Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1908-07-09
NATURAL BRIDGE. VIRGINIA.
Vermont Girl Sojournino in Old
Dominion Writes Home.
Lynchburg, Va, June 30, 1908.

Dominion Writes Home.
Lynchburg, Va, June 30, 1908.
Mr.. Editor
High up among the foothills which lead
to the Blue Ridge mountains, in agrand-
er spot than any human intellect could
have chosen, is that wonder of the South,
Natural Bridge.
No soiourner within the borders OF Old
Dominion is content to leave that historic
state without having visited this re-
nowned spot. Therefore, after having
had my best-laid plans "gaEg a-gley"
many times, found myself one morning
actually driving through the dense and
fragrant woods, up, up into the noun
tains. where at last i would see that
emiracle in stone"
The afternoon previous, or "evening,"
as all virginians say, my friends and l
had travelled from Lynchburg via the {.
& O. r. r. to within six miles of the
bridge, stopping over night at farm
house where Virginia hospitality in the
form Of fried chicken, corn pones, butter
milk and all the fruits and vegetables in
their season, had been dispensed most Ii
berally.
The drive in the cool of the morning
with "the lark on the wing and the hill
side dew-pearled' made us feel indeed,
that ssGod was in His heaven and all
was right with the world"
Time and again as we climbed the
mountain we came upon gray rabbits sit
ting upright in the grass-grown road.
They scurried wiftly into the bushes,
fleeing to their retreats. We passed farm
houses where fresh-faced lovely girls were
milking the cows by the roadside. In
Dixie a man would deem himself but lit
tie better than "po' white trash" il his
womenkind were forced by circumstances
to bend over the Monday wash-tub, but
she may milk his cows.
Still we climbed higher and higher, on
one side deep ravine, on the other, not
ten miles distant, the Blue Ridge noun
tains, seeming very near, their "feet
wrapped in forests,' their heads capped
with white clouds like snow banks. Then
| suddenly, we seemed to reach the very
summit of the mountain we had been as
cending, one of the party exclaimed
sWe have arrived-we are at the bridge'
locked about me in doubt. Thers was
! no bridge to be seen; but leaving the
carriage and following the Others, we
passed through a rustic gate, into what
seemed to be a rocky, billy pasture, with
dense woods beyond, then turning to the
right and advancing few feet, we came
to the very scarp of precipice, and all IN
a moment that grand scene was before
our eyes.
/ We were standing on the bridge and
gazing down, down into the ravine be-
low; we realized that no artist could pic
ture and no pen could describe the beauty
and grandeur of that scene. So much
has been said about the bridge itself
that giant archway spanning two mighty
banks of solid rock, rising to the height
of nearly three hundred feet above the
bed of a shallow stream-that the gran
deur of the accompanying scenery has
been neglected.
: II seemed to me as 1 stood there, awed
and silent, that Nature had not been con-
tent to work out the miracle OF the brioge
: by itself, and realized that 1t was the
scene in its entirety that gave the place
its massiveness and sublimity.
Mountains on all sides as far as eye can
see, the peaks sharp and clear, rising
, higher and higher until their heads arr
wreathed in clouds; the ravine formed BY
the sloping of two mighty mountains
/. down to the stream far below; the green
: beauty of the foliage Of arbor vitae, ce
dar, cypress, chestnut and oak tree; the
I little stream itself even, winding It's way
I down through the mountains; saltpetei
! cave: the cascade and lace water fall!
fart her up stream, and last, that other ma
tural wonder-Lost river-all these make
I the ensemble as magnificent as Nature In
; tended.
I We left the bridge and passed through
I another rustic gate to view that grea
9 stone archway from different point, ant
standing directly opposite on a ledge o
rock that iuts far out from the mountain
hv
o most the only sign that man has beef
t there), thought of those words spokei
I centuries ago, yet as full of meaning to
: day as when first uttered :-"He cuttetl
t out rivers among the rocks; and His ey
> seeth every precious thing" STANDING
b there silent, felt as never before tn
e power and majesty of the Creator and tn
pettiness of humanity.
il "What is man, David said, with eye
v uplifted to the hills, "that thou takes
e know ledge of him?''a again: "Be still
and know that am God"
d We had no desire but to keep silent
n for speech was not easy, realizing as W
u did that old. perhaps, as Earth herself
le this wonder has stood there century upo
d century. with no human eye beho ldin
ie it. no human foot to tread its pathway
1t made by the mountain goat, the. eterns
lie silence of ages overshadowing its solem
y grandeur.
,r Man came at last, of course, discover
lie ing, put in this instance, at least, mcc
ern civilization has added no blot to tn
scenery and it has been left as its Create
planned it. High up here in the beaut
q, full mountains, the whistles cease froi
troubling and the mill wheels are at res
e. Far from the madding crowd, the rus
lie and clamor of the restless city is forgo
st ten aud the peace that comes from med
ne tation upon things sublime enters II
IL heart. A very charming summer hot
nr not visible from the bridge de racts notl
in ing from the scenery and adds much
Id the comfort of visitors and excursionist
e- The entrance to the ravine is mac
no through gate house, where after regi
st tering and paying the custodian one do
ar lar each, we were permitted to view II
x bridge from below and visit the glen an
n Lost river. Standing beneath the birds
ig and gazing upward to that miracle
ce stone, one cannot decide which view
at the grandest, from the top, from Il
lis ledge opposite, or from the rocks beneath
he, but we surely know that, "Beautiful II