Catoctin clarion., 1896-12-31
THENATURALBRIDGE
THE PRESENT APPEARANCE OF A "a
NOUS VIRGINIA WONDER.

The First View Il . Little Disappointing
to Some, but - One Gazes He Becomes
Moro and Moro Impressed--Scens Of .
School Reader Story.
"Thst is where they let down the rope
to the boy. He jumped from that little
ledose you see way up there-that bird just
flew past it-and caught the rope as 1t
swung toward him."
We looked up, stretching our heads back
until our neoks ached.
"Is that story really truee"
"The old settlers around here say 80.
The boy was student from Washington
and Lee, which Is not very far from here.
OF course, the account Of the feat, usually
found In Fifth Readers, Is good deal ex-
nggerated. There was no crowd watching
while he climbed, as the story says, only
few of his friends were with him, but 1t Is
true that boy really did climb nearly to
the top of the bridge. You see that ledge
up there almost under the archP When he
reached that place, he could climb no far
ther on account of the arohing over the
bridge. Then they say he looked back to
see how to climb down again. You know
it's q faot that you can climb up much
easier than down." I" "There may be deep
er significance to those Words" thought.
"When you look downward, everything
appears TO be smoother. So there the boy
hung, nearly 300 feet from the ground,
unable to move one way or the other. "
We looked again up to that tiny projec-
ton, not much bigger than the bowl OF
spoon, II seemed, from that great distance.
I. was awful Later, when we went to the
top Of the bridge, we looked down; 1t was
frightful.
We were standing under the shadow OF
that fearful monument Of the Builder
who knows no limits-the bridge whose
walls are mountains and whose buttresses
are peaks The ravine is SO deep the sun
shines in only about noon. And all this
maRnifcence Of architecture royalty
thrown away on a mere wading stream,
its fish no bigger than minnows. But the
Builders quarry likewise knows no lim-
ita
The approach to the bridge is by mar
row, tortuous, rapidly descending path.
small stream tumbles down the mountain
beside US all the way. The deep foliage OF
the trees keeps us hidden from view OF
the bridge until a sharp turn to the right
suddenly brings us up almost under IT.
But the first sight perhaps Is little
disappointing. The mind has to take time
to adjust itself to these enormous dimen-
sions. As we approach 1t, at length stand
Just under the bridge itself and look up
ward, perhaps even then we are still lit
tie disappointed, until suddenly we are
startled by faint crying flock of swallows
flying under the bridge; then we begin to
comprehend its dizzy altitude.
The approach is not so impressive as the
opposite view, on account of the dipping
of the arch on that side. To walk 100 feet
farther on, passing under the bridge, and
then look back at 1t, one catches the
curves Of its enormous convexity and the
lift of its span. On this side also the two
mountains that buttress the bridge rapid
ly rise for some distance farther on. Con-
seouently the ravine walls are much high
or. All these things combine to make the
latter view of the bridge very impressive
Cathedral WALL nearly 800 feet high,
straight as the side of house, buttressed
and turreted, towers up on one side
Across the ravine from 1t, overhanging
the abyss below, is little ledge of rock
not 10 feet square-Pulpit rock. Here one
may stand and look below, II he can,
and try to realize the horror Of that boy
when he "caught the faint echoes OF the
people beneath him shouting to him to
Jump for the rope" In an old Virginia
history there is statement that when the
boy was drawn up his hair had turned
white.
Nothing grows down tho sides of this
rayine. 1t is all rock, solid and ghostly. II
one were to slip he would strike against
nothing on his way until he struck the
ground. There Is scarcely place for bird
to alight How did the boy climb itS The
story goes that he had knife and cut
footholes between the rock rims.
And 1t Is narrow, that little silver run
ming ravine, just room enough for Its
brook and footpath beside It, 1t Is mar
row and cold under the shadow OF these
eternal ramparts When birds fly down In
to 1t, they merely drop; there Is not room
to use their wings. They spread them out
to break the fall and drop down like leaves.
II Niagara were spilling over one of Its
sides, its leap would strike against the op-
posite all.
Above, nature has so coyly softened the
edge of the hideous precipice, go hidden 1t
with blossoming trees and mossy turf,
that dreamer walking there some day
would unexpectedly feel sharp slip of his
feet, would catch out at tree, bit OF
grass-the sudden hashlight OF a yawning
abyss-deathl One comes shouting and
laughing down the steps toward Pulpit
rock-suddenly stops himself aghast, quiv-
ering, on the very edge of the frightful
drop.
In 1879 a great mass of rock was split
of from the arch by the freezing Of the
water in It's crevices and was hurled be-
low, crashing into a million fragments.
The ground is Uttered over with bits OF
rock, with here and there bowlder half
imbedded in the soil There hangs on the
left of the arch as one approaches another
mass Just ready to fall A wide crack ex-
tends from the top of the hill almost down
to the ground. Half hill yawns. A ool-
umn Of the earth and frightful rocks half
as big as freight cars stand up there in the
air, held back by few clods, slender
stone, a root or two. When it falls, one
power exists that may clear it away-the
river.
&c. W." There 1t Is, his own autograph
-Washington's 1t is one of the great
"prize boxes" of the bridge. 1t is cut deep
into the rock about 80 feet above the
ground. Several other names ore cut above
this, but they were not put there by climb
ers Some engineers placed ladders against
the rock, and thus reached the point The
&c. w." Is said to be really genuine The
old settler vouches for this fact Also The
"W. "isquite plain, but the &c. " is some
what uncertain. Atlanta Journal
Tho Speed Of the Camel.
The speed Of the camel when on jour-
ney Of considerable length rarely exceeds
three miles an hour, and the swiftest
dromedaries are rarely known to go faster