Newspapers / Hickory Democrat (Hickory, N.C.) / June 7, 1888, edition 1 / Page 8
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For th* I'r*** ar. ! ' nammotli tine. MR. Ki iTor.: —To such of your readers as were disposed to follow me two weeks ayo in my western ramble. I made the promise that I would have something more to say of "Mammoth Cave " Having said something of my journey to that place. I left them at the "mouth of the cave. I now wish to ent'ee such as have never been there, to take a stroll with me through this sepulchral city of silence, for if there is a place more suggestive of the si lence of the tomb than these vast cavern**, it can hardly be found out side of the catacombs of Heme, but did it ever occur to you how beau tifully the sepulchure is sometimes associated with the melodies of life? Bayard Taylor, standing at the tomb of Walter Scott in Westminster Ab bev, beautifully » xpressed this idea when he said. "The harp of the min strel lingered there stiJl, though the hand that touched it was silenced forever Ami so I felt when stand ing in the great rotunda of the cave, that "silence is buiied here," silence so deep and so profound that it was pleasant to listen for u sound that you could not hope to hear. No sign of life, save the fancied flapping of the bats said to infest and hang in great festoons in Audubon's Ave nue near by, and no man has ever associated bat- with the living; they court silence ana silence is death. Thus like a child, knowing little of its history, playing with a great •'conch shell and wondering what it was, T held it to my ear and heard the "loaring of the sea. which w ill go on until there shall be "no mor sea." Then came back to us an echo »f our words, causing me to think that of a truth, "Our words can never die. Carved upon the walls and ceilings here and there were hundreds of names of visitors, and I thought that we all leave our names impressed somewhere, and that how - ever humble, we leave some trace that we have lived Carving our n names upon the smooth beeches of the forest -urrounding the homes of our childhood, a- I have done mine, m later years writing then upon the walls and pei pendicular heights of that whid is curious and sublime m nature, inscribing them upon the haunts t)f idleness, defacing with them places of public re -»>rt, comfort or necessity. as I have often seen l ione, giving them sometimes to the annals of our country's history. as many an one has done, or spelling hem out to the \ illuge newspaper, as 1 do now*, m each esse indicative •>f oui love of home, our liking to be conspicuous, our laziness, our law - lessness. our loyalty, or our leisure, ami in all cases desiiing to do some thing 11» be si en 1»v others who fol low in our way. The mam cave is fiom it) to 300 *eet wide ami from .'h"> tn l'J." high, so say the most reliable ac counts of exploration, and yet there are passages such as the one, ea!l d 1 at Mails Misery, through whi h the Secretary and Treasurer of the town of Hickory could not pass with out growing considerably less, ami anoti.t i tl.n ugh which vourcont pondent could not \ a— until he had doubled up. This is known as "Tall Man's Misery The old salt] » !r» works. 1 uilt m the cave in IM2. onlv three y t ai s aftt r it- discov»r\, mai.i 'est that in all time man has It , n disj osed to e\ploit "seas m t his , M . and worlds unkm wn before" in-e. i: "f that which is of utility and ; i fit Iht-e -alt jit it \at>. though ;i l a:. >h t d .ti ; ag«. >. -i « m w til jit- :\« ] '') th t ! .tit. •- t ..! 11. With W1 . i '.it' are fill*d. s,une (f tl e timl 11- at pear J»iftetly >• ;» 1 \ a'l Ca> it* f;l :- * .ft V*» t J ;, ; tit f* t ' t-• the cav t and t l.e watt r , bet.tath tl.t : t k-. I». ti s .t - .. t•v ■, 1\ t ! !,, ih%v s * t cut its way t > manv places ben eat 1 tit s ;i !at t yet to be e\] 1 ; t 1 ui {n •'an: t ! • do .1 tt tl 11 :. ; \\ ,•' dels ale yet 1 • kt d up ii. dark c;.\ erns to prove that the "constant drops will wear the stone. It is plaiD. even to the uninstructed CVP, that these many winding subtei ra nean avenues and vast high vaulted rooms are the eroding work of water in some remote peiiod of geological formation, and when our guide sud denly stopped and called us to listen to the water clock, remarking that it •ran down every day," I could not repress the remark, "Dots it run with a spring *" He replied, "Just wait (weight) and see. We listened and from the walls of the cavern 1 came the "click, cluck, clock of na ture s great time keeper. I grew romantic and spoke of the "Song of the brook" — "Man may come and man may go, but I go on foiever. One of the ladies in the paity very quietly and somewhat inconsistently admonished me to "hold my tongue." Another lady became as I thought rather personal when she inquired if I had ever been to Green river, which ran by a short distance outside the cave, hence I subsided. I felt green in fact when later in the day I had bought of a vender of cave curiosi ties a lot of shells fresh from the ' cave. They probably came from Green river to be sold to green horns, but I did get some real cave specimens. The cave is well ventilated, the air rushing outward in summer and in ward in winter. -The temperature is uniformly 54 degrees throughout the year and the atmosphere is very pure. In most of the avenues thei* is absence of moisture. The lower galleries being tributary to Green river, have limped streams of water, cool and refreshing. Two cottages had been erected for the use of inva lids, especially consumptives, but they soon went into disuse, for tlie sick must have sunlight if they would have health. The most at tractive of all the rooms is the j "Star Chamber," where overhead there is great profusion of white | crystals peering through a coating of black oxide, from which starlit prospect the chamber takes its name. 1 Stopping in this chamber at the re quest of our guide, lie took in charge all the lamps with the light of which we had seen our way, and left us in deep'darkness. Passing into a re cess at one side, the guide, lamps in ; hand, seemed to go below us. At this juncture and in deep darkness a gentleman present who was known to have provided himself with a remedv said to be good for "snake ' v ° bites, was accused of having applied the said remedy once a more to allav the cravings of an ignoble appetite. ' He had only the fear of the ladies! before his eyes, and nothing would I have betn known of his dark deed ! had not one of the ladies remarked, > Y'i . ntitv Mini hlile IHE flunk if YOU will. 'I !•-■ • IIT >f THF Iwpiur V lll HAIK round IT still," That gentleman very promptlv. though very ungallniitly, annourced that "a woman'** tongue was sharper than u serpent's tooth." By the re flection of the light below, the guide c ' O caused the appearance of the moon t> rise, the crystals overhead making got d the stairy canopy of heaven. "Vtr which a cloud floated as lie , gradually withdrew the light Tht n', tame the deep darkness. th u fr m ] the noise made by the guide below , aro-p the deep I oiling thumb r. Fr »n: , a itrtain angle he flashed the !i Lt upon u- in fair illustration of light- , nii.g. He ca ltd back that he 1:1>1 not "think it would rain. Krorn i '.her a: gle he gra luallv t'.rew tl E ioht d away, the sun came out. ai 1 tl e _ leturnii g. we weie i: ti » , : c '■ ilt ' light a-aim At a*. th : 1 p int be left us in darkness to again £ ■ .'•« t:c I.:-! art. I 1 a-- ; • • : • '• *>\' f ■ 1. two sharp H ' - ( tht w all- . : the cavern. a' 1 t . i. t" " _i.t •' .■: , l.t 1 i -ht ufr« u- w; • >all«d : I.e "Statue of Marti & ;T " ••c ' 4 1 • Ihi t!'t v t W. - 1 ■ • " it-a Utter than I L ;m . ■ n . © iii.ten. mt !. make of "IhtLitl th- I lien's den.' for without a name our guide's j icture would really have »uggeste 1 the "mother of our couu •try." were shown a point at which it is said two skeletons wire exhumed, but evidences of prehistor ic occupancy are very scarce. We were told of mummies having been found there with all the equipments of a former life, but we had no op portunity of consulting these an cient personages for information. The combined length of all the ave nues and recesses of the entire cav* ern are quoted to be from 150 to 250 miles, according to the scruples the nariator mav have in stickinir as near to the truth as possible, which ptobably would not allow a triate ; ment in excess of 150 miles. An area of one to two acres, covered bv a high vau 11. known as "Chief Citv," bears evidences of ancient occupan cy. Visitors to the cave for one day only must take one or the other of two main lines of exploration, the "shoit route" requiring three to six hours, the "long route' requiring from eight to twelve hours. In Gothic Avenue we found the chapel a very interesting place, having nu merous large stalactites and stalag mite-. domes, ca^cad's. iVe. At one point we found tie alter a formation of stalactites, dropping from ceiling to fl )or with an arch above. 11 re it is said nine couples have been married, some of the contracting parties having previously declared that they "nevei would be married on the facecf the earth. "Joseph's Coffin, a block of stone of large proportions and resembling ;i cofliu, attracted attention and became the subject of remarks, which this writer will not condescen 1 to relate. Notable among the number of verti cal shafts that pieice through these II O caverns from the uppermost galleries to the lowest floor, are Gorin's Dome, regarded as one of the places of greatest interest. Mammoth Dome | ° with its wond'iful tapestry of sta lactites, tin- Pgypfian Temple with its huge columns near 100 feet high IO O ! and 25 feet in diameter. Lucy's Dome is said to be the highest of ail, being over 300 feet from its low est depth to the top. In Croghan's Hall we drew near to what is called the "The Bottomless Pit. As we i . | drew near, without irreverence I thought ol the hymn lx ginning, "Stop, poor dinner, stop itnd ihiiik. H«fore you fui t In r >xo " The guide threw a turpentine baU into the }>it. and as it went flaming down, throwing it> light and smoke upward tor a distance of 200 feet or more, it occurred to me the ques tion as to whither there is a mate terial hell should be. for all practical purposes, decided in affirmative, for there T saw a panorama which i taken figuratively gives some con ception of what the Bible in figure sets forth to be a place of torment. ! Unlike one who did some vears a r o I v n i allow himself t«> be let down with a rope t" the 1 t torn, i shi'ank from looking iim» : i.« j»lace. 1 am not making sport when I s-ay tliat at the hpj>earance of this great mailstrom i>elMv I looked up and far above an 1 around ire I had beautiful -ights of the tin«>t stalactites in the cave and a \N on «■>•" ti,- wf alth of tH.- - ' fai i • \ • !..«•. that w 1.-1 1 could .td:u r» I • 'ill 1 not ieat-1' , md s 1 I tl« t* i miii» I ■ >t to look ii t" the pit again f ! t- i j bir rath er to 'o ':'w:tid r i'i i. ore h-iia \>b- thin;'- X t i-g t > !•■ a I'i • a-l ej- t' »• . ra 1 - i»'ait ' I 1 . f !:t - ,r' .• . :tt- " 1 v. tli i-rver ; i N 'ie 1 iu wo:.dvous '. ' • and vvl u:d r *:i■ nr. L 1 -1 wl l i . * ' ..!.! 1 ;. ;i i t' \ : . - • VI-.. 1 . • i , i,- . . v. i. i m , ■:n \ the . t»j : , x : • : . .• ; fioe. The Bible from bis mother in band he ex tended it to "the es tranged ones of this great nation." e ~ I Lad seen him -tund >tronger tlifn his party aud formulate the great IS ' sues for which it is contending. I had felt that he was almost unani mously railed Rgam to the leader ship of the party, aud hence as I S walked along Cleveland's Cabinet Avenue. I -aid that as the cave of Adullam had sheltered Israel s great est King, so Mammoth Cave has honored the greatest of American Presidents. And now the climax of my letter is reached. I may appear again. J. G. HALL. RgjH *akiN 6 POWDER Absolutely Pure. This powder never varies. A marvel of purity, strength and wholesnmeness. More | economical than the oidinary kinds, and cannot be sold in competition with the mul titude of low test, short weight alum or ! phosphate powder. f>old only in cuit*. HOT i AL I>a KINO POWDER Co., 105*' Wall St. N V, Ii o4:1 CotiMuniptiou Surely Cured. To THE EDlTOß —Please inform your readers that I have a positive remedy for the aboved named dis i ease. By its timelv use thousands , of hopeless cases have been perman- I ently cured. I shall be glad t« semi two bottles of mv remedy FKKK to any of your readers who have con- sumption if they will send me their express and post ofiice address. Kespectfully. T. A IS LOCUM. M. C. ISI Pearl St., New York. TO Ot'R RK\ni r .HH. Malaria or Ajcue Surely Cured! In thi-i hrojui assertion. speak not falseh tint stnte positively, that tliese anil all tiiisHsnui r i>• poisons ran be radically driven from the sys tem, and a permanent «ure guaranteed. Thou sands of rhrttnic cases, wliose t>-siimonhils ln-;ir | pvidfiiire, have been cured by our infallible reme dy . which contain neither quinine, a.rseni«\ or any thing injurious. Full Treatment free by old phy sician of highest standing, also triHl remedy sent on refeipt of address. t» ASH AKL MEDIf".\ I. IU'REA t", -".•l Brniidw.n \ A 18— 22 ly WADSWORTHS SILICA PAINT FORMS AN 1 S DESTRUCTA RLE PORCELAIN SURFA( K LIKE POL ISHED MARBLE ; OUT-COVERS AND OUT-LASTS ANY OTHER PAINT, TWO TO ONE, NO EXCUSE NOW FuR DINGY FADED BUILD INGS. ADOPTED BY Tilt UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT \ FTER THE SEVEREST TEST BY IHE NAVY DEPARTMENT AND ATM 111- TECT CLARK OF THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON. CALL FOR PAMPHLET AND IR' ULARS AT Sill KoRH HARDWARE Co., Hickory, X C F I D C f Wlthnnt Wood rrr Coal. ■ I I \ Eh ■ b-rns 'il ;:i any stove, firr- Bj ks • Safe, Wr K — " 1 rfuJ parti ilanadiintt J. A. WKIGUT & CO., K KL\L, IL V j K id h'ii ' rl'l" » llhuul 11 • Until «-l y n. „>ri hoo.»! 4 i \ l»\ C % > \WM K Wintnl fn f i rt to* n in th»- I n|t/-4 Mate*' " ' • " r ' r " ' It'f 1> is CimptT r as* J. \ H ltl(.H'l cw O K'tßf. >r» Hair.;-klr«. RED STAR * CLEANING POWDER. I J. %.U Itloil i A ( ©., KIIM, V il. p'KO/essicnaxs. AV. C. KRVIN, Lt r oJr, N . C. Practices in ( ,'aldmeli and ( court and in th*> Federal Court at £tatr**iJV. H. C. DENNY, TO.NSORIAL ARTIST, 1114 kOKI , .V « . Miop undertow bank building. Blowing Rock Hotel. AIM EI. oI'EN THK FIBST «»F .U SE. AM> TT r*nir to BromirolhU' nil mountain traveler* A* » healthful »unim»*r r»-*ort thi* jiliii f i» ni«t No • onta»rii>u»« lias »• vr*r Iwn V now n in th«« i >utitr\ HI ' 'WINti R>« K HOTEL CO . no 17—3 in Proprietor* Ed, B. Cline, • Ittortict/ l.atr, Hickory. N. C. II MEL PRACTICE in th>* «b«1 ndjment «&■- M Supreme am! Stflt»«nvill** Federal «ourt* AU I*khl liuwlnecß entrusted to hint will ivcrif* - ar* fui hb'l prompt attention I Piedmont Cigar Co., HICKORY. N. (\, o MANCFACTTRKKS OF HAVANNA AND SEED CIGAfiS »r>li r• from ilit» trnl»' «ollrlt«*i1 ■%* F. L. CLINE. A 'I TV £ COUNSELLOR AT I-AW IIRKOIiY, N. o Will practice in ("a Ia w la. Lincoln, Burke ('aldwrll and surrounding counties. Al>o in the Supreme Court and tlie Federal Court at Stat»'svi!le. Strict attention given to the collection o* claims in any nar t of the Mat •. and return* promptly made. DR. J. T. JOHNSON, 1 1 ickory, \ . ( DISEASES PECULIAR TO WO MEN AND CHILDREN A SPE CIALTY. I'ILFS in i) vni i n r/ in. H iekory.Jan.29, ]xx7.- No 4. W. V. JUSTICE, PA I NTER& DECORATOR. Sl«;v PAINTING It'iNH I\ the P. EST STYLE HARD WOOD FINISHING A SPECIALTY S \ TIS F MTION GE \p. \NT i: 1.11 Lo k Box'Mt. HICKORY. - NORTH CAUOLINA. IVliruary 7." 1 "»**>» if c. D. MORGAN, Painter and Decoraler. Pipsr Hanging is ill its Varieties. n\i: assortmknt on hand. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. I .»-.i\ e • >rVri« .it Rove!. I »rutf S! ot e, HICKORY, - NORTH CAROLINA s*-p-. tii! •• r i Prolessiorml Notice. Office Work and Consultation A SPEC! A LTY. Office Iloiirw : From to 1 .«i ri] from 1 Till o. D. L. PEEPLES, M. D. Hick >n. N. \ THE WEEKLY NEWS AND OBSERVER, rpHE \\ EF.KLT NEW S \NI ISERVER , 1 1 y.V' J ~' • - . - ' ■■ ; - \i • •' it •b «ld U tw, famflr It ;i4r .. I*-' ' ' " ' '' "' •' ' t*. " ' (hat Voi . . ' :I" • • " !'■ * '• ■ ' " f f' —f.-l f.,r \ ! 5 r—- \ N ,p.vi I:\ EP. • HalHKfc. N C
Hickory Democrat (Hickory, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 7, 1888, edition 1
8
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