The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1891-01-08
TWO BEAuTlFUL Cries.
Lewis H. Blair on Roanoke and
Corpus Christi.

Lewis III. Blair, and mono has been
more persistent. faithful ami enargetl
The following letter. fron his psn is
characteristic and interesting:
To tho thoughtful and dovout all
places possess IL certain beauty or in
tcrest, because to them the wh ,le earth
prcciaims that thc hand that made them
is divine.
But whilc all places arc to somo ex-
tant interesting, all are not beautiful,
ana but few are the spots that arc gems
exhibiting tho highest creative excel
lenco.
From the multitude of returning Eu-
ropean tourists we hear SO much OF tho
beauty of Naples with its indigo seas
and skies, with Vesuviu5 in tho near
distance; its brow now adorn. d with
long thin streamcrS, and now angry with
luri lame and furious smoke; OF Tutor
laIen on either hand, It's enchanting
lakes embosomcd in lofty mountains; of
the rapid ripping Rhine. its steep
banks crowned with castles r,cilliny
cllvalruu5 AMI murdcrou5 romano IS OF
the lon2 distant past; of the lakes of
WcStmUrrland, whore Wordsworth wrote
philosophy Ill verse, and Of number
less other attracs live spots, that we are
IN danger of forgetting that our own
land also has its b ..iutlcS of mountain,
river, plain aud lake: that among them
there arc gems fully equal to these
We cross the Wide AZ ante To see.
HE writer has Two Sucl spots in mind,
one land the other water, one mountain.
The other SEA. IA, has piuuyhcd the
ni'i" &c an M with his pr>H hts Il / ih ii
the lying fish from its watery home; he
has sailed along The Bahamas and with
hiS e itiui L,oiiy ms u guided the
bonlth from It's dark uniathOmrd cave:
hc has CLOSED the Guli wn-nc, The
River i'll the Sea" how, to render in
hospitablc land habltablo and popu.
lons anu to make the tight little isle,
which otherwise wnuid perhaps be de-
serted even by the hardy SEA fowl, the
seat OF empire of tbs neither world.
Ito has steamed up the mississippi, red,
angry, turbulent. and hica m.,kvs its
prcScnc known far ont to SEA long Gro
TIL" river itself is r.achrd: and has b.
held the Crescent City in all the charms
and fragranc.' of April VIII IN our climc
is vcxcd with frosty winds, with snow
anu ict. lie has followed this treach-
erous and unruly stream in mighty
steam L, whose engines dire city brncat TIL
the passenger, panied and throbbed as
IL desiriou, to do to him what engines
have done to many others. to burst and
whelm Inn bcreaCh the hungry flood;
ind wcaricd with tho mon JtonouS
stream and embarrassing Country, he
has gladly turned into thu clear, calm
Ohio, rightly cLllcd by its discoveries
LA B:ilo itiv,cre," and this RIVER he
has ccndod almost to the point il loses
itself al tho All 'ghany and Mononga-
hrla, and in RAPIDLY moving train he
has fot hour, SKIRT Il tin Father Of
Wat r. from the Fails of st. Anthony
south III its cio,r .rr ut. grn,le flow
an beautiful blnH>, unr. cogniz .blc as
that muddy. un,igully and dangerous
ilvcr already ontion,d.
lie has sa.,d Over the Great Lakes:
he hts travelled the wii. virgin pr;iri IS
ui II Xas and the everglades OF tlurida:
III line. ne has seen most of our G Juntry
To the east and south OF tho great
Western plains. but IN all of his i)ur-
nrylng> he has never seen Two places
more b.nutilul THAN The two PLACES he
viii now attempt tu dcscsihe.
These two pic : arc Roanoke and
Corpus Or SIT, from it's cNLr, me boau,y
dominated by It's Spanish dl.cJvcrcis
lhi' i5Udy Oh CHRIST.
Roam Ike, as /, Wei known, is Il grow
Ing and t1rivinr CITY in the county of
Roanoke, ana ii tails Were all it might
we'll be passed unnYt.c d like many
other prospersus tuwns. But this is not
all, cIu,e it's beauty Of situation dis
tingui>hes It above most other rlic -,
for here it is that the hand that made
IL displayed its choic st skill. R)a-
nnsi. ny ~ t..p a. and II 10 hnt
alone that prevents the landscape bling
peri CT.
To the north in The distance, extend
ing east and west. Is Il lovely ran re not
rough and Jagged like Sierra nor
monotonuuS either, for at intervals it il
ba>tiOn, by immense fortresses; to tho
south, and extending likewise east and
W. ST. l. another rdnIc presenting quite
different asp CT, but both TO the east
and 10 the west LiIrSu ranges seem to
meet and thus form complete and
mighty am phiChea trr i'll whicl Roanoke
II. .,,l, ).
While all the mountains arc beautiful,
tiic is tn the noi thcast one parcic l.
lirly cltrm NJ 'aJlrc; it is two syn
IN 'tr.c Il p AXIS reminding on1 So mach
of TIC Peaks of Otter that would surely
III Stake II, IN if he supposed himself in
Il dfoid c.uniy. They are two immense
manmlc. and might well BE- imagin, d
10 nave been the breasts that had ono
sic ,lcd the earth-b ,rn rit'ns. These
peaks, in their c.lm and majcst C
beauty. are SO fascinating that one
turns from them with regret, and he
Instantly finds himself turning and
liking his gazp upon them again and
again. But, beautiful AZ they are, these
are not the j. AXIS Of Otter. for in the
far, far distanc, ;. through depression
in tho north, I'll range, the Peaks of
OFT may still b.. di. C RI, d, still beauti-