The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-19
TAR FRoM THE MADDING CROWD.
Life Amid the Picturesque Catskiil Noun
 tains.
The Catskills, N. r., Aug. IS,

my experience, and with the boy in the poem, I am ever ready to say ''excel- sior." So when party made ready to drive to the old Mountain House I glad ly accepted an invitation to join it. The morning was perfect; rain had cooled the air and everything seemed deliciously fresh.
 From Hunter to Tannersyille is but a short drive and the distant peaks come ever nearer and yet nearer, while Elka, Onteora and Twilight Parks show that man has aided nature in making thls section very attractive. This hot sea son has filled every hotel and boarding house in and about Tannersville, and many are the merry groups of guests we pass, some on the croquet ground, others at their fancy work or their books, or wandering down into cosy hooks for-well, we can guess what.
 A very attractive feature of this drive is found in the fine private residences of several wealthy New York and Phil adelphia gentlemen, notably Dr. IWei- ghaft's Deer Park"
 The roads in this town are remarka- bly, good, nearly as finely macadam- ized as in the city so that the climb to the Mountain House is not at all weari- some, especially that part known as the Pine Orchard road, where the delicious odor of the balsam fir is everywhere, making one drowsy with its whispers of outdoor hunks when camping out and nestling into it's fragrant boughs.
 Suddenly we come to clearing, drive over a continuous ledge of rock and come to the commodious, well-kepi Mountain House, with accommodations for five hundred; spacious parlors, wide verandas and charming walks in every direction Following one of these we come to Alligator Rock" well named this summer, since children have put small stones on the lower rock and can easily fancy the creature is ready to snap his jaws at unwary travellers.
 Let us not finger too long outside, but pass on to the front piazza, where we catch our breath at the enchanting panorama spread before us. The guide books say parts of five states can be seen from here and we, try to fancy we can distinguish separate ranges, but the day is far too hay to be sure which is the Berkshire and which the Green Mountain chain. But there is the Hud- son looking like a thread or silver be- tween green lines of cultivated fields.
 Palenville and Catskill are the only places of any size which we can see to- day, though were it less misty our view would be more extended.
 A visit to the souvenir room well re- pays one. for nowhere have ever seen more beautiful articles of wood, nor did I ever before see sumach wood with it's high polish.
 Again in our carriage, we pass on to the old favorite of Catskill hotels, the Laurel House, where we pay our quat- ter and begin to descend the rieketS steps -twenty-forty = sixty-seventy- five-we get out of breath, lose count and press on wearity. hoping thai the
 Kaaterskill Falls will soon burst in view. At last we see them Truth te tell I was disappointed. A fall that has to be turned on and then eff in cr- der to save the water is bit unsatis- | factory but one must needs be a phi l losopher and reflect that August noun i tain streams are low, and one can al-
 ways turn With admiration to the gorge
 which is truly magnificent in it's sheer
 abrupt descent.
 l A weary return climb brings us to oul carriage and we start on the return drive, catching constant glimpses of | the Hotel Kaaterskill in it's charming situation, nearly twenty-five hundred | feet above sea level The story of its conception is interesting. A wealthy
 man was stopping at the old Mountain I House and ordered broiled chicken at 9 | most inopportune hour A polite refl1- 1 sal. angered him, and he said 'I wil build hotel big enough to admit oi ! brciled chicken at midnight if one wants it." Result, next year a big l force of workmen and now this spa cious, high hotel. I will not voueh foi ] the truth of this story, but were
 guest there am very sure I would or. der broiler as a sort of test question. 1 On the way home we turn into Twi | light Park, which Is certainly the gen of the Catskills." In front is grand Mount Lincoln, 3,664 feet high Below us is a real canon into which botf l Haine's and Kaaterskill Falls pour l Through 8 notch between the noun. l tains one sees a beautiful vista thu 1 Hudson in the far distance, the foo l hills nearer, the blue sky bending ten derly over all
 The homes in this park are under thu control of the New York Twilight clul and are strictly private, there being nt hotel for the reception of transient O curious pleasure seekers. There ar,
 more than thirty cottages, mostly o logs or shingles arranged to give mos
 picturesque effects, their roomy porti
 coes fairly clinging to the mountain
 side. Never have I seen a more invi ting place, and the names fit so well
 Cosy Corner" "Owl's Nest" 'Summe Rest" etc. We echo a sentence iron our guide book. "A summer home il
 Twilight Park means solid, rustic com fort.'
 Reluctantly we turn from the shelte
 of these grand old trees; yet we fin,
 the drive in the late afternoon yer, pleasant and realize that our summe
 home is most inviting and that the day .u1.1 l>,, C., Jt