The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-12-11
ON TIE MOUNTAIN.TOP,
Mount Mitchell In South Carolina Higher
Than Mount Washington In New
Hampshire.

One OF the most pleasing signs of tn,
cordial relations existing between tn,
North and South-which were recently
testing each others muscle and endur
ancs-is the frank and even forward
admission by the former that Mount
Mitchell, the highest peak in the Black
Mountains of North Carolina. is hirhe,
by several hundred feet than Mount
Washington, in New Hampshire and
the modest manner in which the South
admits this glory, as if reluctant to
wound Northern sensibilitics. 1t NAV
De regret on both sides that the HIGH
est point of land east of the Rocky
Mountains does not bear the name Of
Washington. The peak in New Hamp-
shire was allotted to him in good faith
that it was the highest, and his shade
must be content with the good inten-
ton. Even the Father of his Country
can not be permitted to sprawl all over
the continent 10 the exclusion Of all
other aspiranis for high honor: and we
must be satisfied with giving him lin
the Washington MonumenD the tallest
pile OF stone built by anybody since the
lower of Babel, and let Professor
Mitchell sleep in peace on his mountain
IN the lonesomcst if not the highest
placed grave in the republic. o. Inc
| summit OF that wooded peak. eli feet
above the Atlantic. ar.l almost that
height above Monn, Vernon. Mitchell
lies amid th cloud, and thunder.
storl' ana aerial battles of the Black
Mou tains. i'hi, individual cminence
Is a stroke Of fortune. Washington did
what lie could for his personal cleya-
ton: he cut his initials as high M ON
the buttreSs Of the Natural Bridge as
ne could climb in his stocking feet. and
in other ways he deserved well Of his
country; but professor Of chemistry,
by lucky chance of first measuring
TINS peak and announcing lis discovery.
and by the equally lucky chance dor
his Immortality Of losing his life in at
tempting to establish the assertion that
this W. the peak he had first measur-
ed AID not Il neighboring one. as
Senator CIngman insisted, has secured
an emlnence which all the character
and correctness Of life possessed by
George Washington could not give him.
North Carolina, of course. has ius-
tiliablr pride in this mountain2al-
though she has probably twenty peaks
about as high as Mount Washington
and before the war this may have been
an arrogant pride; but now this is one
OF the old North States contribution,
to the gioly of the republic. Before
the war the Northern States MIGHT
have been ready to fight for the Sn-
perior,ty of the New Hampshire hill.
or at least to have insisted that an adj
mission Of its inferiority should be con-
sldere ! as one Of the COMPROMISES of
the Cons tuition; but now they take as
much national pride in the bigness of
Mitch !. IS if it were situated on Boston
Common. 1t is one of the amiable
rats OF human nature that people
should take sort Of credit to them
selves for such eXcrescences on the sur
face OF the earth in the places they in
habit The imitation Of Western people
about heir eminences is as harmless "a
1t is pleasing, and we dwellers in lower
regions feel that their Importance in
lhe world is increased by the noble
height OF their mountains and we
Know that what some Englishmen call
boastIuIness in them is merely the re-
lection OF the generous scale on which
nature is laid out west Of the Missis-
sippi river.
We can not leave this fruitful theme
without a suggestion that may serve TO
moderate any lingering feeling of
sectional rivalry or envy in ignoble
minds IN regard to the respective
heights Of these two respectable mount
aims. The White Mountains are of
granite, and even in their frost-tryino
climate likely to outlast the republic in
Their integrity. But the Black Mount
ans are built Of softer material. and
would be subject to a more rapid de-
II they were stripped of their
PROTECTIVE vegetation and subject ia
lhe wash Of the frequent rains. Even
the best mountains are slowly wearing
away and the pride that the American
must leel IN Mitchell as he stands upon
US green summit must be moderated
oy regret that it was not made of gran
tc' Inc biologists alone can tell how
soon 1t VII sink TO the altitude of a
common bill, but even the biologists
'ah not sgn,loiy lessen our feeling of
'!ecurlty lha, Mitchell will long con-
niue sou ce Of national pride. II
Mitchell were now living and
we're Il candidate for the Presidency.
MS mouhtain would not escape de-
ractlon, aud probably yenal surveyors
would be found to dcprccatc It's height I
u the interest Of party charles DVd-
cy IP"ta." = IN Har2cr's llaqa.ipe for
NorsWbcr. '>