The National tribune., 1884-08-28
formed most beautiful and picturesque scene,
such one as is not often seen more than once
in lifetime, and when seen is never forgot

i stood beside the war G0vern0r aS the COM
rades were moving into line with the precision
that the lapse of 20 years had not diminished,
and heard him say, as he took in the scene,
"How this reminds me Of old times" and as
he said it, his eye for a moment flashed with
all its old-time fire. At the close of the dress
parade, the line broke into column of compa-
nies and passed in review before Department
Commander Dyer and staff, ex-Gov. Curtin, and
Col. Hastings, of the 5th Regt n. G. Pa. The
day was appropriately closed by sacred con-
cert of two hours length, given in front of
Headquarters, by the Weccacoe Band. 1t was
thoroly enjoyable, and all the vast crowd
that had gathered remained until the last note
had died out upon the still night air.
ON MONDAY MORNING
quite number of Posts and delegations
arrived, who filed up the gap made by the de-
parture of those whose time would only per-
nit them to remain in camp over Sunday. In
the morning an excursion was made to the
Penn's Valley Caves. They are located IL
miles from Bellefonte, and can only be reached
by wagon or carriage Two miles of the route
are over the Nittany Mountain. The ride on
such hot day was warm and dusty, but Com
rade Austin Curtin, Senior Vice Department
Commander, who knows every nook and cor
ner, and apparently every man. woman, and
child throughout that section of country, made
what would otherwise have been a very te-
dious drive a very pleasant one, by his inter-
esting description of places, scenery and peo-
pie. When we reached the top of the Nittany
Mountain the view was most beautiful, and
coming upon it Unexpectedly, the expressions
of wonder and admiration were loud and
sincere. Between the Nittany and Tussey
Mountains lay beautiful valley, seven miles
wide, as we were informed, although it did not
appear more than two from where we stood,
while at our feet as it seemed, was the pretty
little town of Center Hall, which we found was
two miles away A little wooden observatory
has been erected on the mountain top, just
little off the roadside and few pass it without
stopping at least a moment to drink in the
view. Continuing our drive through the val
ley after descending the mountain,
THE CAVE
was reached and we proceeded to explore its
mysteries. The first thing to do before enter
ing it was to secure heavy coats or wraps, for
the temperature of the cave is very many de-
grees loger than the outside atmosphere on
these warm August days. The cave is 1860
feet long, and can only be entered by means of
boat, as 1t contains sheet of water that ex-
tends from the entrance to the extreme end
varying in depth from II to II feet, all OF which
bubbles up from spring at the bottom of the
cave and finds an outlet at the rear end into
Spruce Creek. Leading from the principal
room are several smaller dry ones, which are
almost inaccessible, and, therefore not visited.
freak of nature are exquisitely beautiful, and
at times it was hard to realize that they were
not the creations Of the skilled hand of the
sculptor. Magnificent stalactites of an i'm
mense size descend from the roof while on either
side are all sorts of fantastic shapes that, seen
in the weird light of the boatman's lamp,
twisted themselves into every conceivable de-
vice. What appeared to be the falling of a
large body OF water from an opening on one
side, was found to be a mass of rocks; but so
perfect was the deception that it required the
proof of touch to dispel the illusion.
On our return TO the outer world the boys
all joined in singing +" Nearer My God to Thee"
which was certainly highly appropriate to the
occasion, and the effect, as the sound was taken
up TO the roofand echoed and re-echoed from the
yaulted chambers was exceedingly fine. What
particularly struck me while in the cave was the
effect it seemed to have upon the feelings of all.
Not one word of levity, not a laugh, scarcely
a loud sound was heard, except in admiration
OF the surrounding wonders.
During the day SO many were away in town
or visiting points of interest, that it was
QUIET IN THE CAMP,
but one pleasant incident was the presentation
| TO Comrade Daniel NJ Glenn, Post 95 of Belle
fonte, of a handsome gold d-headed cane which
| he had won at a church fair. Of course A.
A.-G. Stewart was called upon to make the
| presentation speech, and equally, of course, he
! did it in his peculiarly happy manner, the gift
/ being received on behalf of Comrade Glenn by
| Gen. f. M. Elliott. of Post 131, and the Miles
| burg Band furnished the music.
Speaking of bands, there were no less than
eight in camp, besides fife and drum corps
without end, so that there was no scarcity of
music, such as it was and we all know what
some OF these country " sheet-iron bands can
do. They were continually tramping around
camp and in and out of town humping and
blowing at great rate. 1t seemed to me that
| the ones that could play the worst did it the
most
In the evening the Lambs" gave
A MASQUERADE BALL
in the big tent, and most amusing affair
/ it was; some of the antics cut by their frisky
animals raising shouts of laughter The pro-
gram of dances was ridiculously funny, the
names being composed of a tumble of words
| that would puzzle the most thorough linguist to
| decipher. Tickets of admission were a {" Ka-
vorter-of-a- dollar, ladies free" and hand
some amount was realized from their sale,
which will go towards defraying the expenses
of the trip to Bellefonte. 1t was long after
midnight when the last dance was over and the
last lunch Tan important part of the program)
was eaten.
TUESDAY
was another sightseeing day, although it was
/ hardly necessary TO go away from camp, as it
was sight initself. From carly morning the
people commenced coming in, and as the day
wore on they came thicker and thicker, until
the camp resembed crowded mass-meeting.
| From all directions they came in every descrip-
| ton of vehicle drawn by every variety of ami
NAL that could be utilized for the purpose
Even the town appeared to be as thickly popu-
lated as the Camp, and everybody was asking
where did they come from"
At $50 in the morning several car loads of
the comrades left camp Tor a trip to
SNOW SHOE CITY,
situated on one of the spurs of the Alleghanies,
$500 feet above the level of the sea. Although
but ID miles from Belefonte, the many twist
! ings and windings up the mountain sides made
it seem two or three times the distance. A
very pleasant day was spent, a good dinner
provided and dance gotten up for the enter
tainment of the visitors
Another place of interest visited during the
day was Point Mccoy, two miles from Belle
fonte. Here is TO be had view that is said to
be the finest in the State-a stretch of valley
30 miles in extent being visible. At certain
spot on the Point any land sound is echoed and
re echoed over and over again.
Just after dress parade a very
PLEASANT SURPRISE WAS GIVEN
A. A.-G. Stewart and A. ON. q. Williams
Upon these officers devolved the arduous duty
of arranging all the many details of the. trip to
Minneapolis and the care and comfort of those
Al - Al