The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-07-09


ing country and as there is no soil gen
orally but vast peaty, springy MATTRESS
OF dead vegetation, covering 100, 600
acres. it is thought that the lake occu-
PIES vast basin six miles by three.
burned cut as the result Of a lightning
stroke
1t is altogether one of the strangcst
phenomena in the known world. To my
surprise, it Is very hcalthful place,
aside from the poisonous scrpents and
vegetation, and the water III the canal.
though Tho color Of umbrella juice or
the broth of Il lanyard. is delicious if
you can forget the snakes
1t is fresh spring water colored by the
roots of juniper and cypress, and those
who dwell in the Dismal swamp live
on and Oh and ON.
One man. colorcd, was shown to me
as Il very old inhabitant of the swamp.
cypress shingle maker who assisted
Adam i'll naming the wild beasts of Vir-
ginia and made George Washington his
first squirt gun. 1 asked him if there
was any truth in the cherry tree story,
and he says there was not He saws that
ii was bee tree which George cut down
with his little Ratchet, and when he told
his father about it and showed him how
he had hived the swarm and secured "A
washtub full Of honey the old man ex-
claimed: Come to my arms, my truth
Iul son. II you are Is good boy next
week. Will take you ont and show Won
the Trilby Phosphate works on Sunday. :"
Some one ought TO tell George Du
Maurier and Mr. Paul Potter that Vir-
einia now has a Trilby phosphate for
fertilizing tho soil. We are also talking
some of changing the name of Mount
Pisgah, i'll North Carolina. whose head
pierces the clouds, and whose massive
feet spread over two counties to Mount
Trilby
Mr.. Arnold. the author Of the small
book entitled Uncle Aleck and His
Mule, snys, 81 can take rctrospcctivc
view of tho past "
III this respect hci to be congratulate
cd, l think. Yet what better way is
there to look ut the past than that? You
might almost say that one has 10 choice
i'll the matter.
Dynastics have arisen, dynastied and
died Rome has had her day, doomed
fiickered and passed away Greece has
covered the face Of the known world
with her power, and yet today little
ammonia would remove her from the
map.
Yet tho Dismal swamp has changed
but little Its giant gums, like those Of
the hlppopotamus wave to and fro. The
high and white topped waves Of Lake
Drnmmond i'll stormy weather lash the
lcaden sky, and the farrcaching scream
OF the catnmount picrccs the dense cane
brake whore lies the vcnomous SERPENT.
Onward, ever onward. the insane low.
CIR III the misty night traces now ways
through the
Tangled Juniper beds of reeds
And many II fen where the serpent fc,Sls
Aud man never trod before.
But the FREELY lamp of his loved one
ever and ever rccedcs in the solemn
night, and silently her birch canoe mclts
into the gray Of dawn us the weary and
fainting lover, now over 200 wears of
age, sits down in the bright red stump
water Of this hugo home of despair aud
dissolution
In 1921, according to old Uncle Tony,
mighty nice looking man came to
I Norfolk and got Tony to carry him out
to the lake He kept his eyes open all
thp why, gnrc Uncle Tony pound, and
| wrote IN his notebook all of the time,
Years and years after, when people told
Dn"se Teny that his passenger was Tom
dGsEua tha lrtsh psset. who wroro the
BAD aa1 beautiful poem OF tho insarrc