News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1902-07-30
MOUNT MANSFIE LD.
Editor Bixby of the PIattsburg Republi
can Writes up this Famous Mountain.


Editor Bixby of the Plattsburg Re-
publican visited Mount Mansfield
last week and Saturdays Republican
gives the extensively interesting &C
count of his trip -
There is an old saying that "there
is no great loss without some small
gain" This has been very wet,
cold season thus far, but one would
have to 60 back a long way to find
another season in which foliage and
everything that grows appeared so
fresh as now, near the end Of July.
There is mountain on the east
side of thelake, known to moderns
as Mansfield, because it is in what
was once the town of Mansfield,
which town has now been abolished
many years and divided between
Underhill and Stowe. The old In
dian name of the mountain is said to
have been lost word signifying
s'Nose and Chin" on account of the
fancied resemblance of the horizon
outline of it to an upturned human
face, whether viewed from the east
or west. The resemblance is so
strong that it takes but little stretch
of the Imagination to trace it, the
nose being near the south end and
the chin at the north end. To be
sure, the nose appears like an exag-
gerated pug, and the chin is pretty
massive, but if you consider that the
head is we'll turned back, and the
chin proportionately elevated you.
have it quite clearly. Mansfield
! Mountain is very plainly visible from
PlattSburg and this entire portion of
the Champlain Valley and it will
/ probably be surprise to most of our
readers that its summit, the highest
of the green mountain range, can be
reached by anyone who is strong
enough to climb into a carriage 1t
is this way ;-Plattsburg to Burling-
ton by the steamer Vermont, leaving
Plattsburg at 100 a. m, an hours
ride up the valley of Winooski to
Waterbury; an hours ride by trolley
to Stowe up the pleasant and fertile
valley of Waterbury River, branch
of the Winooski and finally three
hours ride by stage up the eastside
of the mountain to the Summit
House, which is really at the summit,
one minutes walk bringing you to a
full view of Lake Champlain, with
all that implies, and grand views in
every direction.
Mountaintop views are, as rule,
vouchsafed only to those who are Wig
orous, strong of limb and of lung.
The Adriroudacks abound in glorious
mountain sights but it is heart-break.
ing work, and a lot of it to get up
there. The late lamented DR. John
Henry Hopkins, one of the few
clergymen who ever led relig Gus
service on Mt. Marcy after climbing
up the rugged trail-(it was about a
quarter of century ago, and good
part of the little company of eight
who stood on that grand mountain
with barred heads and joined in that
service are now with him in heaven)
DIR. Hopkins, when he was toiling
up the steep trail, stripped to his
shirt and trousers, his comrades
carrying all his impedimenta they
could, said: at is the old body that
is holding me back; the spirit is will
ling, but the flesh is weak"
Not single mountain of the first
or second class in New York can be
assembled without vast expenditure
of physical force-so great an expen-
diture that many constitutions that
might have been kept fairly good,
with proper care-have wrecked by it,
the spirit" having driven the "fesh"
unduly. Mount Washington and
Pixies Peak have railroads to the
top, but prices there about match the
grades in steepness and only those
who have lot of money can enjoy
them. But here on Mansfield it is
different. The regular steamboat,
steam car, trolly and stage fare to
the summit from Plattsburg and re-
turn is only $3.50 and the Summit
Hotel rate is only $500 day.
But why 60 on mountain at all
Never try to answer that question,
for the man or woman who could ask
it would never be satisfied with any
answer you could give. How absurd,
to try to convince the man with the
muck rake that just above him is an
angel offering golden crown The
muck rake is reality, while the
crown is a useless myth to him, all
in the air." Yet, mountains have
played quite an important part in the
great human drama, from the time
that the Old Boy tried to tempt the
Master, from the top of an exceeding
high one, all down through the ages.
The Good Book abounds in records
of going up mountains to worship
the desire to build three taberna-
| cles" was stimulated on a mountain
top, and it was from a mountain the
Law came. Old Mountain Phelps of
II IIatc xx,b1 al, GxcE