The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1908-12-24
AMERICAS PARADISE. I"
Trials Of An Englishman Who Started
Out 10 Find II.

Out 10 finu III.
A very intelligent woman Of my &C
auain,ane. recently startled me by say
ing: You know America well, Mr.. -
now have you ever been at Lake swan
aswatka!"
despite my real. or fancied, knowledge
Of the Western Hemisphere, ! was Obliged
to plead ignorance,
It's in a place called N. j., she has
tened 10 explain, "and its close TO the
little village OF Mahwahyille, which j. said
10 be the most beautiful spot in all Amer
lea. Ny brother. who is quite a glove
trotter. is setting off for America next
week, and he has planned 10 do Swan
aswatka the very first thing,
The meaning OF Swanaswatka began TO
dawn slowly upon me;
"You have been reading an American
railway guidebookl" yentured.
Yes" she replied; but how do you
We'll" | said. simply because have
been a victim OF American .guidebook
writers for several year,, and can rec.
ognize the symptoms oil the guide-oooK
infection"
| was not at all surprised when she
produced beautifully printed and Illus.
trated booklet, distributed free by a Ger,
tain American railway company, and
bearing the catchy title, "An American
Paradise" As you began 20 read TINS
little work you felt rising sense oil shame
stealing over YOU because you had never
before heard OF Swanaswatka. You really
seemed TO be as ignorant as some clod
hopper who had never heard OF the Swiss
lakes or even those OF our own Cumber-
land. A. you read on YOU became I'm.
pressed with the firm conviction that
= IL rt at
proved Garden OF Eden. Ii you were TO
take all the most beautiful spots on the
face OF the earth, combine them together,
and then make them a hundred times
finer. YOU might get dim idea OF the
wonders OF Swanaswatka.
The concluding words of the booklet
were like challenge to humanity TO pro
duce anything more sublime than this
Yankee paradise Travellers who have
seen the beauties of the Italian lakes and
revelled in the glories of Como stand trans
fixed with amazement and admiration
when they gaze on Swanaswatka, with ITS
exquisite landscape OF rolling hills and
sunkissed waters
All these wonders were TO be found IN
N. j." or the state OF New Jersey SO
well known to suburban residents OF New
York, and so little known to the average
Englishman.
After reading the booklet ] began to
remember gradually that ! had once Wis
tied the home OF New York friend who
lived in New Jersey. l also suddenly
recalled that the place was called Nah
wahville. 1t was a dusty, uninteresting
American suburban spot, It's streets lined
with fimsy wooden houses painted IN
ugly colors, with rows of thin, sickly
trees. 1t was summer time. and the
whole landscape looked very arid and
sun. baked. / remembered that we went
for drive in my friends dog-cart, and
happened to pass a small and rather stag
nant lakelet tucked away among some
low hills. Pointing to this, my friend had
said "The railway company is booming
that property for all it's worth. People
are buying land and building houses all
around here, and tourists are actually
coming to the place. It's a good place
for malaria and mosquitoes, SO they, must
have done some clever Advertising
''What do you call that pond?" | asked.
"Well,' he replied, "the people about
here used to call it Polecat Creek, but
the railway people have altered the name
to Lake Swanaswatka.' Isn't that
peach of name"
And that was beautiful Lake Swana-
swatka!
The strangest feature of this American
guidebook habit is that victim, after
being cruelty deceived by one of these
attractive little booklets, is usually just
as ready to be caught second time.
| always spent a few weeks in reading
the booklets given away by the various
railway and steamship companies. All OF
them were beautifully illustrated, and
were fine speciments of the printers art.
The writers of these books literally
.'turned themselves loose" in describing
the beauties of lake, mountain, and sea-
shore.
On one occasion remember that after
reading through a bewildering array of
booklets | decided to visit spot in the
Catskill Mountains, about a hundred
miles from New York, which the railway
guide writer described as ''the grandest,
sweetest, and most soul-uplifting spot on
Gods green earth" 1t was long, dusty
journey to take on hot July day, and |
heaved sigh of relief when | left the
train at a junction to catch another on
branch line, which was to take me to the
earthly paradise so eloquently described
by my guide-book friend. A rather anti
quated looking engine was attached to
three very shabby corridor-cars, and these
were all crowded, some of the passengers
All of them had read the book
let.
The train started off and wound its way
through some low, rocky hills covered
with scraggy pine trees. / took up my
guide-book and read "At this point the
traveller utters an involuntary exclama-
ton of awe, and well he may! The train
is drawn by one of the most powerful
American locomotives, but the monster
pants laboriously as he crawls slowly up
from the peaceful valley to the storm
swept heights, thousands of feet above.
Up, up we go; now running through some
dreadful gorge. now creeping by the side
of some fearful precipice, where the train
and its giant engine seem but mere pig
mics in the presence of the vast, the awful,
and the sublime"
Now, the train at that identical mo-
ment was merely running along an ordi-
nary upgrade such as you will find on
the Southeastern in the hills of Surrey.
The little locomotive, like all American
engines, made a good deal of unnecessary
noise Instead of whistle, it was
equipped with a huge fog-horn, which
beloved at every cross road; large
bell, as big as church bell, hung over
the boiler, and this was constantly
changed by the stoker Otherwise, the