St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-09-27
ARTICLE By MRS. ROSS.
Many Friends Of Mrs. Harriet Chat
fee Ross Will Be Interested In Fol-
lowing Story OF Auto Trip.

Many Friends OF Mrs. Harriet Chaf-
, fee Ross Will BE Interested Ia Fol-
lowing Story Of Auto Trip.
The many old friends of Mr.. Har-
riet Chaffee Ross of Denver. Col, will
be interested to read an article re-
Gently written by her. Mrs. Ross
spent her childhood and young wom-
anhood here. is a graduate Of st.
Johnsbury academy and has made oc-
casional visits here since going to
Colorado to live. Her husband is
also native of St. Johnsbury and the
friends who rarely hear from her
directly will welcome these words
from her pen:
One Motor Trip.
The Iong-talked of trip up the can
yon of the Cache-le-Poudre river
babe fair to materialize on the 10th
of August, but grey skies and every
other indication of rain made it un-
certain until we really started soon
after luncheon, wondering If we
were foolish.
No dust and no hot sun are two
important factors in ones comfort
on a. motor trip and so we started in
a most cheerful state of mind and
when we were where we could look
for miles over the plains to the north
and to the east. my Joy increased.
perhaps because of the wonderful
green's. for, as Heine said. Green is
the color of hope: there was a great
deal of blue in the distant masses of
green. the effect of the misty atmos-
phere, and there were many golden
harvest fields with bundles of wheat
and of oats and often we heard the
noise of the threshing machines and
watched the clouds of golden dust.
Once the threshers were dreaded by
the rancher's wife-it meant days of
cooking for her-but now a chuck
wagon" goes about with each machine
and the tired wife need no longer
dread the harvesting.
The roads were fine and we flew
along at a merry pace, by many
tiny lake. by fields of new mown hay
and acres of alfalfa with a wealth of
purple bloom and all over the waste
places grew the fire-weed, this phenix
of flowers. furnishing a perfect riot
of color. Once we saw two lordly
cranes, standing one on each side
of a pond, as silent and immovable
as in a Japanese poster, probably
watching for minnows and polly
wogs.
Many AutOiStS Camping.
We were interested in counting the
machines we met, loaded with peo-
pie and camping equipment, out
either for a few days or for a long
tour: children, tents, beds and food
all in one happy mixture, and each
one we met made me thankful all
over again that the automobile had
ever come into such common use as
to give pleasure to so many people.
Through Berthoud, Longmont and
Loveland we few, slowing down in
each place somewhere near to the
speed limit" announced on the sign
boards. but never reaching it, The
long main streets were lined with
autos. covered buggies, wagons and
carts, for it was Saturday and the
farmers and their families had driv-
en- in for the weeks shopping and
the movies"
Fort Collins was a surprise. The
buildings and grounds of the Agri-
cultural college with its experimental
station are most attractive. There
are delightful homes. well kept
streets and flowers in profusion.
This is one of our oldest towns and
was named for the Mr.. Collins who.
in the days of the Civil War secured
a military post for the place that al
ready had an Indian reservation. In
the last six years the town has grown
amazingly. both in population and
prosperity.
Eggs While You Wait.
Through the little old town of La
Porte, past the Cache-le-P oudre
schoolhouse. on the road that was
once the old county road over which
the Laramie stage drove. past many
prosperous fruit farms with signs on
the gates-"Apples. vinegar. vege-
tables. eggs. ETC., and at one place
Eggs laid while you wait" showed
a wonderfully accommodating breed
of hens-past all these we drove gaily
until we saw painted in large black
letters over one white gateway the
startling warning. Prepare to meet
thy God!" Whether or not this meet
ing was to take place in the canyon
just ahead or on our symbolical road
of sin / frivolously questioned. In
quiry later met the response "Oh that
fellow there is bug-house on religion"
/ have wondered about him many
times since.
The canyon of the Poudre river has
a wonderfully fine convict built road
already finished for Is miles and it
will in time go over the Divide. The
canyon is narrow. in some places