Editorial Miscellany. 305 



peaks, yclept Mount Washington. Sated with the beauties of lower 

 earth, and almost prostrated by the fervency and persistence with 

 which Sol dispensed his calorific comforts, during the months of 

 July and August, I was induced to ramble through New Hamp- 

 shire's rugged granite, verily ! it is a rich State, there are no broad 

 rolling prairies to be sure, but there are quarries of granite and 

 marble enough to contribute palaces to every town in the Union. 



During a large portion of the year, the White Mountains pre- 

 sent to the spectator a silvery white appearance, given by the 

 snow, which in some places is perpetual ; the warm weather, 

 however, dissolves the icy beds, and at this period the moun- 

 tains are involved in a blue hazy mist produced by the condensing 

 vapors. 



Mount Washington forms the climax of a group, comprising 

 Mount Webster, Pleasant, Jackson, Monroe, Franklin, Clay 

 Adams, Jefferson and Madison. They are approached through a 

 narrow defile three miles in length, familiarly known as the 

 " notch." A large gap, a monster pathway, protected on either 

 side by perpendicular walls of solid rock, so very high that one's 

 vision scarce reaches the open space above that lets in a gleam- 

 ing of the exterior world. Cast your eyes which way you will 

 nought meets the gaze save adamant and a very limited quantity 

 of daylight. I must confess, while passing through this prodi- 

 gious gateway, to a vague incomprehensible feeling of terror, mixed 

 with sublimer thoughts of the great Architect, who fashioned these 

 " rocks of ages." I could with diflficulty subdue the impression 

 that these mighty walls were about closing up, and that I should 

 meet the fate of Pharaoh, in his transit through the Red Sea. 

 Emerging from the notch, the beautiful and fertile valley of the 

 Ammonoosuc bursts upon the view. This valley is for most part 

 thickly wooded ; from it the whole range of Mountains is in sight 

 — at the base of which our noblest forest trees flourish, undisturbed 

 by the desecrating inroads of railroad companies and similar pro- 

 gressive influences of this age of go-aheaditiveness. Higher up 

 spruce and pines add their stiff forms to the wild scenery. As. 

 cending still higher, vegetation with every step perceptibly 

 diminishes in luxuriance, and becomes dwarfed until trees are 

 represented by shrubs, which in turn dwindle in size, and their 

 places is usurped by moss, presenting a remarkably fine study for 



