Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-12

house, built in the fashion Of some English
| country villas, with battlements of wood,
| shutters on the outside, and all the imita-
| tive woodwork of the early century's crude
| taste; but who cares for the dreary aspect
| OF house that stands on cliffs high edge
| and looks down on such an exquisite pros
pect? Below you lies the western valley of
Lenox, opposite is the picturesque noun
| tain called Yokun's Seat, that dominates
Lenox on one side and Richmond on the
| other, and you catch glimpse of further
hills, of green lawns, of bowery groves, Of
those low-lying mansions that are the homes
of some of the city people who have entered
in and possessed the land Now the wood
land road, part grassgrown, part rocky,
winds along till on the right the trees grow
thin and the cliff rises and you can walk to
the edge of the precipice and get new as
pect of the sleeping 1oveliness beneath.
Going on you soon reach the other gate and
gain the highway. Then you come to the
church on the hill, the old Lenox church.
Here you must turn in again and from the
upper road into the graveyard, which lies
in old New England fashion all about the
"meeting house" feast your eyes on that
landscape which was so dear and so charm
ing TO Fannie Kemble that she wished she
might be buried there in order to have ono
IuOIG OuGlOOk lIOIu Ou bflc TeSuTIeC-
tion morning The view is more extensive
than that from the cliffs of Clifwood, for it
takes in both the south and the east as well
as the western valley, and far In the dis
tance a CLINT of water from the lonely
Stockbridge bowl. There is no more perfect
view than this in all Berkshire, if, like my
dear old master, you like "nature with her
hair combed, f." for here, indeed, her tresses
are not only ordered, but dressed and
adorned in the latest style with all the skill
of art.
Nature With Her Hair Uncombed.
Beautiful, indeed, must this outlook have
been when the rolling hills and tiny inter-
wales were covered with stately trees, when
only the fitting shape of the Indian hunter
or the flying fawn disturbed the deep seren-
ity of the solitude, when there was not
boat on the lake or a painter to admire its
wind-rippled surface,
Here did the deer drink,
And here on the clear brink
Slept the wild duck or the loon-laughter
raved.
But now with the quiet dead lying under
their marble records all about you and be-
fore you the wide lawns and crested hills of
the expanding valley, the lacking element
of humanity supplied to the eye that ma
ture has already satiated, you feel that in
tention of the word sit is not good for man
to be alone"
But leaving this enhancing spot as YOU
rattle down the sharp hill into Lenox at
pace only the horses of hilly country can
achieve, you. come into the street of the IA
nous and fashionable town; you meet equi-
pages that rival those English "turnouts''
adored by the wealthy class of Americans;
you encounter the well-dressed, eool-eved
maidens and youths Of republican aristoc-
racy who look askance at the distinguished
stranger within their gates, and drive their
yellow carts by you with the lofty ease of
lords and ladies ingnoring the 'eanaille."
1t is very pretty-and very amusing
though their airs be not airs of Castaly and
their graces devoid of graciousness.
The Aristocracy of Dollars.
'Tis very excellent play" and why
should the vulgar herd despise and rage at
it? Is there not some reason for it? Are
they not "new-blossOmed in the sum-" and
shall they not pavonneggiarsi like other
fine birds In the warm rays? They have an
experience delightful beyond that of born
mobiles, the sharp ecstatic novelty of sudden
exaltation. Duchesses and countesses and
the like are to this manner born, and take
their luxuries and dignities as matter of
course, rather bored thereby as with the mo-
notony of past and present, but to be born
child of poverty, or at least of honest labor,
and emerge into the splendor of countless
dollars and the whirl of rank (heayen save
the mark) and fashion, is it not like a
dream or the avatar of Cinderella?
GA bliss beyond all that the minstrel hath
told" But these are the tinkling fringe
of Lenox society; there are others, and
plenty of them, who can look back on gen.
erations after generations of culture, rehns-
ment and sufficient wealth. If their father
did not come over in the Mayfower, it was
because that elastic ship could not hold
everybody and their furniture; there were
passengers in the Lion also. But these, the
only true aristocrats of America, are too
well-bred to be rude in look or manner.
The stranger visiting Lenox is attracted by
its beautiful villas; the town itself is but .
little village; the Cottages as they are
styled, crown the hills and stand in luxuri-
GUS calm among the sunny valleys
Lenox at Its Best
Lenox has its "season" as we'll az London.
q few of its habitues are wise enough to
enjoy the freshness of June and the ex-
emption from the heat of July and August
in their country homes, still fewer come up
in winter to enjoy sleighing and the splen-
dor of ice storms, or the awful beauty Of the
SHOWS, but "the" season for Leno1 Is Sep
tember and October. Then the mountain
air is like wine of the gods, it sparkles
with matchless strength and purity, and the
hills are radiant with colors like the gold
and red and purple of wintry sunsets; then
the sky is blue as the gentians that lift
their fringed cups by wayside and in fields;
and the roads of this beautiful hill-town
swarm with human beauty and fashion.
Then come dinners, dances, teas, receptions,
weddings, tennis matches, all the gayeties
of the city reproduced in the serene airs Of
the country. Piquant contrast, fascinating
enough, yet one wonders what rest Is found
in such life; it is in the country, but not
of it Anatomists tell rs that the two parts
of the human heart have each its separate
office, so it is with the heart of our country.
'"The right heart sends the blood to the
lungs, the left heart distributes it to the
general system (which things are an
allegoryr' I leave the reader to solve for
himself the problem whether Lenox or
Pittsfeld is the right or the left division Of
The Heart of Berkshire.
ROSE TERRY OooKE