The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1899-06-16

moral and esthetic resources of our own, |
and therefore paying a huge annual
tribute to our superiors across the sea.
To see that caravan of pilgrims, wind |
ing across the Atlantic every summer
in search of something worth hearing,
seeing and studying, makes one ashamed
for his country. 1t is not what it pro-
fesses to bet is only fad-the fol- |
lowing of flock in the track of some
male or female bell-wether. Those
who can find nothing worth studying,
admiring and enjoying in America are
incapable of finding any such thing any
where. If they are intellectually and
esthetically blind at home, there is no
magic in saltwater that can give them
sight. We ought to be ashamed of the
fact that Englishmen and Germans
know more about the higher resources
of our country than we ourselves do.
What benefit would it be for person
who could not perceive the noble art of
Nature displayed in few real land
scapes which 1 have briefly described,
of what use would it be 10 them to gaze
upon the works of the masters in the
foreign galleries? The art capacities
of such are filed to the brim by a
theater-poster. They may be enrapt-
ured by the artists who do Barnum's
menagerie and circus on board fences.
No one who has seen the Colorado
Canyon, the Yellowstone, the Yosemite,
and has also seen the Alps and the
italian lakes, thinks of any comparison
between the two classes other than that
of contrast. In the way of glaciers that
of the Rhine is to our Muri as the Gels
bach falls are to Niagara. The much
admired canyon of the Reuss is to the
Yellowstone or the Colorado as dry
mud fissure would be to the Reuss-to
say nothing of the contrast between the
dull-dark granite and gniess OF the one,
and the stratifed rainbows of the other.
1 could not fail to recall in a flash of
memory the bald, bleak and barren
scenery of Switzerland as gazed at the
luxuriant beauty of the nObler scenery
of the Cascade range. Standing on
hilltop here in Seattle 1 can see the
Olympic snow as I saw the Alps from
Schaffhausen. The superior grandeur
of the Olympic, no one would question
and they are only a minor range.
The Northern Pacific has exclusive
possession of the chief of the seven
modern wonders of the world, in the
Yellowstone Park, and a good prefer
ence on second, the inside Northern
Pacific coast. Our country has at least
five of the chief great natural attrac-
tions of the world. I have mentioned
these, namely, Niagara, Yellowstone,
Yosemite, Colorado, the Glacial coast.
Where shall we find the other two?
Not in Europe, certainly. We must go
to the Himalayas for one, and if we
leave out Mammoth Cave, to the An
dean volcanoes for another. The Sec
ondary attractions are in similar pro-
portions. Where on other continents
are there such strange beauties as a
mountain with brilliant scarf drawn
over her shoulders, or holy cross in
snow resting upon mountains breast!
I have only seen Mount Rainer, a
double-crater volcano-practically ex-
tinct-from distance. 1t is called the
King OF Mountains. DR.. Young, Jr., of
Seattle, who scaled it last summer
showed me line of photographs of the
scenery. Its glacier, the craters, the
flora, show that it is unapproachable
for beauty, as well as for grandeur, by
any known mountain. have not seen
Lake Chelan and the Stekehan Canyon.
This lake is a glacial gorge cutting
right into the heart of the mountains
with walls from 5000 to 5000 feet
AN average of mile) high, draped on
either side with hundreds OF water
falls. s'The basin has that ineffable
and indescrible sense of perfectness
which impresses the behOlder with the
thought that here he faces one of the
supreme works of nature" Lake
Chelan is fifty miles long and from q
half mile to mile wide. 1t reaches q
depth of 1,5OO feet. I refer to these
two as examples. 1t must be under
stood that the railways seek the gen.
tlest activities and therefore the least
grand of the mountain scenery. will
here give hint of the future. This
Alaskan gold craze is settling down to
steady-going business. Very soon the
inside northern passage, unequalled by
any scene of land and water on the face
of the earth, will be extended up into
the heart of Alaska by the railway
from Skagway-extended to the land OF
the Midnight Sun.
can hear the criticism that all this
that am discussing is nature. 1t is
not art. Permit me to ask, What is
art? Primarily art is that quality OF
mind which perceives aud appreciates
beauty. 1t is technical skill, not art
itself, which transfers perceptions OF
beauty from nature to canvas, or to
marble, or to song. Those who go to
Europe to study art are taking it at
second hand. 1t is plain and a
prosaic truth to say, that one can find
more pure beauty, in all its various
phases, from delicacy to grandeur, in
a two weeks study of the pages of ma
ture here, than in two years of study OF
art abroad. Therefore it is that say
that when. people spend S125, 900, ,OOC