The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-01-27
From Ocean to Ocean.

above was the unique, but eminent
ly correct title of the lecture deliv-
cred at Friends Normal Institute
Monday evening, by Mr.. Clarence
w. Broomal of West Chester, Pa.
"Ocean toOcean' lisa word painting
lecture of the natural scenery and
"reminiscences that a student of the
country's history and close observ-
er of the variety, wonders and
beauty of a landscape panorama
i that embraces a continent in its
unfolding.
The traveller leaving Philadel,
phia is brought in sight of the
historic ground of Valley Forge and
the battlefield of Brandywine, and
is quickly whirled over the country
till western Pennsylvania and
Maryland are reached and their
mountain scenery surrounds him.
A flower is plucked from the poetry
of t. Buchanan Reed, Pennsylva-
MAS greatest bard, to give deeper
lint to the warm coloring of the
lecturers picture. Pittsburg is
reached and passed with the re-
mark that the smoky city owes its
name to Lord Pitt, when the val
ley of the Ohio is entered mid its
teeming wealth of soil, trade and
historic Renaissance, all of which
the lecturer points out in magma
ton to his audience as the train
whirls on through Kentucky and
Tennessee. From the car windows
is seen the log cabin of Abraham
Lincoln's childhood, and the cot
tage of the Carey sisters, Alice and
Phoebe, "little and old and black, !"
as described in one of their poems.
AS the traveller is whirled south,
the landscape and scenery changes
rapidly. Alabama and Louisiana
are reached and q semi-tropical
vegetation is met with. The ancient
city of New Orleans is rich in his
toric lore, with its dual civilizations,
separated by single street. There
the unohanging, MEDIEVAL age is
represented by the quiet, almost
noiseless Creole, here the roar and
rush Of Anglo Saxon life and hustle.
There the happy Creole knows
nothing of the feverish excitement
of millionaire life, nor the hungry
glare of the wolf of poverty; the
two gaunt hell hounds of wealth
and poverty which rend each other
in a ceaseless battle on the other
side of the street but never inv AIDE
the quiet homes of the Creole.
The orange groves, sugar plan
tations of Louisiana and the Ores
cent City are left and the historic
land of Texas is entered. The lee
turer fingers long and painfully
in and around the ancient Mexican
or Spanish city of San Antonio and
its mission fort, Alamo, where
Crockett and Bowie and Travis and
nearly two hundred AS brave spirits
sacrificed their lives for liberty
from the barbaric civilization of
the mongrel Spanish and Indian
hybrid army led by Santa Ana.
Westward the train, like the star
of empire, takes its fight, and new
and strange landscapes ever chang
ing ever new as the valley of the
Rio Grande is travelled and cactus
and alcali plains and desert sands
of Arizona are entered and passed,
the sierras fade behind us into
blue rim of the horizon, and we
sink among the orange groves and
perpetual bloom of southern Cali
fornia, and the traveller dreams he
is in the tabled gardens of the Hes
pcrides with their golden apples,
where
The light wings of zephyr oppressed with perfume
Wax faint DER the gardens of Gu i'll their bloom
Where the citron and olive are fairest OF fruit,
And the voice of the Hightengale never is mute;
Where the tints fthe earth and hues of the sky,
In colored tho varied in beauty may vie,
anu Tic pun PIC Vi OCSuu Is uSSpSst III uyC'
Before the enchanted eyes of the
traveller lies the city of Los Angeles,
and the western ocean is rolling its
blue pillows away to the shores of
old Asia. A few hours run
through the flowers, orange groves
and vineyards of California and the
lecturer leaves his audience in the
city of San Francisco, or at the
Cliff House, where the blue waves
of the Pacific roll and murmur at
their feet.
"Ocean to Ocean" is a literary
gem, instructive as entertaining, a
figurative champagne supper served
to the imagination and sense from
which the guests rise eXhilarated
and refreshed.
Free Trips to Paris i'm IOOO.-An OPP
portunity to See the Great Expo