36 IRature StuMes in Berfcsbire. 



crowd close to the path, slender shafts of " splintered 

 sunlight" which fall most temperately into these 

 cool shades, through which we clambered at a round 

 pace, which soon brought us to the pole that marks 

 the highest point upon the Dome. 



It was a noble prospect which opened all around 

 us. From this extreme south-western corner of 

 Massachusetts the hills and vales of four States 

 stretch away to distant horizons. Northward, be- 

 yond the saddle-back of Greylock, lay the lower hills 

 of Vermont. Eastward were the hill-towns of Massa- 

 chusetts, Berkshire and Hampden farms and villages. 

 To the south the Taconic range strayed off into Con- 

 necticut and lost itself, and westward the valley of 

 the Hudson swept broad and green up to the base 

 of the Catskills. It was a scene to charm and rest 

 the eye and mind. It was an outlook upon nature 

 not in her moods of wildness or of solitude, but as 

 she comes from the hand of man, trimmed of her 

 asperities, combed and brushed with axe and plough, 

 with a gracious air of cultivation and of refinement. 



Everywhere about the mountain's base, far as 

 the eye could reach, were the splendid farms of Berk- 

 shire and of Columbia. On the east the valley of 

 the Housatonic ; westward Green River and its 

 smooth meadows and low hills. It was a surprise 

 and a pleasure to note how much forest is still left 

 on these mountains and hills, nor can one fail to con- 

 nect the verdure of these countless acres of farming 

 land with the other acres of wooded heights. The 



