UNCLE SAM'S FARM. 167 



" This county, until recently, has, from its seques- 

 tered position, remained in obscurity. Its communica- 

 tion with its own capital, even, has been impeded by 

 the high and rugged hills that enclose it. But now 

 the hills are brought low, and the rough places are 

 made smooth. Man has chained to his car a steed 

 fleeter than the reindeer, and stronger than the 

 elephant, and we glide through our mountain-passes 

 with a velocity more like the swiftness of lovers' 

 thoughts than any material thing to which we can 

 liken it. 



" That section of the western railroad which tra- 

 verses the wild hills of Berkshire is a work of 

 immense labor, and a wonderful achievement of art. 

 The pleasure of our citizens in surveying it is not 

 impaired by the galling consciousness that there is 

 yet a foreign debt to pay for it, or doubtful credit 

 involved in it. 



" Berkshire lies midway between the Connecticut 

 and the Hudson. After leaving the wide meadows of 

 the Connecticut, basking in their rich inheritance of 

 alluvial soil and unimpeded sunshine, you wind 

 through the narrow valleys of the Westfield river, 

 with masses of mountains before you, and woodland 

 heights crowding in upon you, so that at every puff of 



