Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-06-06

turn 10 the outer world Win strange tCti-
ing OF having visited some far.away planet
whore everything is unreal The caverns are
amply lighted by electric lights, aud walks,
stairways and ratings are so arranged that
the tour of the various rooms aud passages
is made with perfect comfort. Although dis.
covered lsss than six years ago the number
of visitors to the caverns already reaches above
10, 600 yearly
But wonderful and beautiful ns are the
caverns, we found the real attraction of Lu-
ray in its its delightful "Iun" and its still
more delightful surroundings. Built in
Queen Anne style, with broad piazzas, and
ample in all its proportions, the inn crowns a
slight elevation and makes n striking feature
in the landscape; a broad, fertile valley rolls
away on every hand and in the distance rise
the peaks of the Blue Ridge and Massanutton
mountains making complete circle in the
horizon. Beautiful indeed for location is
Luray Of the Shenandoah, and its Inn-that
is 80 thoroughly well kept as to make it as
unique in this respect as il is in its architeo-
turo and outlook.
II was well toward evening when we sped
away from Luray still northward-the bulk
of the party to 90 on to Hagerstown and
thence to Baltimore to take ship by the Nor
folk route for Boston. At Antietam a quar-.
tet who had taken to themselves the name
OF the Lookout Club" in memory Of the
day spent on that historic mountain, said
good.by to tho rest of the party and dropped
off the train at that little flag station to re-
cevo a cordial welcome from the sole inhabi-
tant the station agent md to trudge with
him mile and R-half over a country road 10
the little village of Sharpsburg, on whose out
skirts McClellan's great battle was fought A
kind-faced woman took us in, gave us sup
per, clean beds and breakfast, and told us
meanwhile how tho battle ragged, bow rifle
bullets and cannon balls flew through the
town, how the wounded were cared for, and
how she and her household Jared while the
place, for long months before and after the
battle, was alternately in tho hands Of the
Union and Confederate forces. Her sympa-
thies we're with the South, but she tried she
said, ITO treat both sides alike" for it was
'the only way to get along" 1t was quaint,
old fashioned town, with walks curiously pa
we'd with broken stones, and buildings like
nothing but themseves-a veritable leaf out
of the past, prim, tidy, substantial, and &c.
verely well kept-that met our eyes in the
morning.
Our first visit was to the national cemetery,
which lies at the head Of the village street
Here the keeper told us Of the fight with
flashing eye and of the position and move
ments of tho two armies. We half regret to
say that he ruthossly exploded the pretty lit.
tie story, which every war history repeats, in
regard to the rock in the cemetery on which
Lee stood to direct the battle. The truth
must be told, however, and all Sharpsburg
authority, both Union and Confederate, agrees
that the place "where Lee stood" was in the
cellar Of brick house still standing in the
village, and that once when be essayed to
leave this retreat as a matter of wise precau-
tion, the thick flying bullets drove him back
We rode on up the hill over the highway
which marked the rebel line of battle, to the
famous Dunker's church, whose chimney still
shows the marks Of war, and looked with
dreamy, far-aWay eyes at the corn field, now
covered with rpening wheat, where the hot
test Of the fight ragged and which was three
times fought over with deadly slaughter.
quarter of o mile beyond, at toll gate, WAS
the extreme Union right, and two miles away,
down the valley Of the Antietam, a stream of
the size of the West river, is "Burnside's
bridge" where was our extreme left, and
where Gen. Burnside, late in the afternoon,
forced passage at dreadful cost of life. 1t
seems a saorilege that q grove OF splendid
oaks, in the edge Of which the bunker church
stands, is even now being cut down and sawn
into lumber by steam mill on the spot. Al
most every tree shows the marks OF the bat
ties fury, and the great saw at nearly every
cut lays open to view bullet-sometimes a
rebel" and sometimes "Union" -imbodded
in the solid wood.
1t was with many a back ward look that we
drove over the winding road to Keedysvills
station on q branch of tho Baltimore q Ohio
railroad and when, at 2:30, We were set
down in Washington, one needed to shake
himself at every turn to make sure that it was
not years ago in some far-awRy land instead
OF only as many hours before, that the scenes
of the morning had been before his eye. F.