New-York tribune., 1906-06-24
A WESTERN RAMBLE.
From Ocean to Ocean.


Mentone Cal, June lS.-The pilgrim from New
York TO Los Angeles can make the long journey
directly and comfortably by the Erie Railroad to
Chicago, and by the Santa Fe Railroad onward 10
the Pacific Coast The start is made from Jersey
City. il the afternoon while yet several hours ot
Daylight left. in which TO view the noble hills
and the green. glstening valleys that environ the
lovely winding waters Of the Delaware and the
Susquchanna-scenery that excels the famous vale
OF HARROW and Is not eclipsed by even the superb
raVines OF Perth. Inhabitants OF America can find
wonderful pagcants Of natural beauty in other
-AHos and. necessarily. they are benefited by for
eign travel; though If scenery, whether naagnif-
cent or lovely be the object Of their quest. they
nave 10 need 70 leave their home But as the poet
campbell said (who familiar with the glorious
Scottlsh Highlands nevertheless laid the scene OF
MS most ambitious and elaborate poem '-Susque
hannas banks. which he never saw, 'Tis dis
tance lends enchantrnent 10 the view Thus might
the traveller mediate speeding through Outalissis
vale, while tho evening shadows gather and the
oeautitul landscape is slowly wrapped in night 1t
VIII be night Of tranquil slurnber, and on the
next day the levels of Ohio and Indiana, fertile
and smiling will be smoothly traversed. and close
on sunset the train will glide 10 its rest amid the
action and turnult OF busy opuent never-resting
Chicago There. perhaps whore kind hearts beat
and friendly welcome awaits him, the pilgrim
may pause awhile, to feast and be merry; but,
should his affairs cry haste he push onward,
almost nediately,-ooardng q Santa Fe train,
for the Far West, that leaves the Dearborn Street
Station short tine after his arrival Then begins
a dreamlike interlude Of ease Three DAYS and
four nights must pass before The Overland train
will roll into Los Angeles. and during that time
you have only TO think, dream. read, or
sleep, upon the characteristics Of your
travelling companions, or gaze upon the scenery,
and ponder on the varied works OF nature and the
ever-changing phases Of the civilization OF man
Between Chicago and Kansas City more than
hundred towns passed in the Of the first
night Near TO Fort Madison the grand Mississippi
River is crossed. and. about FIVE hours later, be-
tween and 10 O'Clock in the morning, you cross
the Mssouri.-sowng, stately and splendid. through
broad, far-reaching plains; its steelcolored sur
face under a gray sky and dim softly SHIN
mering in rpples OF purple light In crossing
Kansas the observer is chiefly impressed with the
prodgious extent OF distant prospects The foliage
IS dense there is abundant verdure; and often there
glinpses OF water to make the landscape Varl-
Gus and gay. Under gray-blue sky and sleeping
in sunshine Topeka allures your gaze, and you
glance along the wide, shady streets OF that pleas
ant capital grassy ct their Sides and powered with
tall, over-archng trees, and see the gray dome of
the State House. with its OF cathedral green,
and you think. perhaps OF one OF the stornler
periods OF the nations growth, when the terrible
forces OF slavery and freedom marshalling for
their final aght Beyond Topeka a wide valley, full
OF young trees, extends for many miles on both
sides of the iron path and then come vast
stretches OF green meadow with wild roses thicky
I
north and south, neat cottages and quaint farm
houses are visible Ploughed fields glide into the
panoramic picture, and swiftly pass away Inc
land IS uneven. undulating, irregular, and there
are glipses of long white lonely roads that reach
toward the horizon and seem 20 have no end Now
and then you see a little group OF wooden dwell
ings, clustered round tiny church Pasture lands
come into view, with and foal-the one NOV
ing sedatey the other, all legs trotttng close be-
side its mother. confident and secure. In many
cornHelds the green shoots Just peeping out OF
the brown earth. Rain is at hand ana IN the
pastures the cattle stand rurinant near to pools
OF wate--it being the nature Of those animals not
TO couch when wet weather is coming The blrds
are fev, here and they are flying low. II is the
town OF Burlingarne, and the pilgrim remembers
Anson, once his companion. from whom II took It's
narne-and those wild days when the Puritan poet
Whittier sounded his clarion note OF warning, and
wrote with such grim significance of the blood
stains of the martyrs of freedom-'a talnt on the
heather for wild bees to shur." Here the houses
are nestled among trees of ample foliage the streets
are overgroVn with grass. and all things seem TO
sleep Pastures and pens adjacent denote that
mart of the local industry is the cattle trade
The country is extremely fertile The green OF the
meadows is brilliant like the emerald, and on hill
slopes far away. there is fine effect Of oopse-
Havstacks abound-not so shapely as those that
c,storoarilv adorn the hayhe!ds OF England, but
massive and rich Windnnill-towers picturesque
shapes IN this landscape,-these and almost al
other objects seeming remote and visionary At
slurnlrous aspect-children troop hurriedly out OF
the cottages and wave their little hands in sportiVe
greeting. as you pass All around that place there
is vast expanse Of fertile loneliness; to-day the
onlv living creature visible, within the compass OF
many miles IS an old gray horse feeding in a
,astn-e and blandly regardless Of everything but
his food: vet this apparent vacancy is green, and
lovely and full OF life Wordsworth has written
of the broad open eye Of the solitary sky you
yrorld fully appreciate that image of breadth and
he
are in q rolling country, and you see a wide e@-
narse OF prairie var!egated with bare fields re-
gently uloughed and planted hillslopes OF SHINING
green clover patches ruddy with fragrant bloom
ard rivulets that Hash like silver ances IN the sun
Now the light grows dim and melancholy Black
,lo,,ds are massi-g themselves in the north, am
through those sorbre, threatening, lr1itess shapes
Of tempest the forkcd lighting flashes. IL many
seo6I,, iayelin Of fire. The sudden storms that
hurst upon these Western plains are beyond de-
sc-iprion r2agnifce,t and all sense OF peru that
wight rerhaps attend them is lost il the enjoy
- If their grandeur. This one is over.
The rrairie slowly ene-ges from It's blur OF rain.
and AZ rid-afternoon you roll through the spacious
City Of E.nporia-seeing its rew railway station'
fnely built Of stone; its park and pleasure mousse
i,s vide avenues, lined with stately trees ana
its picturesque church, with splred and PlnnacIed
,,o.ar-,lnusual in the architecture OF the West.
and more than commonly effective here After the
rain The air IS cool and delloiously fragrant Inc
clearing western sky is grand with cloudy Shapes
1ba huge masses Of vapor being ilumined and "a
a., -,.i-b sunshine light-for the is going
1o,o in a glory Of pearl and purple mist while all
-, ,,,sa e,panse OF the eastern heaven IS grin
with the dusky cohorts Of retreating storm.
son, after sunset you have left the pleasant town
- Hutchinson and ct carly MISUNDERSTANDING
r,ssed nearly sixty stations n the night leaving
kansas. al Holly, and entering Coloraoo'-you see
r. eain!ng SUBMITS Of L. Junta- Now the true
rl,fs