THE HILL CLIMBERS. 



The greatest hill-climbing contest that 

 has ever been held was that up Mount 

 Washington, which took place last July. 

 Some attempts at mountain climbing have 

 been made abroad by following the road- 

 bed of cogwheel railways, but no real moun- 

 tain climbing contest over a road 8 miles 

 in length with a continuous grade of 5 to 20 

 per cent, has never before been held. Eigh- 

 teen machines participated in the climb. The 

 most sensational as well as the fastest per- 

 formance was that of Harry Harkness on 

 his 60-horse-power Mercedes, which con- 

 quered the mountain in 24 minutes, 37 3-5 

 seconds. F. E. Stanley, one of the pioneer 

 inventors of the steam automobile in Amer- 

 ica, made the next best time in a 6-horse- 

 power steamer. This was 28 minutes, 19 

 2-5 seconds. The best performances in the 

 class for vehicles weighing between 1,000 

 and 2,000 pounds were those of a 24-horse- 

 power Peerless (26 minutes, 6 4-5 seconds, 

 2 minutes being allowed on account of a 

 delay caused by another machine being in 

 the way) ; a 10-horse-power White steamer 

 (42 minutes, 194-5 seconds); and a 20- 

 horse-power, 3-cylinder Phelps (47 min- 

 utes, 292-5 seconds). A 12-horse-power 



Columbia machine did the climb in 51 min- 

 utes, 502-5 seconds. For vehicles under 

 1,000 pounds a 6-horse-power Oldsmobile 

 made the good time of 1 hour, 20 minutes, 

 46 seconds. Two specially built light steam 

 cars were second and third in this class in 

 2 hours, 16 minutes, 55 seconds and 2 

 hours, 25 minutes, 51 2-5 seconds, respec- 

 tively. In the free-for-all class, J. L. 

 Breeze, in a 40-horse-power Mercedes, 

 climbed the mountain in 31 minutes, 22 4-5 

 seconds. What made the test of particular 

 value was that the machines were all stock 

 cars. Besides the mountain climbing con- 

 test, several 100-mile tours through the 

 mountains were made during the remain- 

 ing days of the week. 



A new form of endurance test that has 

 developed of late is the non-stop run. By 

 this is meant a trip during which the en- 

 gine of the automobile is never stopoed. 

 The longest run on record of this kind is 

 one of 2,017 miles, made recently in Eng- 

 land on a Talbot car. The run consumed 

 5 days and 4 hours, during all of which 

 time the engine ran continuously. Several 

 attempts of his sort have been made in this 

 country, but thus far they have not been 

 successful. — Scientific American. 



AN AUTUMN STROLL. 



SAMUEL G. PALMER. 



Have you known the delights of a stroll At last on the summit we've taken our 



through the haze stand. 



On a fair Autumnal day? Like a beautiful dream 



How the rainbow-clad trees of our village Far away in succession loom hill ranges 



highways grand 



Stand resplendent and gay? 'Neath the sun's fading gleam. 



Come out on the hills where the sunbeams As we turn to descend, from the valley 



and wind below 



Have free play o'er the fields ; There's a flash in the shade, 



Where the orchard or vineyard prolific, Where a lake in the calm of the twilight 



we find, doth glow 



Its full fruitage now yields. Like the sabre's keen blade. 



As we climb the steep grade that leads up Even now the delights of our stroll do 



to the crown not cloy ! 



Of a tall, wooded hill, Hear the birds' vesper hymn ! 



The broad winged hawk from his tree And when once we are home, then the cup 



swoops down of our joy 



With a scream wild and shrill. Is quite filled to the brim. 



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