xii A WORD TO THE SUBSCRIBERS. 



ary duenna, would read aloud to a bevy of youthful city 

 blues, lounging on sofas in the regal city parlor ; but a 

 story that a rugged man or sensible woman (mother of 

 the Gracchi) might possibly find useful as a cicerone 

 on the Alleghany Mountain, and "worry down" a page 

 or two in the morning twilight, in some grove of God 

 Almighty. 



It seems the fate of laboring men to be rough, and work 

 makes not only the hands but the brain hard. It has 

 also always been remarked that men who fight the ele- 

 ments, and come in contact with naked realities, as mule 

 and ox drivers, soldiers, sailors, blacksmiths, and coun- 

 try doctors, are always uncouth, and have a disposition 

 to swear a little. This being a part of the nature of 

 things, nothing can be said on the question of refine- 

 ment of language, and the general roughness of such 

 men, or their productions. Their hearts are sometimes 

 right, if their heads do occasionally require combing. 



Need an apology be offered for the rattle of the pill- 

 box in the "Mountain," any more than for the repulsive 

 presence of the quills of the porcupine ? 



A scraggy bramble-patch at best is this mountain 

 book, troublesome and disagreeable to travel through; 

 the benevolent hope is, however, that nobody's private 

 views will be offended no petted crotchets scratched 

 no pap-nursed opinions lacerated no spiritual skirts, 

 with whatever elements dilated, shall be torn no cher- 

 ished formulae, punctured and collapsed, or horn-lanterns 

 fractured, for "No proposition should astonish, no belief 

 should offend, however contrary it may be to any man's 

 own, as there is no fancy so frivolous and extravagant 

 that it does not seem to be a very suitable product of 

 the human understanding." 



With grateful acknowledgments for patience and sym- 

 pathy, kindly forbearance and friendly solicitude, will 

 you, my dear subscriber, allow me, after offering greet- 

 ings of affection, with a benediction, to make my best 

 bow, and say farewell ! 



R. M. S. JACKSON. 



ALLEGHANY MOUNTAIN SPRINGS, ") 



Cresson, Cambria Co., Pa., v 



July, 18GO. J 



