J 3 



Eastward are seen the hills of Everett, Chelsea and Revere, 

 Washington Mount and Powder Horn Hill, Nahant, Egg Rock, 

 and a belt of blue ocean dotted with white sails that "go down 

 to the sea " disappearing in the far horizon that melts into the 

 sky. 



Along the southern course of the valley, the eye wanders over 

 the tall spires and chimneys of Maiden to the Mystic, beyond 

 which is Bunker Hill and Boston with its gold dome gleaming 

 sunlike in the distance. 



Nearer, and almost at our feet, is Glen Rock, with the ob- 

 servatories, and between us and Glen Rock are many wild 

 places, abrupt ledges, ravines, groves, swamps and streams. 



Turning westward, now how great is the transformation. In 

 place of the spires and domes erected by the hand of man over 

 the marts and homes of busy communities, a vast wilderness lies 

 out-spread before us as far as the eye can reach. 



We seem now to be standing as it were, in the presence of 

 two civilizations, and as our present outlook begins to impress us 

 with a sense of the magnitude of the Fells, our minds revert to 

 the time when the entire region was known only to the red man, 

 who held divided sway with the wild beasts that roamed through 

 its dense forests. 



We are overlooking the Maiden Highlands, the most charac- 

 teristic portion of the Fells, and the one to which, more than to 

 any other, the name Fells is particularly applicable. Here are 

 the highest elevations, with the single exception of Bear Hill to 

 the north, and the most rugged. Over-looking this section from 

 the top of any of these elevations, it presents the appearance, so 

 aptly described by Mr. Baxter, of a "great sea of stone with 

 waves eternally motionless. " 



It is hard to realize that such a wilderness could exist in such 

 close proximity to a great city; but being here, the wonder is 

 that Boston has not long since secured it for one of her outlying 

 series of parks, or that Maiden, in whose lap it lies, has not been 

 wise enough to secure it for the permanent use of her own people 

 as a great natural park. 



Lord Macauley, when describing the grandeur of the Highlands 

 of Scotland, In one of his brilliant essays, expresses the opinion 

 that the measure of ones enjoyment of such scenes depended on 

 the measure of safety with which one might be able to view 



