranges. This fancy is strengthened as he
looks down upon the surrounding world,
which when the clouds hang low about The
horizon and over the ridges Of the lower
hills, adding mistiness and vasueness to the
atmosphere, resemble sea In storm,
vitb waves beating against the sky-hnes
and huge blue crests rolling hither and
thitber as though disturbed by some
tremendous internal force. Here in fine
one feels himself placed amid that adjust
ment of powers which rules every physica
condition, amid the intimate relation oi
the kingdoms Of n.ture-