"Yes, I 'saw that sight and lived,' " 

 and the gentleman smiled and added, 

 "We Washingtonians often visit Luray. 

 According to the verdict of the Smith- 

 sonian Institute, the caverns of Luray 

 are more completely decorated with 

 stalactite and stalagmite than any other 

 known cave in the world. There is also 

 a formation called helactite, which is 

 peculiar to Luray. It is a growth which 

 abandons the vertical line, 'gets the better 

 of gravitation,' is free to move in any 

 direction, but prefers to grow up instead 

 of down. 



"Luray is also the only cave in the 

 world which is lighted by electric lights. 

 It would consume the entire evening if I 

 should attempt to give a good description 

 of the marvels of Luray. Children who 

 visit the cave are especially delighted 

 with the 'Fish Market.' There, hanging 

 in a row, are black bass, silver perch, 

 shad and mackerel, the bluish backs, 

 white bellies and forked tails as perfect 

 as if made of flesh instead of stone; and 

 to add still more to their life like appear- 

 ance, the water trickling over them gives 

 them .the moist look of fish, which have 

 just been caught. 



"Children are also charmed with the 

 realism of the 'Wet Blanket/ a curious 

 stalactite exactly resembling a wet, wrin- 

 kled blanket, hung up to dry, with drops 

 of water still dropping from it. They 

 also delight in exploring 'Saracen Tent,' 

 which is made of rich brown stone, with 

 the drapery lifted on one side, just 

 enough to form an entrance. 



"Quite as wonderful to them is the 

 snow white 'Angel's Wing,' which is not 

 far from a remarkable drip stone 'organ,' 

 whose pipes give out when rapped, a 

 number of musical tones. There are 

 also 'chimes' forty feet long, composed 

 of stone drapery, which vibrates to every 

 touch. 



"But I will not describe the 'Lion' and 

 the 'Dragon' of Luray, or the other re- 

 markable pieces of Nature's statuary, for 

 I know you are now sufficiently interested 

 to look up the subject for yourselves. 

 Who knows? — Virginia is not far off — 

 perhaps Aunt Jane may, one of these 

 days, take you all to see the wonders of 

 this cave." 



"I'm sorry sir," said Howard, "that 

 you supposed we knew all about 'Mam- 



moth Cave,' as we really know very little, 

 and would like to hear you talk about it." 



"But you see, my dear boy," he re- 

 sponded, "that would be a 'mammoth' 

 undertaking for one evening, and would 

 give me the lion's share of the conversa- 

 tion. But, in order to stimulate still fur- 

 ther your interest in this subject, I will 

 tell you that the Mammoth Cave is prop- 

 erly named, for its two hundred and 

 twenty-three labyrinthine avenues have a 

 united length of nearly two hundred 

 miles ! There is amidst its countless won- 

 der:; a 'conservatory,' which I would 

 especially like to have you see. Think of 

 walking in the cave for the distance of 

 two miles, surrounded on all sides by 

 myriads of flowers of every variety." 



"Stone flowers ! Oh, how lovely they 

 must look — sunflowers, daisies and blue- 

 bells all in white," said Alice. 



"Yes, and the scientists call these un- 

 derground blossoms 'Oulopholites.' ' : 



"It is very curious," Aunt Jane re- 

 marked, "how the cave flower and the 

 cave animal imitate so perfectly the fauna 

 and flora of the earth's surface." 



"It is one of Nature's mysteries," was 

 the reply. "There is in Wyandotte Cave, 

 in Indiana a stone alligator, to a casual 

 glance, as perfect in form as the living 

 bats who house within the cave, hanging 

 heads downward in groups of hundreds." 



There was a shiver of fear from the 

 girls when the bats were mentioned, and 

 nervous Birdie put her hand to her head 

 as if she felt one entangled in her hair, 

 but John asked quickly, as if afraid the 

 conversation might change from caves to 

 politics, "What other curious caverns 

 have you seen?" 



"The Alabaster Cave in California is 

 beautiful on account of its moss and fun- 

 gus tipped with diamonds. 'Spouting 

 Cave,' at Newport, is curious because of 

 the manner in which its waves are dis- 

 charged through a tunnel into the air. 

 'Swallow Cave,' at Nahant, is a long, 

 gloomy cavern, filled with swallows. 

 'Thunder Cave' is appropriately named, 

 on account of the strange reverberations 

 of its waves which, during storms, can be 

 heard a distance of several miles." 



"Did you visit any caves while you 

 were abroad?" Alice inquired. 



"I was traveling in Austria, through 

 the mountainous regions of Carniola, a 



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