CHAPTER XIX. 



SCENERY OF COOS COUNTY. 



BY J. H. HUKTINGTON. 



HETHER we stand upon the summit of one of our highest moun- 

 tains in winter, when there is embraced in the view the whole 

 country from the ocean to the Adirondacks, or, in summer, we stand by 

 the side of one of our quiet lakes, which is entirely encircled by lofty 

 hills, while the blue dome of the sky seems to rest just on the hill-tops, 

 there is a charm and enchantment in the scene that draws the mind 

 away from things terrestrial, and bears it away into the realm of thought 

 and fancy. From the mountain summits, the clouds that lie along the 

 western horizon in such brilliant relief against a darker background 

 become a celestial city, with towers and spandrels of gold ; the lake and 

 its immediate surroundings, shut out from all the world, become a par- 

 adise. The mountain summit in mid-winter, and the placid lake in 

 summer, nestling among the hills, are the extremes. The first embraces 

 all that is grand and sublime. The view is circumscribed only by the 

 distant horizon; and the storms of mid-ocean pale before the blasts of 

 the upper currents of the air. The outlook, with its ever-varying scene 

 of clouds, and the storms sweeping along with such terrific grandeur, 

 arouse the whole being. Instead of fear and terror, the mind grasps 

 the whole as a grand and terrific display of the power that has fixed a 

 limit even to these manifestations. 



