West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-12-16
CROSS PURPOSES.
BY LUXE sHARr.


The little town OF Palcnvile nostles
among the mountains Mt the entrance of
the haatersville Glove. All ravines arc
cloves" In the Cat>kills. Palenvillc il
scattered lItt,e village, full of board
ng-housos and small hotels. The pre-
tentious hotels are all on the mountains
tops IN the CatsSills. while in the Adj
roncscks they are all in the valleys. But
"hether mountain hotel is itself high
or low ITS rates By the day or the week
a,e always on the breezy summit. The
I'ttie mountain inn at which my wife and
were the only que Is was situated by
the SIDE of the turbulent Kaaterskili
Across the creek the wooded mountain
rose to dizzy height, while behind the
house the ii was so abrupt that II DARK
enencd all thc rear windows. From the
front piazza there was splendid view
oisthe woods, climbing tier on tier. and
above all a little stIip of blue skv
Against this bit OF sky stood out in bold
relief large cross.
AS we sat there looking at the cross on
the mountain top. made the following
entirely unjustihab!c remark-a remark
which led to the tragedy that it is nv
painiui duty to record. 81 suppo sc
therc arc ladies in this world who
wouldn m nd climbing TO that cross,
out never met any Of them"
Mrs. Sharp rose with dignity from the
comfortable rocking chair and said:
VIII be ready in Ten minutes. In
that time you can find out which is the
Dest way you can get to the cross"
Here followed my second unjnstifiable
remark, which made inevitable the ca
tastrophe that was to follow.
"Oh, It's no use. We will get I'm
about quarter of mile and you will
then SIT down on falleu tree and saw Il
cant go any further In the words of
the poet, I'vc bin thar. e"
To this ill-na.ured assertion the LADY
did not think it worth while to reply.
went down to interview the proprie-
tor.
"Ycs, J" he said, sthere is a good path
to the cross. You can't miss itn
"You do me an iaiustico. re.
Piled. "Yon little know my genius for
getting on the wrong track"
"Well you can't miss this one. for it's
all marked with red paint. II Won are
In doubt, look out for the red paint ON
the rock. Then you are all right
Who put the cross thero.u
"Oh, lot of young fellows who went
upa while ago. There used to be a hotel
on the cliff. A California woman nut
$lO, 200 on it and lost every cent of il.
The hotel went TO ruin and was at last
torn down. To find the path 90 to the
second hou.e an enter through the from
yard"
BY the time had acquired this fund
OF information my partner was read
ana we crossed the bridge and sought
the second house. 1t looked like tres
pass, but we entered the front yard and
found the Path Of the Red Mark. IL led
up aud across the main road and then
INTO thewoods ng lin. On every promi-
nent rock some philanthropist had
painted red arrow, and with that vcarn-
ing for Immortality which seems TO be
latent in every human heart he had here
ana there painted his initials At last
the path reached rough mountain road
that mad been long neglected. The
reshets had worn great cAMms along IL.
ana n VIC asccndcd higher somc pats OF
u were washed away. The arrows still
showed our way to be along IN ever
aScendlDg road. Cns row. however,
we missed. IL pointed up TO the noun
tam while We went along the r, ad. I
felt proud afterwards TO think that in
spfle- Of such plain directions had suc.
ceedcdIn keeping intac. my record for
always taxing the wrong track. THE
road we followed was evidently the one
constructed by,the unfortunate CaIifor.
MIA woman to lead 30 her ILL a'ed hotel
II was much longer bnt much cas'er
climbed th1n The path II was half past
: when VIC heard the b ,om Of a quarry
bat in tho ellis aboscus IL appeared
that the road also J d to qumry. Two
more turns brought rs under a q eat cliff
OF ! ald-rock. and at the top Of It we
heard the pound ng of the quarrymen.
hoped that we would pass uBnoticed.
but there was 10 sush luck in store for
us. Th ee men stood on the rliff and
were look ny down on us. 7 thought IL
bfst to be on a friendly foJting 80
shouted up:
rs this the way 10 the crDssf"
What's that was shouted down.
'The crOssl The mountain ton Is
thie fkc wayfD
"Oh. yes. Keep right on. Path
Little further up.
During this brief mutual shout. ouar-
ryman alter quarryman popped ND into
sight from behind the cliff, and now a
dozen or more stood out against the dark
mountain background.
This alone is worth coming up the
mountain TO see. les scene from Ii,
Van Winkle with the real Catskills M
the stage setting. Those are not quar-
fymen, they are Heinrich IIudson's men
the gnonics Of the mountains.
b id my artncr as she leaned on
her alpcnstock and looked with an sd
miration At the stage effect before us. +
thought I would rather meet the ppomes
tran lot Of rough, laeless qmarTymcn.
N the lonesome mountains, with night
fallin (, seve nj miles from Civilization,
see here, fail, "let's 20 down
I'm tired out
mo, sir No. sir I'm going un "a
that cross y
''lt will be dark before we reach Il.
There will be nothing to see "
III Il is midnight before reach there
70 going % that cross