Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1909-01-28

Now that have mountain for
neighbor / pay little or no attention
to it. That is the way with mortals.
They pant only for the distant glory.
They need people to come halfway
around the world to show them the
beauty of their own dooryards. When
I lived in New York my friends had
to come from other states before ] was
conscious of the fame and splendor of
the Goddess of Liberty. Grants tomb.
Riverside drive, Central park, Little
Italy, Mott street and those two gor--
geous exotics, Coney and Ellis Islands.
1t is the same up here. have
got out of the habit of climbing my
own mountain except when friends
come to tell me about it. Recently,
however, l wedged myself between
rocks, tramped down bushes, held ami
mated converse with buzz flies and
mosquitoes and did the other things
that mountain climbers are supposed
to do until | discovered the new world
always revealed from the mountains
top.
The experience took me back to the
first time / climbed Pixies peak. ]
was ambitious then. No cog roads
with wheezy engines or burros with
long ears for me! would walk.
That was sportsmanlike. Like every
body else who ever had the expert
ence, I took for my motto Longfel-
lows Excelsior" except that for the
refrain Excelsior substituted Pixies
peak or bust" The judge who was
with me fizzled out after the first half
mile / then ran into two long legged
citizens from Missouri, and the three
of us palpitated and pulled toward
glory After what seemed infinite
lapses Of time we reached the Halfway
House, which we were heartlessly in
formed is only one-third of the way
AS we went on we came up with other
travellers who We're mdustriously rest
ing From their painting it seemed
hard work. Resting usually is the
hardest kind of work we do. / met
so many people at it that night | final
ly went on alone. 1t was easier to
climb than to hear the others trying to
overtake their breath.
A half dozen times / was sure i had
passed timber line, and each time a
turn revealed lusty pines growing on
the heights above A lake came into
view. / climbed an hour and the lake
was still there, apparently in the same
place. 1 tramped up for what seemed
hours longer. but the lake stood pat
was sure the specter was out of sight,
but on turning beheld the same old
lake. I thereupon lifted my voice in
imprecations and mathematical that
sheet of water in manner simply
scandalous. Like Lady Macbeth, ]
yelled out, "Out, out, damned spotr'
but, toll on as would, the lake never
seemed to bulge an inch.
At last, however, turned point
where the wind nearly blew me into
canyon and the peak was in sight.
1t seemed but a little way off-just up
around curve. | went on with
light heart. At the curve, however,
another peak hove in sight, apparently
as far away as the first. Still another
turn, and another peak appeared. A
fourth bend revealed a fourth height
Then thought bitterly in my soul:
Glow many Pixies peaks are there?
Do they form a ladder to the moon?'
My heart grew heavy and my feet
heavier
4 v1o 20,
in sight. At last | painted into the
dawn as it broke over the topmost
point To the eastward, at the rim Of
the hollow, bowl shaped earth, stood
the red clouds, prophets of the coming
sun Below twinkled the lights of
Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Cripple
Greek, and to the. north lay Denver.
Around for what seemed hundreds of
miles the light was growing gray on
the mountain crests.
Although it was August, / expe
rienced the delightful luxury of SHY
ering.
Then came the sun. 1t burned its
way through the clouds and lighted up
their masses below where they tum-
bled and billowed like waves of the
sea. At the magic of his touch thou
sand shining cones and spires leaped
Into being. He rolled in majesty into
the heavens, and the mountains
blushed to their bases under his gaze.
1t had been hot summer, and had
abused Old Sol for month past. yet
for that moment / became sun wor-
shipper and knelt before the shrine Of
the day god. But words are pale and
futile Who can describe tempest on
the ocean, the birth of first love,
glimpse of heaven to dying eyes or
sunrise in the mountains?