The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-10-08
Notes from Myra's Portfolio.
Magnificent Mountain scenery-The Beau
t!ful Cullasaja Falls-A Forest Of Moss
clad Trees-Iyaunts of the MooDshiner.

I lIAUREIDENE ~. Wy oGL. 1901.
| DEAE AUNT CHAT:
NV pencil should be dipped in sun
light to give you All adequate descrip-
ton of the beauty and grandeur Of Cul-
lasaja Falls, to which the Mill shoa',
Glenmary, and even Turkey Tail Falls,
must yield the palm. Somehow tho old
song Of Tennyson kept repeating itself
ever and over again in my mind:
| The splentlor falls on castle walls
| And snowy SUBMITS old ill story
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Yet there were no castle walls, and the
lofty SUBMITS, instead of being snow
crested, were crowned with living green.
Magnificent and picturesque as is the
scenery of America, it lacks one element
which lends special significance to land
scapc beauty III the old world, and that
is the turretel castles, gray with age,
and y-mantlcd towers around which
cluster all the charm of historic associa-
ton and antiquity. So the picture was
not complete, though the massive wallis
of granite arose gloomy and frowning at
least q hundred fcet--this is wild, fem
nine guess, but | trust somewhere near
the truth lending q solemn sort Of
| grandeur to the scene, while the far-dls-
tant murmur Of water seemed q very
dirge. AS we approached nearer, ever near
or, it seemed to be chanting no longer a
requiem, but swelling into a nations
grand triumphal song. Oh! the lowell
ness and awc-inspiring beauty of the
scene! The mighty mountain torrent
sweeping with rcsistless force down an
awful precipice, rushing, plunglng,
angry, as if demonstrating the violent
impctuosity of nature and her pitiless-
ness, while in sharp and welcome CON
trast, stretched the smiling, peaceful
valley, and upreared the Eunlit heights
which spoke to us as eloquently and
conyincingly of hcr mercifulness and
softcned beauty.
As l gazed long and intcntly upon the
water soothing and foaming, and tho
waves dashing perpendicularly upon the
rocks, tho analogy to life suggested it.
self. One wave comes up after another
and is forever dashed in pieces, like hui
man hopes, that only swell to be ,iisap-
pointed.
NT{,o f,f, I, ,,ntr 1,n Il, mr.
froth OF hope springing up in our daily
pathway "One moment white, then
lost forever" The gloomy meditation
was soon quickly abbreviated by the
shining Of the SUMS rays which stamped
Il lovely bow across the crystal spray,
thereby assuring the faint hearted that
though much sorrow and tribulatio,l
may be theirs, though they may have
been to the funeral of many q broken
hope and dead joy, yet the rainbow Of
promise sheds it's soft lumnousness over
the life laid waste, as Il token that hope
honest hope and heavenly, must live al
, ways, for it is eternal. And so we may
most proftably learn the lessons in
scribed in the book Of nature, and ac-
cept with thankful heart the message OF
love which the flowers, the running
streams, the rOck-ribbed mountains and
dashing cataracts all whisper to us.
1t would have been Il joy to have sat
for DAYS looking on in silonce at the OK
quisite form and color Of the falls and
listening to the "soft thunder Of the
| lovely phantom"
This time We had not joined large
crowd, but formed a small party of four,
so it was easier to abstract ones self
utterly from the outside world aud re-
joice in the soicmnity of the Unseen, but
not Unreal. 1t was late when we
aroused ourselves sufficiently to desire tc
return to the haunts of men," and the
delightful ride home did not constitute
the least plcasurablo incident Of the
day. The atmosphere was dcliciously
crisp and cool, and what with well
, trained, fleet horses and down-hill ride
Of about twelve miles we reached the
! end of the journey so much too quickly
that we began dissenting upon the
f cvanescence of all our joys, which may
I strike you as a little ungrateful, consil
cring the days pleasure.
must not omit to mention the forest
, Of moss-clad trees which we passed thai
evening. Some one in clearing for 6
field had gir,llcd the trees instead 0
hcwing them down, and the most beauti
f full lichen have ever seen, literally GOV
(, cred them. Not Dough or twig wa
| bare, and the effect was considerabl,
t heightened by the transtiguring grace 0
4 the setting sun which frightened ano
yloriiicd the otherwise son.brc- hued for
q est.
$ OF course you have heard Of moonsLi
D ncrs, as that class Of men who cngag
: among the mountains in the manuf;,c
: ture OF unlicensed whiskey are called
u Often, i'll our rides through the scqucs
tered slens and glades, abandoned still
d are pointed out to rs, and the moonshi
) ners themselves are very curious lookin
Il and SO fierce in appearance that | don
# wonder the revenue officers arc often in
y undated. III a spirit Of fun, and t
8 provoke argument, | began commisera
e ting the poor hunted moonshiners' til
other day, and announced it as my opir
-.