New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-30
AFOOT IN NEW-ENGLAND.
RAMBLING NOTES OF A WEEKS WALK or
THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY.
VIII.


while kept near the river and among the larger
towns-say from Hartford, Conn.,, to Greenheiu
Mass. have already noted the case of the young
farmer near Holyoke who was driving DIS %"
home from the pasture mounted on bicycle. Inc
faithful animal was gyrating her tall In the al
and making very good time, though it was cieai
from a certain disguised expression on her lace
that she did not altogether approve Of the opera
ton. 1t was no uncommon thing to see plcycle
party Of dozen or more together spinning along
the road, usually part of them ladies' lndeeu'
presume that third of all the bicycles saw were
ridden by ladies girls. 1t to be the favor
lite New-England way Of locomotion. and sup
pose the time will come after good many gen.
erations when the New Englander will have lost
the art of walking and will founder on his bicycle
from his bed in the morning and not get on IL tll'
he retires at night The old-fashoned kind, wltn
one big, overgrown wheel ahead and little, in
significant wheel following aimlessy along behlnd,
seems to be losing ground; perhaps nine ont OF
ten that saw were the other kind-both wheels
the same size This kind do not have to be
mounted with q step-ladder like the others, and
make it much more convenient for the rider in
case he feels impelled to get OF suddenly ana
pound the surface of the earth with the top of
to the bicycle rider talked with young man
who told me something of the comparative merits
of the two styles lie said that the old kind were
being given up for the reason that they threw
the rider so far ahead so often that he lost a
great amount of time walking back TO his machine
and getting on it again. He was a very vivacious
young man and seemed anxious to make every
thing clear. Besides the resident bicycle riders
H., tol,I ,horf from
tant places taking few days weeks run
through the country as pleasant way OF spend
ing vacation. / insist that it is too fast, and
that the better way is to walk. And what is a
bicycle rider going to do with his bicycle il he
wants to stop and climb mountain or crawl
through a barbed-wire fence and wander across
a tobacco-held to interview a man about selling
an old clock?
Speaking OF mountains reminds me that pretty
nearly every mountain in New-England has a sum-
mcr hotel upon its highest peak. The strong
point of these hotels is fresh air and view two
things excellent in their way but not very fatten-
ing And these hotels in some cases seem to have
wrought strange changes in the names of the
mountains For instance, poor old Mount Tom,
near Northampton, we are assured by sign ut
the foot is row Mount Nonotuck. This is an
wholly take the place Of good butter and wOol-top
mattresses At last | found one mountain with
no hotel on it and so | climbed it. This was
Mount Wantastiquet opposite Brattleboro, in New
Hampshire | would enlighten the weary reader
as TO the pronunciation OF this name if | could
But even here there will he a summer hotel next
scason-they are building a road up it now.
fancy that the hotel will blow off and roll across
the country a few miles TO the "Old Homestead
neighborhood around East Swanzey-it will If
the wind often blows as hard as il did the day
mace my ascent. I suppose it must be some two
thousand feet high. 1t is wild as the Noun
tains of the Moon. Still, while / sat on a crag
and unused on the time when Brat Aeboro, Vt,
should pass away and be no more, like Troy and
Carthage and such places large picnic party
struggled to the summit and proceeded to make
merry The wind blew so hard that it whisked
the meat out of their sandwiches, still they
seemed gay. They were very socable young peO-
ple and were, suspect, from the Bratteboro High
School or some such institution of learning.
There was little wooden house on the highest
point with some Self-registering meteorological
instruments in it which connect with Brattle-
boro by WIRE and the picnickers gathered around
this and hung on and shivered Still it would
have been hard TO find p happier crowd-appar-
entity. left them and went down the mountain.
When about halfway down man took an I'M
necessary shot in my direction with rifle.
] heard the bullet hurrying along past with a
painfully business-like hum. A minute or two
later ! met the man and told him that he would
find better shooting up on top, where the picnic
party were. He apologized, and explained that
he wasn't shooting at me, but merely blazing
away among the trees OIL general principles. lG
said he liked To hear the gun go of. | sat down
on a log, and had talk with him, and he told
Inc a long story about how he once had mis-
understanding with the chief Of police of Brattle-
boro and took that unfortunate official up by
the hair Of the head and swung him around like
the arms of a windmill, and wore out the paving
blocks with him. I looked at him and shuddered
and then hurried away down the mountain.
| shall ever he free TO maintain that the tourist
who travels by bicycle misses many good things
by his mere speed. lie would, for instance, have
probably rushed past little brick schOolhousc
which my lesser speed did not prevent my noticing
and thus have missed interesting example OF
unconscious planting of the bloody shirt
School had been called after recess. and the
children were marching to their seats to the tune
of John Browns Body each singing at the top
of his voice. The first verse was sufficient to
sing" every pupil to his seat, but it did not
appear to satisfy the vindictive instructor. So
they marched around again. and saw jeff Davis
comfortably suspended from sour apple tree
before they stopped. Then. too, he might miss
many interviews with waysidc boys, which are
usually delightful. / had long visit with
one boy about fourteen years old. who
was drawing tobacco from the field to the barn
He had concluded that New England was too slow
for him and said that he was going to Northern
Michigan in the spring. He thought boy had
some show in Northern Michigan / suggested
Alaska offering greater possibilities for an en-
terprising boy with small capital, but he seemed
to be welded 10 the Northern Michigan idea. The
next day had an even longer visit with boy
about the age, who was boiling cider in
the front yard. lie had no desire to leave the
Connecticut River Valley. lie wouldn't mind
boiling cider right there all his life. He liked
the busness-the physical exertion required was
slight and the mental operations simple All
YOU lad to do was to pick I'D chips and put