The New York Herald Newspaper, July 28, 1873, Page 6

LAKE GEORGE. Sins and Sublimities of Newspa~- per Correspondents. Clen’s Fails, Half-Way House, Bloody Pond and Williams Monument, Sumptuous Scenery, but Fraudulent Forts. Three Hundred and Seventy-five Islands, and the Man Who Sat Up All Night to Name Them. Prospect Mountain and the View from the Summit. The People at Lake George and the Laws Against Those Who Take the Innoc- uous Moose and the Inoffen- sive Maskinonge. ee eCS ee The Pocahontas of the Period and Her Favorite Waterfall. Lake Grorgr, July 26, 1873. Mr. Gough says he never rises to make a speech ‘without feeling to some extent embarrassed. To compare small things with great, I might say the same with respect to letter writing. I never sit down to prepare an epistle for publication without feeling overwhelmed with the importance of my supject. I frankly admit it without hambug or tergiversation. This watering-place life is too much forme. It preys upon my spirit. When I retire for the nignt I say, “Have I seen all that I ‘ought to have seen?”? When I send a letter off by mail I exclaim, “Have I mentioned all that I ought to mentionr” It is a great responsi- bility, I assure you, this having so many hotels and people to look after. To keep a notel is one thing, requiring,.as we all Know, and as the Proverb tells us, considerable cleverness: but to keep writing about them, inflict too much pufing here or too much disparagement there, is quite another. It requires so high a moral courage to choose the middie course and stick to it, For in- stance, if my breakfast disagrees with me, if the soup I have for dinner possesses a name which neither I nor Francatelli ever heard of, how strong are the inducements to scandalize the hotel and abuse the proprietor! What a world of prejudices Ihave to overcome in restraining my wrath! What heroism there is in my conduct when I sit down afterwards and date my letter with cool aispassionateness. It is the same with bedrooms. Suppose I want a room facing Lake George, and I am accommodated with one looking in the oppo- site direction, have I not a right to be spleenful ‘and morose? Certainly Ihave. But heaven forbid I should aliow such feelings to influence my cor- respondence! No, no! I flatter myself the princl- ples of early newspaper piety are too strong in me for that. What! allow a personal prejudice to Warp me in the performance of a public duty! Perish the thought! I abandon thai to Smith, Jones and Robinson, and such small jour- Malistic deer, who, were they permitted to, would pen a column of abuse | of Fort Wittiam Henry Hotel itself because the waiter happened to bring them beel- steak instead of muttonchop. Believe me, there | is nothing like cultivating an even serenity of | temper when you are a newspaper correspondent. Being a part of virtue, of course it is its own re- ward, but the reward is so sweet you care for no other. You see I know all about it. [regard the discipline which the conscientious correspondent ‘ts put through as ot high moral value. He is ac- cused of selfishness, prejudice, misrepresenta- tion, and I do not say there are not corre- spondents who possess all these vices. But then there are plenty who extirpate self and prepossession in order to arrive at truth and its lucidities. Besides, to omit, from prudent or kindly purpose, to represent at all is not to misrepresent, but should rather come under the head of the humanities, those gentle considera- tions for others which are the best bloom and blos- g@om of good manners, LAKE GEORGE, If I were to say that Lake George is situated in the upper portion of the State of New York, I should be adding nothing to your geographical knowledge, If I said that it was thirty-six miles Jong and Surrounded by hills and mountains, I | should be telling nothing that the most meagre gazetteer does not contain. If I mentioned any locality within visiting distance, and gave the | routes and the fares, -I should only be volunteering such information as may be obtained from any guidebook purchasable for ‘Mifty cents. But, then, why should I have mentioned guide-books at ali? I might have copied page after page of these veracious chronicles and saved my- self the trouble of personal observation and recol- | lection. But I scorn such artifices, There is a | gsecond-hard flavor about every epistie so com- piled, and the nostril of the professional (by which Imean the journalistic) reader detects the spurt- ous bouquet at once. When one of his friends up- braided him for taking such pains to visit the Various scenes he intended to describe did not Walter Scott explain tnat he who trusted to his own fancy or to second-hand narration would always | tion, find his descriptions of nature marked with a cer- tain vagueness and faintness,and that,in order to be | forcible and pointed the describer must go directly | to Nature; see with nis own eyes, hear with his | own ears. Sir Walter was right. His strong com- mon sense prevented the errors into which his | vivid imagination and the facility with which he wrote might have betrayed him. Spondents whose style smacks of the guide book. Depend upon it they have not gone to nature and phonographed her accents, But since so much that mvites itseit to be said of Lake George exists already in the gazetteer and guide book, what re- mains 10 be said that is not found there’ Much, So let us come to the point at once. In the first place the, society at Lake George nas a character of its own, which may be hard to define | but is not diMcult to feel. It contrasts widely with Cape May, Long Branch, Saratoga, Newport, West Point, Mahopac, Water Gap and two or three others, It seems to unite some of the clements of more than two of these places, I suppose the scenery acts upon the visitors and the visitors re- fact upon the spirit in which the scenery is in- | terpreted, You will find shoddy here, but shoddy is not the prevailing characteristic. It exists faint as a secondary rainbow without any of its Deanty. You observe it in the over-dress and small assumpuon of certain young married ladies who jimagine themselves beautiful and elegant and make use of the spacious piazza of the prin- Cipal hotel in which to flaunt their self-opinion Again, you will find true elegance and good-breeding here, but this is as far from giving tone to the company of the place as the other ex- treme I have mentioned, The quiet family element prevails to avery large extent. There are numerous instalments of good solid people who have enough money to enjoy themselves very comfortably with without dazzling the eye with gorgeous equipage and dress, Then there are quantities of solitary tourists, gentlemen of education and good breed. ing, travelling alone and willing to make the Pleasantest use of such comgenial companions as fall mm their way. Physicians, lawyers, divines and merchants come in this category, and personal ex- Perience permits me to say that they offer agreeable Society. At intervals you meet with an escaped clerk who is spending aeaven knows how many ‘Weeks! salary for the prestige of ordering claret and champagne in the face of an admiring dinin, Bova sud of Cijticisima the cook "pith the NEW YORK HERALD, MONDAY, JULY 28, 1873—WITH SUPPLEMENT. wine is Cxecrable, he wh pagne e ou, and cham, 1e qinasse were Sov ieanee Tete tne champagne; the meats are intolerable and the pastries beneath contempt. The poer fellow 1s glad enough at home to drink lager or bad whiskey, and can swallow corned beef and and bacon with a genuine relish. But at a fashionable watering lace, per! it is natural he should avopt water- Ing place ideas—rise @t ten, take breakfast at eleven, bully the waiters, make game o/ the or- chestra attached to the hotel, sneer at the natural scenery and scandalize the unnatural humanity, As ior myself, 1 should like to be as arene eyed as @ fly whenever I am in the midst new scenes and new people. You cannot see and hear too much or say too little, always pro- vided you OL enough to be companionable. f sit attentive in the midat of everybody, like @ patient sponge waiting to be saturated with the influences oi the universe, or like a docile biubber tish, glad to be washed and gurgled over by the inveterate ocean, Poets talk of listening to the voice of Ne- ture, What do they mean by it? Does she speak in & langage that has tense, number and per- son? Has she regular or irregular verbs, conjuga- tions and deciensions? Or does she speak ipa nguage that 18 as good as dead, because no one living can understand it? Nature is a very interesting individual, I admit, but alto- ether, and eccentric—quite as orig- nal and eccentric in the woods and streams asin hearts and emotions. ‘The advantage ofa watering piace, if people did but know it, is that you RATES CRANES: of studying here bothin hu- man: y and landscape. You dissect men and mosses in the same breath, and pull to pieces wild flowers and women at discretion. Here at Lake George this dual opportunity is great indeed, with Jake and mountain and three finared and sixty- five separate and individual islands—somebody sat up sil night. once to. count them—stretcul all around you, and several hundred men au women and children, all parts of the world, sitting down at the same table with you three times a day, But I won’t continue this moral. izing longer, lest you should say of me what Lord Tynemouth said of Bishop Porteus’ favorite ser- mon—that like the ways of the Almighty it was pa finding out, and like His mercy he thought it would have endured forever. IN AND ABOUT LAKE GEORGE. One of the frst questions the tourist asks him: self when he gets to Lake George is, where he shall go to, and truth to tell there is an abundance of places to choose from. There is no excuse for one’s sitting on the veranda all day long, from the time break/ast is over in the morning until the Waiters, in squads, hand round ice cream and cakes at ten o’clock at night. You may go to Glen’ ils and inspect the village, the hotels, the little. cascades and tue caves there; or you exer- cise your imagination while travelling along the “plank,” feast your eyes on the pond lilies ‘that adorn “Bloody Pond,” try the mint juleps and milk punches at Brown's Lall-way house, and stand with reverent head before the Williams Monument. In the immediate Vicinity of Lake George there 1s not perhaps a great deal to see, if you except the view from Prospect Moun- tain, to which we shall presently refer. You might, indeed, visit the Indian encampment, just beyond the little churchyard, and purchase the bead and needie work which the Pocahontas of the period has tosell. But the Pocahontas of the period is not by any means so interesting a damsel as she 14 generally supposed to be, Her attire is anything but & cincture of ieathers, Her amalgamation with the white man has caused her to crop out into @ chiguon and a Dolly Varden, and instead of tue romantic ideal of our youth— rather bude, but extremely virtuous—we have an epicene creature, who seems to partake of the Worst qualities of both sexes and to revel in the Cast-of fashion of temale civilization. As for the forts—Fort William Henry and Fort George—visit them and try to manufacture interest out of them | ifyou can, I have a great admiration for ruins (as I think I intimated in a former letter), when the Tuins are respectable. But respectability is the sine qua non, and by the respectability of ruins I mean size large enough to be appreciabie. Nobody of sound mind can respect a ruin that he can pick | up and carry away with him, and I am certain that if 1 tried hard enough Fort George and Fort illiam Henry on an ordinary sized baggage-car aud take them to New York, As a historical discipline, perhaps, they have their advantages, School marms still like to repair to them tn order to find out whether the young ideas they have taught shoot. in the right direction, and to determine how much their pupils recollect of the French and Indian wars, Surronnded by a bevy of bored but respectable pupils, they review in fancy the battle of La George, relate the experiences of Vandreuil’s ex- Pedition and detail the massacre connected wi! the capture of Fort William Henry. From 8 particulars permit ine to reirain. We all learned them when we went to school, and we guide books (not particularly well written) renew them for us to tue fullest extent. Read them, chaste and beloved reader, taank the gooa Mr. Stoddard jor compiling them for you, and you can’t go tur wrong in your historical associations. But perhaps you wish to go down the lake, and I warn you tiat there are 306 islands, which 1s more than any well regulated lake ought to have. worst of it is, 100, that none of them are bar- ren or deserteu, none of them are inhabited by a hermit or an Alexander Selkirk, and none of them are renowned in tradition as containing @ lover's jeap or a suicide’s grave. No, | irankly own tiat these 305 islands are provokingly agreeable tor tie eye to rest upon and the quieter emotions to take | pleasure in. Lake Malopac only goes ahead. of them. Once upon a time somebody undertook to name them, but by the time he got throngh | | found that he had duplicated oue-haif and so never. gave his workmanship that publicity which was perhaps its due, Still, you will stop at Tea isiand, Which 18 one of the gems of the collection, or at Diamand, Isiaud which is another gem. Dome Island and Rectuse Island are also worth mention- ing, and at Fourteen Mile Isiand you will have room for astonisiment in Shelving Rock Falls. The Hen and Chickens, at the south end oi Fourteen Miles | as | Isiand 18 a pretty httle group of aits green as green can ‘be, looking like a cluster of emeralds, forming one green and glistering brooch, And if you are ous mood, and do not care for labor and perspira- it will not irk tain, ‘As You Were island” and Huleth’s Landing. It you extend your researches as iar as Sabbath Day Point you must be more energetic than one out of six Visitors are Who come to Lake George. Itis the scene of many a historical event; but, probably, you are too lazy or too cynical or too in- different tor historical events, and all you care for is to be able to Say that you have been everywhere apd seen everything. Very well; in that pi would advise you to take a look at the Indian ket - tles, which are good-sized depressions (about as deep and wide as an ordinary bucket), on the rocky shore in the vicinity of Sabbath Day Point. Hague a8 the broadest part of Lake George and is situated on a bay on the western side. It affords excellent bass fishing and has more than ove assable place to which trout-fishers repair. Did you ever here of a collec- jon Of mountains or hills that did not possess a i, Anthony's Nose’’ or something akin to one, Of urse we have one here, Tie guidebook, with pardonable imagination, cals the tace @ periect face, It 1s a periectly bad one, L adm@pbut is sum- ceintly near in resemblance to be worthy of remark, It looks toward the west, isthappy in a Koman and has @ chin which, by a happy Qgure of speech, may be called bearded. Since every face must have a forehead, there is a literal correctness, in this instance, in speaking of the “brow”? of the mountain, But it would be impossible to mention every point included in @ complete round of visit without making out @ dry mechanical category. Suffice it to say that Lak’e George presents plenty of opportunities to those who are tond of locomotion. But, meanwhile, as there are various things you may and may not do here, I will endeavor to en- lighten the reader as to what they are. You may hire a boat tor fifty cents an hour, or $1 | OF $2 per day, or for $6 or $10 per week, or aman | and a boat for about double these rices, You may have your choice between the Fort William | Henry Hotel, which is magnificently situated, Distrust corre. | Commanding a full view of the lake the whole | to the Sweet Springs after a ride of eight length ofthe front piazza; the Lake House and the Crosby House, and which one of these is the best I leave the discerning reader to find out, ery, saying that if] had my way—but no mat- ter! You may sail up to the Narrows on board the Minnehaha, tugging @ small boat be- hind for your accommodation should you wish to go on shore, an accommodation however, for which you are expected to pay extra. You may join the grand excursion, which is father a big affair, including a trip to Lake Champlain, “dinner” at Ticonderoga, @ stroll among tue runs there, an airing on a Caampiain steamer, & ride on the rail to Glenn's Falls, and 80 on by stage back to your hotel at Caidwell. You may ride to Halfway House, which is four miles trom Caldwell (Caldweil is the name of the village at the head of Lake George, where the principal hotels are situated), or along the Warrensbarg plank road, which is six miles, or to Lucerne, @ pretty little village, twelve miles, or to Daiton, lake shore road, nine miles, or to Healing Spring, three and @ half mifes, where “Uncle Joe,’ the proprietor, who has a streak of quaint humor in him, will ony Juony things if sufficiently encouraged. ‘ou may take brook trout, if you can get them, from the 16th of March to the 16th of September; you may ensnare salmon trout, if you can prevail upou them to be ensnared, from the Ist of March to the Ist of October; you may beguile black bass and muscailonge ali Summer jong; you may shoot duck, goose and brant on and after the ist of Sep- tember; woodcoek on and after the 15th of July; quail on and alter the 20th of October; ruife grouse ler g obey en and after the ist of Sep- tember, and deer on and alter August 1, You may shoot all the bears you can find and kill all the rat- tlesnakes; but woe to him, who, at the instigation of the devil, and with malice aiorethought, vio- lates any of the above condition, yoe to him whe shoots on Sunday or trespasses on lands without permission. Woe to him who takes the Muscailonge out of season or lays deforating hands on the moose or caribou. 1 don’t exactly know what the penaity is; but it is sup posed to be some- thing dreadful. To use the rhetorical language of the guide book (to which the gentie reader will excuse iny so often referring), the “game consta- bies are always on the warpath.” But, as these gentiemen do not wear biue coats and carry billies, as they de not swear st stage drivers their es in Broadway, or give their arms to pretty girls across muddy crossings, they are not #0 readily Fecognizable as are their brethren in New York. WHAT WE DO. If you ask me what we do at Lake George, 1 re- ply everything which the besetting indolence of watering-place existence will permit. T could pack boch | ‘the | in @ very industri- | to examine Black Moun- | Mrs. Van it nt family, J. Ww. J family, Jam Whi ir and family, Gen- Sew ‘cans apd ixiuily, Myron Perry and wily wel TOR ane Sraige, and, Yana Dr, Bamnuel Rk Perey, ali of New 30 Sarva and William A. Faver and . C. Ringsiey ‘and Hrookiyn® Geerge f: tayior asa" mte."of Philidel phias Krdermak ana family, W. eClure and oy |, R. McCartee-and wile, all of ar Cole one! Waliace aud Colonel Audenried, United States Army, and families; and. theatrical people the Vokes femily, recruit ives for their August en; ment in New York. ‘The een port of visitors the bey bet dave . Age ay og Emore prety of novelty and ‘all the modern im ments,” as a iakaiord ‘would say. The Lake House appeals toa large list of old customers, and does Not appeal \in, vi ‘The Crosby takes a similar coat ana we are all bent a | ong = the ar joyment. @ shor me. Ouro thive ie the inevitable bend of music, not remarkable for brilliancy of execution, but helping to begull time tly and profitably after dinner. It helps digestion, you know, and is in- fimitely better. pill. I can digest my dinner ‘all the more | saliva for bo favorite mor- sels from “Martha,” Wagner, wae ie to Bay, the band judiciously abjures. Wagner is a trille dyspeptic—is a sort of musical imist, and | am sure his efect- a the liver must be bad if taken immediately after a fall meal. You must not au; that we have any difficulty in getting throu ith the day. Some of us keep stilland let the day go through us as though we were petrifi with water percolating Shronsh our orifices, In natn cool of 1! ne erenine cosey. bunches scandalize the dinner ‘and the erent ag erg Do-notremind me that this ry isa sin ki meling.end goed manners, never indul, in by well- ople. I know it—I admit it, but the magnetism of the place is too payee. In vain. the more intellectual of us seek to introduce a higher strain of thought and feeling. The effort is successful only for a little, and then wretched human nature finds itself stealing back to the same old theme. As an offset I pro- pose to take you a up pect Mountain, which is one of the most Interesting excursions you can possibly make... PROSPECT MOUNTAIN. You pay $6)whetber you ga tn &@ lamp with other poorle. or whether you @ lump by yourself. ‘or that you are taken in’ an uncovered wagon & pi of about three hours, You go to the top of ‘ospect Mountain, pica be the by, does not any more deserve to be call Mountain than the eminences at the Water Gap do, It is a high hull, perhaps 1,600 feet above the level of Lake George, ough ths authorities claim’ for it 2,000, ‘The road that winds to within a few rods of the top is nar- Tow, admitting only of \one carriage at a time, ex- cepting af distant intervals. The fir, the balsam, the spruce, jthe hemlock, the birch, the scrub oak and the chestnut abound, and you perceive that gratefaland healthy odor which every visitor to the Adirondack region speaks of so apprecia- tively. Occasionally you come across a clearing, fille 4 lonely stumps, and still less occasion- ally across @ workman, engaged in laying down a corduroy road. As the forest thickens upon you you hear the dim whistie of the robin, and wonder why so few birds’ voices meet your ear, until you remember the rancorous red aquirrels of last Sea- son and the raid they made on all the feathered tribe, Alter an nour’s ride you reach the highest point to which the carriage ascends, and, getting out, prepare to foot it up the steep remainder. Very __ steep | itis and Very stony; but after eight or ten min- utes you find yourself on the little ledge ol rocks on which the Prospect Mountain Inn stands, Here the view suddenly bursts upon yon—a view too lovely to describe in a Hants th Joh yet appreci- ated by 80 few people that more than a paragraph ought to be given to it here, Either Lake George | visitors do bot know that sucha view exists or | else they are criminally indifferent to it. The spectacle is one which is not to be equalled in the | State. Itextends over a diameter oi 100 miles and inciudes all the exquisite varieties of many- breasted nature when with lavish hand she unbares | at one touch her ample hills and fertile valleys and includes them in one glowing panorama. To enjoy all the perfection of the view you must ascend to the summit of the inn, and drink the spectacle at every point, »But let me warn you not to use the dilapidated telescope you will find there. You might as well expect to see through a kaleido- scope. An ice cream pyramid would do you just a3 much service, ‘Trust to your unassisted eyesight, Naked nature ougnt to be contemplated with the naked eye. We shouldreturn the compliment which she pays us by her confidence. As you stund upon the summit of Prospect Mountain a thousand peaks salute you. There they rise out of each | other, as gently as thoughts from the abysin | of consciousness. There is cone-like Nippietop, |-Drilliant inthe far distance. There is Mount Marey, one of the ontposis of the Adirondacks. B)xek Mountain:rowns in (ull view, as much as the intense sunlight wilt permit her. Yonder the {Green Mountains veil their verdant peaks in shin- | Ing haze, At_our feet lies a hand‘ul of hamlets and | Villages, gracéfally quiet, as though im sleep. No sound is to be heard except the chirp of the robin and the whisper of the leat. ‘The language of the forest goes on, and perhaps bird and leat under- giand Oneanother. ‘The vast panorama trembles ina shower of smiles. You think of Bayard Tay- | lor’s similitude when he says of Nature, in refer- ence. to,,some such scene 4s thi ‘She {bares her ample breasts that’ we may suck the miik of power.’ You inhaie | here the power which comes with health and the inspiration given by beauty. Compuratively lew people come to' enjoy the scene, as the visitors’ ; Book in the reception room of the hotel will show. | Atew hundreds perhaps, in the course of the sea- | son, But the whoie region does not contain a spot | better worth a visit, be the day clear or cloudy. There is a sense, perhaps (despite what I scep- { tcally said about the voice of Nature a little | while ago), in which such a scene as this can be | Suid to speak tous. ‘Yoo many of us regard such Scenes as We Would regard a clock which keeps good time, but which unfortunately has no hands. | Shall not our own thoughts be the hands upon the | timepiece of nature, bringing us into moh ot | correspondence to her silent mechanism? Lake George 18 beautiful enough to suggest the thought, and the view trom Mount Prospect grand enough to lend it emphasis, OLD SWEET SPRINGS. ASummer Health Spot in West Virginia—Beau- ties of the Mountains and Exhilarating Effects of the Spring Bathing—Aw- fally Grand Effects of a Storm. | — | i "7 OLD SwRET freeneys } ONROK COUNTY, W. V., July 22, 1878. Coming west on the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- | Toad by the through express train (your destina- | tion being this point), at balf-past seven A. M., you are slowly and cautiously pulled through the Lewis tunnel, three-quarters of a mile in length; then you are tugged up to the summit of the road on the Alieghanies, and after reaching this point the train roils half a mile down the western declivity to the station, bearing the name of the great mountains, where, by the aid of air-brakes, it suddenly stops, | Here you take stages for a ten-mile ride, to the Springs, and you are gently ambied over a good road through one of the wildest and most pictur- esque valleys it has ever been the good fortune of the lover of nature to witness. But the culminating | point of the beautiful and the picturesque, which overpowers and intoxicates the senses with all its combined delights, is the approach miles. AS you follow tne graceful curves of the road by the side of the hill, with a meadow on the right fanked by dense wooded hills, the lit- tle valley continues to grow narrower, until look- ing ahead the road seems to terminate abruptly under the umbrageous limbs of THE NOBLEST WILLOW TRER to be found in the country, which stands like some grand old sentry at this natural gateway to the as yet hidden beauties of the mountains. When you are within six or eight yards of this lordly tree— indeed already under its shade—you perceive that, the road turns sharp round a corner of the over- hanging mountain to the left, at an angle of fully jorty-five degrees; and not until theytourist has reached this corner has he any conception of what | awaits him. But when whirled ronnd this corner and when abreast of the tree this incomparable panora- ma bursts upon the eye like the pure scene of en- chantment that itis, Tne beauti(ui emerald verdure of meadow and waving corn, intersected by a grace: fully meandering brook of limpid water, the banks of which seem lined with richest velvet, stretches for a mile or more before you. The road turning | along the hill-sides on the left in such charming and graceful curves, arched over with beautiful trees, the knobs and spurs green and yellow with their rich crops of clover and grain, studded with picturesque trees bere and there, while the lofty mountains in the distance seem to environ the whole place in closest resembiance to one’s idea of that valley of delight so beautifully described in Rasselais. One of the features of this landscape 18 & hill, im such exact and charming proportions, rising gradually from its base to its summit to an almost conical point, dotted over by trees 80 nearly equal im size, grandeur and Jaxuriance of foliage, that Nature seems to have specially moulded it and nurtured it as the most beautiful specimen o/ her handiwork in this section, Im this exquisite LAP OF BEAUTY nestles the “Old Sweet Spring,” with its multitadi- stalled in ite princely halls it requires more than an ordinary effort to tear one’s self away again. The term “old,” I find, indisputably belongs to these springs, for they are the most ancient in the United States; but “sweet’ I believe to be # misnomer, unless that word applies to the sweetness of this delightful spot and valley. The place was first owned by one of the noted Virginia Lewises, to whom 1t was granted by onc of the Georges prior to the Revolution. Even as early as that 1 F iit dontined. 1m tae ponsousfon of the Frost note. It continued in the mn of the rr family and te subsequently (about out the others and is est Virginia. "This gentleman, ‘be said to be one of the self-made men o! the millionnaire of the tains, bs tote f the country these are now known as the chief and most dis- inguished of the et cluster within @ radius of forty miles of the Virginia spas. Chief, because it is the most charming gnd attractive of them all in point of its buildings, ie appointments, its excel- Jent attendance and its still more excellent man- agement; distingu! vated class of both Northerners and Southerners who give éclat to its ballrooms, its dining rooms and its spacious and luxurious parlors going ing season. roe 1D & semi-circular direction the main hotel, at which you alight from the stage, is a handsome row of three story brick cottages, built somewhat in the Doric style of architecture, the equipments of which are tasteful, el it ane scrupulously neatand eee Then comes the centre ba oe a ae and stylish pile of = same order, traversed by specious halls and well lighted corridors; nd. these, the main edif are flanked by handsome rows of wooden cottages, be pega bart the 0 a, el ot former, with, perhaps, if pusstble, addi fort. Confront Ino all is the spring one story eset erected from a design by the proprieto! orinthian in appearance, its front fan! rs rather ed by two square towers and extending back a dis- tance sufficient to embrace two large plunge bath- ing apartments, about thirty by forty feet in size, on the one side, and barber shop, sitting rooms and water closets onthe other side. The spring itself, in front of the house, under cover of the rool ipplies the baths, through which there isa continual stream, emptying nto @ large sewer, which rane at the'rate of thirty miles an hour, and with a volume of 800 gallons to the minute, VISITORS TO THE WHITE SULPHUR usually supplement a short stay there by the greater and of the latter por- tion of the season here. company is of an aristocratic order, numbering at the present'time about two hundred and filty persons, a large majority of whom are ladies, the young gentiemen or the “bloods” not having com- menced to come yet in force. The capacity of the Old Sweet is about eight hundred. THE WATERS are chemically known as aciduous, @ marked char- acteristic being the predominance Oi carbonic acid, which gives them @ vivacity and eas hae that are peculiar, Asa tonic it ig successfully used in all chronic diseases emanating trom debility, and in the treatment of ladies its cures have been won- derful. THE BATH is, however, more astonishing in its exhilarating and beneficial effects, not to invalids alone, but to every species of wearied and tired humanity. A plunge and immersion of three minutes, or six at the most, followed by rubbing with coarse towels, Jeaves the most delightiul sensation ever experi- enced, and 80 invigorates the system that one feels like running @ foot race or jumpin, a six-foot fence. Professor Leopold V, Wheat, 0! Richmond, remarked to me to-day that if he ‘had that bath at his house a half million dollars could not buy it. As I said beiore, society here is of the best, and the season 18 not marred by the excite- ments, dissipation and fashionable iollies of the neighboring white sulphur, Amusements and re- creation are ample, the drives unexcelled and the sights to be seen are as varied and curious as they are picturesque, grand and beautiful. Two miles from here is a most delightful cascade, having a fallof sixty feet, the waters tumbling from crag to precipice, raising a spray felt some aistance as you approach it. Seramble down the rock, and, penetrating beneath the falling water, you come to the mouth of a beautiful cave, where the adven- turous and lovers of the beautiful eat their sand- wiches, drink their light wines and indulge in a ee of cards, the atmosphere at all times being eliciously cool, A STORM IN THE MOUNTAINS is @ scene of the most terrific grandeur and sub- \mity, of which to-day the visitors here had a vivid aud striking illustration. At eleven o’clock a bank of inky clouds were massed beyond the towering Alleghanies, in the west, feariully portentious in their looks, but giving out nothing of the terrible elements within them, Slowly they rolied across the heavens, Fe the sun, mingling with the mountain tops and darkening the whole face of our limited world. With accustomed regularity engen- dered by long experience, the servants at once set about closing doors and windows, and this had scarcely been done when the storm burst forth in allits terrible fury, First came heavy black drops of rain, followed in @ moment afterwards by a deluge of water, accompanied by a wind tat beat and whirled the jweous element in every = direction. hen came three or four right and blinding flashes of lightning, illuminat- ing the darkened scene, and after that a roll of thunder that seemed to shake these eternal hills and the cottages. Flash succeeded flash with scarcely an instant’s intermission, a continuous roar ot thunder being’ kept up ali the while, the rain descending in terrents and the wind beating with such wild and awtul force as to threaten the destruction of the nobie old oaks and trees with which the lawns are dotted, The wind was the first of the fierce elements to subside; its fury was Spent in a short time; but the rain, the lightning, aud the thunder still seemed to struggle ior the mastery. For a while the latter gained supremacy by the terrible suddenness, the awful volume, and the sharp, ang, then, lengthened deep roar with which each 1d8h of lightning was succeeded, AT FIRST IT CAME ON THE CAR like the distant rattle of a powertul volley of mus- ketry, lasting an instant only, and then exploding in grand fearful crash, to which the combined dis- charge of a thousand parks of artillery would be as a mere nothing compared. The lightning too is —, at this altitude, where the mountains “kiss clouds.” It does not fash regularly at intervals, as I have noticed in low countries, but it is a con- tinved pode blaze of the electric fluid, lighting up the earth, In twenty minutes the wind, the thunder, and the mates had ceased, the rain only continuing to fall through an atmosphere so calm and peaceful that the very leaves on the trees looked as if they had been cast in an iron mouid. Halfan hour later and the sun was shining as brightly and as cheerfully as if there never had been a storm. WATERING PLACE NOTES, Surveyor Sharpe delights to troll for the “rep- iles” as he styles the blue fish at Fire Island. Fire Island ts being connected with the outside world by @ Western Union wire from Smitn’s Point. At Bonapart Lake, St. Lawrence county, sports- men chase the wild deer. At other resorts they go for another variety. Crater Lake, Oregon, is attracting the attention of tourists, The scenery is superb and hunting and fishing exciting. ‘Twenty-five thousand Bostonians are Summeriz- Ngelsewhere, and the Journal wants to know where they are, The Canadians, of St. John, N, B., are in ecstacles over the influx of American visitors, who crowd thelr hotels from cellar to roof, The guests at Berkley Springs, West Virginia, on the 23d, “tilted,” in knightly fashion, and the knight of “Old Dominion” coming, crowned Miss Laura Mite, of Baltimore, “Queen of Love and Beauty.” A guest at Atlantic City, it is said, has a diamond as large as @hen’segg, Probably a black diamond is this seaside monster or a canary hen is meant. LITeRary GENT (at Saratoga, to Shoddy Miss)— Have you read Shakspeare? @Sioppy Miss—Of course I have. when they fust came out, Fechter, the tragedian, is ruralizing near Rich- landtown, Bucks county, Pa. George Francis Train eats Hamburger cheese. Leonard Jerome is at the Grand Union, Saratoga, vis-a-vis to Governor J. G, Smith, of Vermont, William A. Dart, United States Consul General at Montreal, and daughter are at Congress Hall, Sara- Tread them toga. Five hundred ana ten arrivals at Saratoga hotels Friday. The Indianapolis peopte send John C. New and R. J. Bright to Europe for the Summer. Ohio takes “new departares,” but Indiana takes a bright and new departure, J. ©. Cheap, of Boston, is announced as a tourist in Colorado in company witha atvine called Hay, A BROOKLYN AMAZON, Thoms Collins and his wife Bridget quarrelled yesterday at 10 Furman street. Bridget is large and muscular, and inclined to check any attempt which her husband may make to rule the house- hold. The resuit was that yesterday Thomas, venturing to intimidate her with talk, she seized a flat iron and beat him unmercifully about the head with it. He managed to. ¢8.a from the house and ee to the corner of Atlantic and streets, when he sank to the ponent exhausted by the loss of blood, which flowed Pog from_ his wounds. He was removed to the h . al, Mrs, Cothns was arrested and locked up ia the Wash- Amopg tue principal guesin here at wreseut | nous charms and whey the travellgr ig pately in ipgtvn street police stawons “BRERZES FROM THE SEA, Dancing and Devotion at Long Branch. The Dresses and the Dancers at the Saturday Hops. Fashion and Frivolity at Their Frolics. The President’s Little Church in the Village. The Services and the Sermon—General Grant Absent. Lone Branoz, July 21, 1878, From dancing to devotion, from tne ballroom to the Bible, has been the programme at Long Branch between last night and thie morning, Tbe English visitor who yesterday afternoon inquired of his friend whether he was going to sttend “tne ful Gress ’op at Hocean” might make out of it a pun with “an ancient and a fish-like smell’ and call. it & transition from ‘eels to souls, Last night all the principal hotels were crowded with gaily dressed dancers, and quadrilles, waltzes and polkas were the order of the night all along the shore from the East End tothe West End. The warm day helped to empty the city, no doubt, and the trains were bet. ter filled than they have been on any former Sat- urday of the present season, The platforms of the hotels were occasionally made almost impassable by the heaps of Saratoga trunks, valises, band- boxes and bundles piled up in admirable con- fasion, apd by the burly fourteenth amendmenters who shouldered them off to their temporary resting places. The most fashionable of the hops—es fashion goes at Long Branch—were those at the Ocean House and the West End, both of which were attended almost too well for com- fort. As usual, the West End was distinguished by the number of visitors from the cottages, includ- ing members of the Presidential household and staff. At the Ocean there was a@ fair attendance of invited guests, but the company was mainly composed of boarders at the hotel, always exciud- ing those sensible people who enjoy themselves in their own quiet way without taking part in these high mixed parlor assemblages. THE DANCERS AND THE DRESSES AT THE HOPS, I suppose I might gratify a few readers and some fortunate individuals by furnishing the names of the ladies and gentlemen who figured most prom- inently on the floor at these hotels. Indeed, I am confident that quite a number of the ambitious of both sexes were looking anxiously around the rooms during the entire evening in search of the well-known Mr. Jenkins, and praying inwardly thathe might make a “mem.” of their dresses and personal appearance and obtain room in the HgRaLp for his glowing descrip. tion of Miss A’s elegant toilette and of Mr, B’s gallantry and efficiency on the floor. But as ido not think that the cause of Omsarism, tae settlement of the Alabama award, our Cuban policy or the relations between tle venerable Mr. Havemeyer and the New York Board of Aldermen will be affected by the publication of the names of the individuals who polkaed and waltzed at the Long Branch hotels last evening I refrain from in- dulging in a review of the lists which have been Kindly supplied me. At the same time, as a compromise with the ladies, I will mention one one or two costumes which made a handsome, showy appearance, and which may afford a useful hint for those who will attend other hops during the season. At the West End a lady, perhaps a little passed the full noon of life, wore a rich, heavy gray silk, with bandsome black lace flounces and overskirt and trimming of a very delicate shade of blue. Her headdress was of bine ostrich tips, fastened with a diamond pin, and her ornaments of diamonds, A younger married lady wore a mauve train, trimmed with purple, and purple vest, a deep white lace flounce, together with any amount of lace frills and far- belows, which would puzzle any person but a mo- diste to accurately describe. Diamond ornaments and @ headdress of mauve feathers compicted the costume. A very elegant dress, universally ad- mired, was a white heavily corded petticoat, with two large box-plaited flounces and white Brusselg point lace falling over them. The train was of rich puce-coiored moire, with point lace overskirt tailing irom a box plait irom the shoulder, A white vest and sleeves, with handsome coral and diamond ornaments, added to the striking charac- ter of the costume. At the Ocean House a pretty dress was one of blue, with train, the flounces of white Brussels point, finished with bands of the same color as the dress, corded with white, and white silk vest. A lady in a rich black satin dress and white point lace over- dress, very short sieeves and peari ornaments, made a good appearance. Heavy silks, of shades darker than ordimary, appear to have supplanted mere flimsy attires, and the new shades of blue, ES and green seem to find great 1avor with the jadies. THE SHODDY GUARD OF FASHION. I have named only a few dresses that ap- peared to be worn by ladies of taste. The shoddy guard of fashion of course, largel: represented, and made gorgeously magnificent an appearance s ever in very brilliant colors, trimmed with more profusion than judgment, like a round of beef garuished with lobsters, oysters, mushrooms and olives, There were many costumes, costly and of handsome material, but sacrificed to the hateful demon of vulgarity—ruined as hopelessiy as an overdone porter-house steak, and worn about as graceiully as a monkey would wear @ mantilia. Silks, satins, Moires, laces, ribbons, flounces, jewels, feathers and frillings Were all huddled and jumbled together lige the trumpery ina Cheap Jobn shop, “any of these articles jor one doliar.”’ A description of such dresses would not be of any more interest or ser- vice than would a description of the toggery of a circus queen. Imay say, in general terms, while on the subject of dresses, that there is is a revival in moires, both in robes and ribbons, and that in all costumes—morninj alking, diving and even- ing—the adoption ef rich, dark, servic ie mate- rials and the discarding of flimsy musiing show an improvement in the taste and judgment of our Indies. Black grenadine is about the only light material that appears to hold its own. THE PEOPLE AT THE HOPS. Thave already said that I shall retrain from giv- ing the names of those who graced the hotel par- Jors last night. I may, however, state that several of our old acquaintances were there. The young lady who dances with a short, hoppy: jerky step, always advancing sideways, and bending over in an arc of seventy-five degrees when she allows her partner to swing her, was im the same set with the facetious young man who slaps the opposite gentie- man, his friend, on the top of the head when the two advance and bow to each other, and who ims, “Ah, come, now; this isn’t fair to leave me all alone!” and “Ah, now it’s my turn, you know!” ‘The two ladies are left frst with one gen- tleman and then with the other. Our experienced lady friend, whose dress is always the most ju- venile thing about her, was there. We all of us have the honor of her acquaintance. As usual she danced every quadrille, including the Lancers; waitzed every waltz, polkaed every polka and promenaded in the mtervals with a persistency calculated to test the endurance of her partners, dragging affectionately on the arm of each favored individaal in his turn, and glancing up as archly and as coquettishly into each succeeding face, The seriously dancing couple were present, making @ business of the ex- ercise and going through every motion and every step with @ fidelity that scoffed at heat and per- spiration, The regular hotel dancer, who puts on @ white necktie und a swallow-tail coat every evening and monopolizes the head of the set at the top of the room, was in his customary place. The young lady who talks her partner to death apd taps him constantly with her fan, only waking up with @ start to the situation when reminded that the figure has commenced, was in her element. So was the fat man, who is always the lightest dancer in the room—who is alw: ready to prompt those timid persons in his set who persist in losing them- selves ina maze of confused turns and snufies, and whe always finishes up with the regular danc- ing Master's “‘one, two, three !”” FROM DANCING TO DEVOTION, J could describe others of our acquaintance who were present at last night’s hops, but these spect- mens Will suffice to show that the rooms were not filled with entirely unknown people. Like all other good things, dancing must have an end, and 80, about miduignt, the strains of music ceased along the shore, ie dancers and others took a stroll along the ptazzas or on the cliff road jl themselves in the pure and refres! air from the ocean. To-day there was a ver, attendance at ail the churches, although the morning was clouded and the rain, which did not begin to fall until es 1 couse, was ae ppoe tens nan iy our, was gener: pose eral Grant would eoupy Bis seat in the Methodist churen in the vill where he generally attends worship; but he is not in very good health just at tha nrescat moment, aad, to the disappoumtwent oF Catholic Church. correct themsel' God Him, by sincerity of coniession and re the promised pardon and sanctification, ere ROCKAWAY IN THE RAIN. A Sunday Excursion to the Kingdom of Sand ang Clams—Sport at a Celtic Watering Place— The Lovers’ Walk on the Beach— Hotel Life and How to Wait for a Dinner at Rockaway. Far Rockaway is one of the places to which exe cursionists from New York in great numbets pay their respects on every succeeding Sunday. Rockaway has many natural advantages, an& among them area magnificent beach anda splendid surf, in which thousands are to be seen plunging’ and splashing like water dogsevery day of the week, There are two ways of reaching Rockaway Beach—namely, by the Lon Island Railroad from Hunter’s Point, and by the South Side Railroad. The fare is fifty cents, each way, and the time in going is about an hour and a quarter—a distance of twenty miles, Reck- away is the Irish Newport par excellence, and is frequented nearly altogether by our citizens of Irish birth or deseent, ‘The Germans who visit! Rockaway generaily travel by the Southside Rail- road, while the Long Island road is patronized by the Hibernian people. They allhave a STURDY, SOLID AND SUBSTANTIAL BOURGEOISIE LOOK. ‘The Irish citizen takes nis wife and children with him, and it is a noticeable fact that Rockaway, of all the suburban watering places contiguous to New York city, is not frequented by the ‘soiled doves,” who frequent to a greater or lesser ex-- tent the watering places of more pretentious: fame or notoriety. Neither is the three-card monte man or the plausible thimble rigger to be found welcome at Rockaway. These latter individuals, when they have attempted a visit to hilarious but riotous Rockaway, have met with’ such rough treatment that they found it necessary to bid the Milesian seaside resort an eternal adieus But for wila, uproarious fun Rockaway has not ita equal this side of the county Cork. HOSTS OF PRETTY GIRLS may be found at Rockaway, and the dancing seem) here is of an unusually athletic description, There are hops every Saturday night at the Coleman House, and the band always earns its money ia furnishing Ceitic music to the dancers, Then the accommodations are reasonable, $15 a week being the maximum rate for board, with @ good clean room and pure saline air. ‘the thirty-two counties of Ireland are alk represented at Rockaway; yet the Twelftm of July never enters into the calculations of a Rockaway habitué to interfere with his meat or drink. But it must be said that patience is neces- sary to the procuring of a dinner at a Rockawi hotel. Your waiter is of the free and easy kind a Rockaway, and it is at least fitteen minutes before he deigns to notice the guest at table. It is very hard to find that after you have given bim an order for ROAST BREF AND POTATOES the waiter, in a sociable manner, will be dis» cussing with Mrs. Murphy at the next table the possibility of the young Murphies escap.ng the measles during the coming Fall, or whether the pofito crop wili be successful in the county Kerry thi? season. In the meantime you wait for the Toast beef, and when it comes it is cold and the gravy has become a mass of dry grease. With. all these drawbacks, however, Rockaway has its charms, for here you will find Irish hospitality im its best form, and ho one has ever had to complain that he walked. 100 feet at Rockaway without being asked if he had a mouth on him. But then the horrors of @ rain; Sunday at Rockaway, such as yesterday prove are something that might paralyze the brain of the most matter-of-fact person. The streets are full of ponds of water, and swimming is preferable in its byways to pedestrian effort. To sit ona hotel balcony and contemphate the contour of a bad. cigar is ONE OF THE CHIEF ENJOYMENTS at Rockaway on a rainy Sunday; or you may go down to the beach, with the certainty of coming back in the fashion of a drowned rat and a tempest: of hatred in your heart for ali seaside localities. after halt an hour's tramp on the sand, in which you sink at every step to the ankies. Then you can get clams many shape, or you may partake of the blushing but indeed indigestible lobster, washed down by the fiery and frolicsome Bourbon whiskey for at Rockaway Lourbon is a staple and has its admirers among the young men, There are two. parties at Rockaway—those who believe applejack to be conducive to morality, and the oppositio! who think that Bourbon is the panacea for al human ills, There is, aside from all these hard, practical at- tributes of Rockaway life, a poetical, sentimental. and roseate view of nature on the beash on & Sum- mer’s night, THE LARGE HEARTED YOUNG MAN, fresh from the cooped-up brick and mortar of New York, who believes that a dish of corned beef and cabbage is at once antique, unique and sublime in bre effects, will be seen strolling on the Delpt pb ly beach at nightiall, with a pretty girl, lookin, out to sea and its stately ships, and wishing that such an Eden might last forever, with the dear one by his side. Ah! those hours spent in love’s young dream are never to be forgotten and not even the shriek of the far-of locomotive can dispel the glamour of that picture which is rising from the moonlight and lies spread. out before their eyes. FAIR AND BEAUTIFUL as that which the soul of the poet saw and of which his muse sang:— ah hem is it in the Summer night, and calm along the: ne, And liké molten silver shines the hight that sleeps on wave and vine; But a stately figure standeth on the silent hill alone, Like the phantom of @ monarch looking vainly for his rone | Excursionists like these, and there are many such to Rockaway Beach, may be said to thor- oughly enjoy themselves, and none who have ever strolled on the glorious beach under such circum- stances can ever Feares @ visit to the seagirt shore, for love is most delicious when “listening to the breakers’ roar.”’ NEW YORK BURGLARS ON STATEN ISLAND, Charles Kroger, aged seventeen; Louis Zeller, aged twenty-four; Cassler Manvie, aged twenty- nine; Julius Kassner, aged eighteen, New York. thieves, were arrested yesterday in Edgewater, on Staten Island, charged with committing a bu lary on the premises of the Richmond County Gag Light Comp: A quantity of valuable property ‘was found in their possession, which was recog- nized as having been stolen from Joseph Loy a butcher, who had a store in the building of the Gas. Company, HOW CHEDISTER WAS OHEATED IN NEW. James R, Smith, a horse doctor, doing busines@ in New York, but residing in Campfield court, New- ark, Was taken into custody in the latter city last night and is held for examination ona charge of having cheated Robert 8. Chedister out of a valua- ble house and lot in Newark. Itis alleged that a deed jor 640 acres Of land in Missouri, which Smith gave Chedister in exchange for the Newark prop- erty, turns out to be fraudulent, there being n@ such land as that described in the document, KILLED BY A PALL Thomas Leddy, & man forty-five years of age and born in Ireland, was almost instantly killed, on Saturday night, by falling from a fifth story wine. dow of premises 73 Montgomery street to the side~ walk. Deceased was asleep at the time of the oe Coroner Kessler was notified in the case, A STRANGELY PATAL ACCIDENT, PHILADELPHIA, Pa., Jaly 27, 1873, A curious accident occurred here to-day. Mary Smith, aged five years, was sitting on the front step of her residence, in the southern part of the city. Mrs, Cooper, an occupant of the house, wen§, to the attic window and, with a child’s fagstai some three feet long, with a spear head, wee ene gaged in cleaning out the waterspont, when t Blick slipped from her hand, and, falling perpen goers entered the child’s skull, causing instang oat e ‘ ' »)