174

WINNIPISEOGEE LAKE.

Mountains at the Notch are about twenty-two feet apart. But let others talk of the wonders.

Returned to Fryburg on second day. Took horse and chaise for Centre Harbor, 40 mls. through Eaton, Tamworth, Sandwich, Moultonboro'-got off the road and travelled round some ten or fifteen miles. Threaded a pine woods and witnessed the wonderful effects of a thunder-storm, or tornado in tearing up by the roots some of the sturdiest trees, several of which had fallen across the road, but were removed. It was such a tornado as Dante describes :

"A mighty wind

Which, rushing swift to coo I some fervid zone,
Shatters the wood, and sweeping unconfined,
Tears off the boughs, beats down, and hurls away;
In clouds of dust advances proudly on,

And fills the beasts and shepherds with dismay.'

It is an

Centre Harbor is at the head of Winnipiseogee Lake --- a lake said not to be inferior to the far-famed Lake George. It contains not less than 365 islands in its waters. In the vicinity of this lake is a peculiar elevation, called Red Mountain,' from its remarkably red appearance at a distance. object with travellers to ascend this mountain. little brother and myself were desirous of making he ascent. So, as is usual, we took a guide and saddle horse with a horse and wagon, and rode to the base of the mountain, a distance of four miles. We unharnessed our wagon-horse and saddled him

My

OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN.

175

and my brother and myself mounted on horse-back. Our guide being on foot, we thus commenced the ascent. It is 1 3-4 miles to the summit. The path is stony and precipitous in some places, but it is not a difficult matter to ride to the summit.

Half way up this mountain, or more, on a comparatively level spot, is the cot of an old man who when young and newly married took up his abode here in the depth of the forest and among the wild beasts driven, as he told me, by necessity from the haunts of men. He goes by the appellation of the Old Man of the Mountain.' He is very obliging to those who reach the place of his habitation, and delights to impart to them all the information in his possession, He has two children who are deaf and dumb, but are far from lacking shrewdness. We were regaled with blue-berries and an abundance of blue-berry cake gathered and made by his deaf and dumb daughter. The old man seemed to be glad to go to the summit with us, and we were not at all sorry. So we moved on,- part on foot - part on horse-back. On the way something led me to relate to him the ancient fable of the Old Man of the Mountain and Death. In turn he related to me an anecdote of his wife, wherein the fable was reduced to fact. His wife went one afternoon to visit some of her neighbors several miles off. She was to return before night, and he had agreed to meet her at a certain place to accompany her the rest of the way home. home. She did not start until it was rather

176

DEATH NOT SO WELCOME.

late and the neighbors told her they should think she would be afraid the bears would catch her.' She replied that she had such a hard lot in this world that she did n't care if they did.' The bears were not such great strangers in those days as they are now,and it happened that before she had reached the place where her husband was to meet her,she espied, beside the path and very near to her a large black bear working his nose under the trunk of a fallen and rotten tree. He heard foot-steps and looked up. The poor woman was frightened almost out of her senses. Though she had endured and was likely to endure many more trials, she was not quite prepared to be seized and devoured by the wild beasts. She was no more ready to obey the summons than the old man of the fable.

We eased the ascent by such unrestrained chat and in a short time found ourselves upon the summit. We were one hour in the ascent. The view from this mountain is almost unrivalled for beauty. Winnipisseogee lake with its multitude of arms ex. tending in all directions and its hundreds of islands of every shape, size and aspect― Squam lake,small compared with the former, but very beautiful-even romantic, though with an unromantic name - lie spread out distinctly before the eye. But I shall not attempt a description of the extensive and delightful prospect after the excellent and accurate one of Dr. Dwight.

MEMO IR

OF

REV. HENRY AUGUSTUS WALKER.

'Like other tyrants, Death delights to smite
What smitten most proclaims the pride of power.'

YOUNG.

THE papers have within a short time brought us the melancholy tidings of the death of Mr. Walker on one of the West India Islands. He died at Santa Cruz, Feb. 17th, 1838-aged 28, and was interred on the island at his own request.

I cannot consent that the grave should close over the remains of the deceased without some effort to keep alive his remembrance. For he was an individual of no common excellence. I feel moreover, that as I was so fortunate as to enjoy his friendship for many years, some tribute is due from me to his memory. Says the wise man, 'The memory of the just is blessed.' Such is the memory of the departed.

Mr. Walker was a native of Charlestown. My first acquaintance with him was at Billerica, to which place we were sent when boys to attend the academy, then under the superintendance of the Rev. Bernard Whitman. Here he exhibited the same.

qualities which marked his character in after life. He was fitted for college at Exeter, N. H. While in this place he experienced the power of religion through the ministrations of a Trinitarian clergyman, and connected himself with his church. This step he afterwards regretted, and it occasioned him considerable uneasiness of mind. He was about beHe entered Cam

ginning his collegiate career. bridge University in 1826. Though I had been in College one year, circumstances threw us much together and we became very intimate. I ever found him gentle and modest, sincere, affectionate and true, devoted to his studies, singularly just in his judgements of persons and opinions, and possessed of the deepest moral and religious principles. His diffidence was great, and it led him to shrink from much intercourse with his class-mates, and caused him often to appear to disadvantage in the recitation room. He however stood well with his fellows and graduated with a respectable rank. The time had arrived for him to enter upon a profession. The temper of his mind was always serious, and he chose with readiness the profession of Divinity. The great question with him was where he should commence his studies - whether at Andover or Cambridge. Some of his family preferred he should study at the former, others at the latter place, according to their particular creeds.

His own mind was wavering. At length after much deliberation upon the subject, he concludeds