ON BALD MOUNTAIN. — WHAT WE SAW 175 



and spent [il)oiit two liours on the heights. We gathered 

 wild strawberries out of the crevices of the rocks ; looked 

 upon lakes and less loftj^ mountains as though they were 

 spread out upon a map ; looked down into an ancient bea- 

 ver-meadow in a valley on the north side of the mountain, 

 through which a little stream was quietly wandering ; and 

 inscril)ed our names on the timbers of Colvin's Signal Sta- 

 tion. The southern face of the mountain is almost perpen- 

 dicular rock, and its summit is nearly bald, whence its 

 name. We gazed far to the westward, toward the region 

 of church-spires and happy homes ; but, as far as the eye 

 could reach and distinguish, the forest exten<led in hilly 

 waves and billows. On the east, afar olf, was Blue Moun- 

 tain. Northward we dimly saw mountains which we could 

 not distinguish ; and on every side, forest and hike and 

 hill and mountain stretched awa}^ into the distance. But 

 the most beautiful sight vras below us — First, Second, 

 Third and Fourth Lakes in the Fulton Chain— glittering 

 links, indeed, as we saw them shining in the clear sun- 

 light. 



Nothing rei)ays better in the woods than climbing moun- 

 tains. The views from their sununits are not only exceed- 

 ingly grand and beautiful, but one also gains a comprehen- 

 sion of the vastness and the general features of the wilder- 

 ness that nothing else can give. 



If we had any doubts about the pi-oprlety of taking our 

 breakfast out of the water in the soberest and least' sports- 

 man-like way, that Sunday morning, we had no misgivings 

 whatever about our mountain church-going, when we re- 



