Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-05-17
AMONG THE HILLS.

as the family doctor called II; for,
/ though they kept as far as possible from
the madding crowd, and follow scarce
| at all the furious whrl of winter excite
ments, people cannot live in Boston and
bold their nervous equilibrium intact.
The matron had a season of German OPP
era to eXpiate; the maid had not passed
unscathed through the Radcliffe mid
years" choice OF location became a
burning question. Where could one
find within easy distance spot that
should combine the yigor OF tonic with
the soothing of an opiate, and make but
reasonable inrcad upon time and
| money? Where one has only six days
| TO spare and no purse of Fortunatus to
call on, these sordid considerations
stand like flaming sword at the gates
of many an Eden. They bar the broad
avenues Of Washington and the temper
ed groves of Lakewood, with divers 9TH
er fair and favorable localities; they
shut out the Arctic loneliness OF Mon
treal and Quebec; they even bolt the
| doors of the splendid caravansaries of
the metropolis-even II any good Bos-
tonian could ever look for rest and ref
uge to New York. Where, then, lay the
| promised land?
1t were easy enough to find in sum-
mer. for there were the mountains.
Then why not by all that'is audaclous,
the mountains now? If Mrs. Peary
| could brave the savage rigor Of a polar
season, why might not couple OF COM
| patriots test the rigors Of winter in a
private carnival among Arctic scenes
nearer home?
No sooner thought of than decided.
| Quick! two tickets for the highlands OF
New Hampshire And away on the
wings of whirling, bowling snow
storm ,grimed and soiled even while fall
ing by the tenacious dirt OF the city,
speed the two adventures on the wings
OF faith and hope And this veracious
| chronicle is to record their experience
Five hours after they were gliding be-
hind jingling sleigh bells, through the
streets of North Conway, under a sky
bluer than anything this side of Italy,
between rows of trees festooned and
decorated as If for a bridal festival, in
world so white and joyous and an air
so buOyant and sweet that simply to
breathe was pleasure. They passed pic
turesQue figures in muffling bear and
coon skins, with deep down pulled fur
caps and high upturned fur collars, with
mighty homespun mittens and brava
scarlet leggins-as fine in their artistic
uncouthness as the average New Eng
land farmer is commonplace. which is
SAYING a great deal. They passed great
teams piled with green cubes of ice, or
! massive loads of fresh hewn wood, that
! left a new balm on the pure air. and
| lumbermen swinging broad axes in
wayside groves and small white cot
tages, banked with snow half way up
to the caves. until they looked like Es-
quimaux cabins. Little children, nero
balls of red and brown WOOL rolled
frcn the high road INTO snow tunnels.
higher than themselves, leading 10
shovelled out doorways the the buzz Of
a far-away sawmill droned through the
| air like an August locust; the dazzling
fields stretched away to the lofty, dark
SUBMITS of the encircling hills and the
suow-spotted peaks OF the mountains.
Everything near and FIR was radiant
with freshness and beauty. And to
think of what they had left half dozen
hours before
The little roadside inn, with its bright
sign swinging under the gateway ems,
opened it's hospitable doors 10 warm
rooms and steam heated corridors. and
in the big dining hall, drawn up before
a mighty blaze of logs that glowed and
! cracked in the great fireplace, waited
a small. white table we'll set. we'll fur
nished and with the neatest maid in
the world beside it. No wonder the
Radcliffe girls appetite came back as
if by magic. The outer atmosphere
was something to marvel at. With
thinner jackets than had been worn
since October the two strayed up and
down the hill roads, warm with the ex-
ertion Of tramping through paths only
| half broken. in snow so powder dry that
| it did not even dampen the short wollen
skirts dragged through ii, or sat on
the sunny Southern piazza, reading for
| an hour with as entire comfort as II
they were in front of the great hearth
stone inside. The thermometer said
anything it pleased, from deg. above
| to so: this soft balm of air and sunshine
|
| ing the five midvinter days. although
through two of them a Western biz
gard was battling its way through the
rest Of New England.
Another foot of snow fell during the
! first night and n morning broke after
il of almost supernatural beauty. Pale
ROSY clouds foated with the dawn over
Kearsarage. staining its white summit
with the fairtest alpine glow, and
throwing the forests at its base into
masses OF coal black shadow; the white
fields absolutely unsullied or untouched
stretched far up the hillsides under
brown woods; a perfect silence reigned
abroad as if even sound were frozen'
and far TO the west, over the unduiatln
r,oa6ows and the fierce preciplces OF
Tho surrounding heights Mt. Washing
ton-rose n great glory of shining "nlte-
Noes AGAINST the high, pale blue OIL the
H.. lilye the luminous shadow OF VS.
;on No tempered softrsss CT summer
Ioveliuess ever had such charm
biq snow pillow and four sta!war'
,orses broke out a long curving tobog-
gan slide early in the day from lne t .S
of 'Tother mountain deep down INTO Tue
roadside meadow. An immense IoiisI
a oiant cylinder Of wood 10 feet "lue
ord onite 2 in diameter. turning on a
oo,,4raI ovis-was drawn through the
Village and wood reads after breakfast
time and made it perfectly easy TO get
about in every direction except noun
toin climbing. That way lay madness,
for the sun shone with most exasperat-
ing enticement upon great upland feids
Of snow. clinging here and there as II