The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1914-07-16
From the White Mountains.

NV Dear journal: From the clouoS
greetlngs-and if you, and my other
friends upon the earth below, think tits
real fun to live in the clouds for any
length of time you have only to come
and try it. For a week we have not
seen any sunshine up here. When it has
not rained, the clouds have been driven
in through the Crawford Notch like a
mighty volume of smoke, and one might
well imagine that all the world outside
was on fire. The clouds settled down
over the different mountains and played
picturesque pranks all around them. At
first we thought it was joke, and ad-
mired all the different effects OF cloud
against the mountains, and pretended we
liked the weather-but at the present
time l, for one, would give more to see
"the July sun in Heaven on the scene
look down and SMILE than anything l
can think of, except home.
Not that this isn't good place to be
in. The scenery here, even with the
clouds upon it, is so grard and so stu
pendous, and there is so much of it, that
| hesitate to enter upon description
and when the clouds lift-as they will
and the sun comes out, and the air fairly
sparkles with the crisp, invigoratiag
quality that is in it-and my eyes, which
ever way they turn, travel skyward to
the top of some lofty mountain clothed
to the summit with forest trees and
mighty boulders, am hopeless of giving
any adequate idea of what the place is
really like. Coming in through the
Notch. over Wiley Brook Bridge which
spans the wild chasm of Mts. Wiley
and Willard, and over the trankenstein
Trestle which crosses the gulf and spans
crevasse of 500 feet, at height of 80
feet above a rocky chasm, and looking
down from that awful height into the
gorges as the train flew along, my first
impression of the beautiful Crawford
Notch were coored somewhat by the
feeling that it would be glorious mo-
ment when my feet once more touched
terra ITIld-dDu 81 IL was. Vel FANNY
the Notch looked better when l stood on
the station platform and gazed back
upon it than at any moment since had
made its acquaintance 1900 feet is a
goodly elevation above the sea anyway,
and it is much pleasanter to stand around
and calmly consider the matter than to
he hurled through it on a railroad train
before your brain has had time to grasp
the situation. AS stood on the station
platform gasping with relief, and look
ing askance at the mountains, which
doomed, as it seemed to me. another 1910
feet in every direction, saw one famil-
lar landmark-my own trunk, standing
on end not far away. Even as my eyes
fell upon it, man who proved to be our
genial head porter reached forth hand
and shook it and said Whose trunk is
this?" and in another moment | was
fairly launched upon my three months
career as telegraph operator at the
Crawford House. A wide board walk
leads from the station to the hotel-and
the Crawford House, which is immense,
its outbuildings, its golf links, and tennis
court, its beautiful grounds and gardens,
constitute the whole town of Crawfords,
N. H., and busy, busting, enterprlsng
town it is. 1t is as impossible to describe
the house as it is the mountain scenery.
Its great size, the luxury and comfort of
its furnishings, and the perfection of its
service under the management OF the
proprietor, Mr.. w. A. Barron, place it
in the front rank among the finest hotels
of the country. The Western Union Of
flee. the post office and theBazaar, are at
one end of the lobby, and at. the other
end is the entrance to the beautiful ball.
room. where there is an orchestra of
eight pieces. The great fireplace is an
attractive feature of the lobby, and a
cheerful fire is always burning there.
The house is fast filling with guests,
most of them those who come year after
year, while the house officers and many
of the help have been with Mr.. and Mrs.
Barron for years, accompanying them
winters to Bermuda, where Mr.. Barron is
manager of the Hamilton Hotel. The
atmosphere of the house is one of cordial
friendliness, and smiling faces are the
rule and not the exception.
Quoting from booklet among the
many pretty souvenirs in the Bazaar
Elephants Head guards the upper gate
way to Crawford Notch, and immediate
~ beyond is the idyllic little plateau
which holds the Crawford House. Set
within surrounding mountain walls, and
just at the door of the famous hostelry
lies dainty gem Of lake which il the
true source Of the Saco river" From