Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-05-01

seems lifted to infinite heights, above the
| little things Of earth, and around, above,
beneath, feels only tho Great Power.
| AS in the distance all roughness and i'm
perfection fade from the landscape, even go
| from the soul.
1.-THE cares that infest the day,
Fold their tents like the Arabs,
And silently steal away"
Some one has beautifully said, "Ths
| world was the first Bible made for man s
| instruction. IL had three great leaves
heaven, earth, and sea-" When from some
elevated spot on its great curved earthen
leaf is viewed the wonderfully varied out
lines of blended earth and sea and sky,
does it not seem in perfect harmony with
the eternal fitness of thirgs that Gods
| magnificent praise thus mingled with His
beautiful poetry of nature should be styled
the first Bible? Though of small size when
compared with the Peaks of Otter AID
other points in neighboring counties, yet
Sugar Loaf, or Rocky Mount as it is more
Familiarity and locally known, is of no less
interest. Situated near the center of Mel
son, five or six miles north of Lovingston,
| the county seat, its bare, rocky head towers
| considerably above the surrounding noun
full valleys running through western Nell
son, Amherst, and Albemarle: and but for
range of intervening hills, Fletcher's, I
| think, and the heights along the north side
| of the James, one could easily see Lynch
| burg, thirty-fi miles to the Southwest
the smoke from the trains coming out from
the city being quite observable above the
crest of the hills. Unfortunately our party
was without a glass, but still we had very
good view of portions of ten or twelve
counties, the most remote of which were
| Prince Edward, Charlotte, Fluvaura, Bed
ford, and Campbell. Various mountains
and peaks more or less hazily wrapped,
some lifting up cloud-touched heads, were
noted. The Peaks of Otter, sixty miles or
more to the Southwest; Tobacco Row in
Amherst; Spears's and Willis's in the
Southeast; to thu North, Humpback,
famed through Nelson and Albemarle as a
favorite picnic resort; and the Blue Ridge,
the black, yawuiDg mouth of the tunnel
family showing in the distance, skirting
the West, offset by Big Deprest, Three
Ridge, and Mount Pleasant. Twenty miles
West of Sugar Loaf, like a cascade of silver
the falls of Stony Creek CLEAN clear and
bright against forest background. while
from the East is caught an occasional flash
of sunlight reflected from running water
the James rushing on to its ocean home.
| Like many other points in Piedmont Vir-
GINA, the summit of Sugar Loaf is crowned
by a cedar bush and pole signal, erected
within the last year by the United States
| Geodetic Survey; and to it's devastating
hands is owed the loss of the one very
small scrub-oak ard the few struggling
cedars near, under whose branches it was
possible in former times to be partly
sheltered from the sun. Huge powders,
on the least exposed sides carpeted by The
softest of green moss, overran by punches
of exquisite ferns, lie scattered about as
though tossed by a Titan hand, leaving the
| impression Of some great volcanic action
having taken place in a remote age. Piled
| high together in one spot they quite form a
miniature cave, known as ''the Rock
House'-a possible shelter of some Indian
brave overtaken by the gods ven
geance while trailing the red deer through
the forest.
While seated upon a projecting rock
overhanging the Western side of the noun
| tain, / gazed down its bare, rocky, almost
perpendicular height of nearly one thou
| sand feet, and Immediately seemed trans
ported to one of the weird, uncanny scenes,
pictured by the wildly Imaginative Hag-
gard, and felt in my mind the rustling of
those Thoughts conceived but never
penned," only experienced when we leave
behind the Probable and Possible, and gaze
far away into the great, imagined Maybe.
The ruined city Of ancient Koo doomed
in the distance--venerable, bearded
Billali and the mutes hidden in the grove
beneath, while Holly and Job, Ayesba and
Leo, were climbing tho tortuous ascent to
tho mouth of the cave. A glance over my
shoulder but deepened the effect-a noun.
tain peak dimly appeared, touched by
spiral cloud, seeming volcano.
Almost l held my breath to catch the
rushing sound of the mighty wind down
through the uafathomed depths of the
cave gorge. l seemed TO feel the mountain
culver from the mysterious flame OF fire,
ever and ever revolving.
But my revery was of short DURATION
Some one touched my shoulder, bringing
me back to the realities of everyday ex.