New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-23
SUMMER LEISURE.
AT THE FOOT OF THE CATsKILLs.

CAIRO July lS.--It happened by accident that I
found myself on the steamer bound for the
same destination with "A party of children from the
Five Points Mission sent ont by The TRIBUNE TO
find sun and air and health in the mountain
coves at the eastern base of the Catskill
ountains | recommend others going oil
for vacation no more cheerful
and contented mood than that which possessed at
the start. TO seek the experience If il he posi-
bic. Ii is decidedly calculated 10 produce content
mAnt even IN the most cynical and mOrOse and
otherwise unhappy natures. Ii will make one
phiosonh cal However unhappy his lot he cannot
conScentousy make comparison of his own with
that of these little ones whom the charity of many
has snatched from the purieus of misery and pow
ertv and crime. AID degradation and runkenness.
which converge at he place where they daily
schOrled without feeling that he has at deal TO
be thankful for. And the pleasure which he will
feel-if he have any heart left after contact
with that other world which assemblies daily tSun-
days excepted about Wall and oad-sts and the
exchanges-at the chdren's antlcipations of the
fortnight of delights in store for them will better
prepare him to enjoy. both in anticipation and
realization. the tramps. the sights the daily siestas
and the deep nightly snmoers he has laid ont as the
proper prescription for his own tagged body and
Overtaxed brain.
party will tell you all YOU need 10 know about the
pecullarites Of the merry little excursonisis.
from the demure and ars,Ocrafic little
dame of eight. who told all inqulrers that
"this was her third season in the conn
Try" to the two bright ChInese-Irsh twins who
were so lovingly Inseparable from each other and
their bag # valuables to suggest that they were
practically Siamese twins. But he cannot possibly
adequately convey to Won the delight which these
happy little impaired out of their over
pouring store 10 older and heavier hearts on the
same boat with themselves. The half-score OF
wagons which they filed at Catskin village for
conveyance 10 their various destinations several
times passed and repassed by the numbering old
stage-coach which brought some twenty of us 10
this village, ana it was evident from the huzzas
which greeted us at each passing that the threats
which had grown weary with singing on the
steamer had been fully restored by nights good
rest.
Life is full Of contrasts as it is Of compensatons
and the bnef existence of a single evening on the
steamer Walter Brett route to Catskll had its
painful contrast to the merry scene have indl-
Gated. The children from the Five Points had no
sooner been gathered in tine cabin and marched
away u bed leaving a group of passengers pleased
with their pranks, their pratte and their simple
praises in song, than the cabin and piano which
they had deserted taken possession of by
party of several young boys and girls, Of either
sex over twenty. and all Judging from their lashy
attire ard tawdry jewery as well as from their
slangy language and their vulgar songs, from worse
places in the city than the Five Points
II Won want a receipt for that popular fallacy
Leads ail the Fashion in 81 nmcr 10 roam,
Buy all the gude-bOOks des .iie their iuHccuracy,
Lock up he house and then-stay at home.
I ventured on that aGvlce once and hereby wish
cuide-book STILL and then avoid the beaten paths il
recommends II leads inevitably TO where Fashion
has gone and if you want real rest and recreation
you do not want TO go there. Rather select some
central point from which to tramp III short early
morning and evening walks 10 such parts of the
untains-and more especially its valleys and
streams and coves-as you wish to and TO lie and
rest IN during the day. This Is a very
fair central spot at the foot Of the
Catskills but there better ones further on. and
had not business devoured a day or two of my va
cation | should have gone further north and west
ward. But this place is capital in its way and
within easy reach o. Cairo Round Top, Black
Head, 1865 which means that it Is that number of
feet above The Hudson River, Wiudham High Peak,
$500 Mount Zoar. and numerous pretty coves and
streams 10 the north in the opposite direction from
the nounrains. II is not too distant even, if YOU
rise wirh the lark and light, to climb 10 North
Mountain and the eastern ledge, on which are
grouped the three chief hotels the Mountain House,
Laurel House and Kaatershill Hotel, but too far TO
make the reaching of the Overlook House comfort
able. But these are the places to be avoided by
those for whom | AIN now writing
II YOU are not acquainted with the country You
Will take the stage at KaaterskIll if you are ac-
quainted You won t.uniess You are heavily equipped
with vomen-folks or other baggage Its only ten
rN,1r
lating country, with numerous gllmpses OF
spots which You require a longer tine to study than
the coach slow and NUMBERING it Is, gives You for
satisfactory inspection. If you do not take the
stag You want to leave the boat soon IS II lands
at Catskill-the night boat from New-York reaches
there ut daylight-and get the manifold benefits Of
an early start The cool Of the morning
Will refresh you. The rising behind
the hills beyond the Hudson will delight
and enrapture you. Turning again from
this grand scene toward the west and your destna-
ton. the lowest and highest ranges of the Catskill
Will present themselves. one above the other. like
giants stairways, the highest peaks looking down
as with supreme contempt on lesser heights below.
All are etherealized by distance, save where, as the
morning advances the mist rising from the streams
at the foot of the mountains encircles the peaks
halfway up with belt OF white, which fades be-
fore the suns rays or drifts over the top and
mingles or seems to mingle with the clouds above.
On the route to these distant peaks one passes alter
natcly broad and level swards each capped with a
more or less pretentOus house of white painted
wood and deep ravines, few of which are dry
rlyulet beds even IL midsummer. These plains in
the valleys thus plentifully watered are extremely
fertile. seemingly renewing themselves from wash
ings from the higher mountains around them Near
Leeds. five miles from CatsAl the Catslull creek
passes through very narrow gorge IN the ridge or
low spur of the mountains al that point and on oc-
fr..h wi almost