USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Picturesque Hampshire : a supplement to the quarter-centennial-journal > Part 9
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farmer of the west to return home, and go to raising small fruits and vegetables on the land of his fathers. If he can get rid of his investments west, this is the time for him to come, as good judges are of the opinion that never again can the " aban- doned farms" be obtained so cheaply.
Read the words of Charles Sumner, as he stood on Mount Holyoke, and looked over the Connecticut valley, Ang. 12, 1847 :
"I have been all over England, have traveled through the Highlands of Scot- land; I have passed up and down the Rhine, have ascended Mont Blanc, and stood on the Campagna at Rome; but have never seen anything so surpassing- ly lovely as this."
SOUTHAMPTON, FROM THE HILL.
SOUTHAMPTON.
Stand we on the western height, Where the old oak forest grew, Gazing with entranced delight O'er the wide expanding view.
Fair Southampton's elustered homes Shine beneath the arching trees,
Where with health and blessing comes, Whispering soft the summer breeze.
Fane where Judd with pious care First for God and goodness strove, Hall of learning rising there In the academie grove.
Pomeroy Mountain, elothed with wood, Mount Tom's grand and rocky erest, Through the ages long have stood, Sentries of the east and west.
Broad, green meadows, grazing herds, Corn-fields to the breeze that bend, Hillside views that baffle words In the glorious prospeet blend.
Flows the Manhan's silver stream, By the banks it freshly laves, Giving baek the noonday beam, Brightly, from its glancing waves.
Slowly moving harvest wains To their sheltering garners creep- Swiftly flying peopled trains Through the fields and woodlands sweep.
Yonder sunlit marbles glow And their silent vigils keep, O'er the hallowed dust below, Where the loved and honored sleep.
Who " their bleeding country " saved By their deeds of valor done ! Some have left their names engraved On the monumental stone.
Not in all the realms of earth, Not through all the years of time, Did a nobler eause have birth, Or a triumph more sublime !
c.
Attractions of the Hampshire Hills.
There are but few communities in New England so remote now, from railroads, and the bustle of large towns, as to show no signs of departure from the habits and life of "the good old days" of stage-eoaeh and tavern. City worn people, with ancestral ties attaching them to these hills of New England, are finding paths to the quiet,
A SOUTHAMPTON BROOK.
healthful hill-towns of childhood memories and tradi- tions; and in many cases during the past decade deserted homesteads have been repaired and pretty summer cottages have been built on commanding sites, where groups of delighted children luxuriate (during a part of the year) on broad fields, in exchange for the few feet of ground belonging to the city home.
In comparison with the Berkshire hills, so celebra- ted for their attractions, the Hampshire hills have not quite an equal degree of accessibility to people from the eities; but in the number and beauty of their drives, along hill-tops and by winding streams and hiding brooks -which here and there drop into eascade or falls-the Hampshire hills excel.
Plainfield, Goshen, Cummington, Chesterfield and Worthington are all from ten to fourteen miles from railroad; and yet so rapidly are these places, espe- eially Chesterfield and Worthington, becoming summer resorts for people from Boston, Springfield, Brooklyn, New York, Albany, Buffalo, and even from the cities of Columbus and Chicago, that the signs are many of the "old paths " of traditional life being forsaken for the newer ways of the less natural life of the city. Probably those who come to the hills for a few weeks rest, and to enjoy the pure water, clear and fragrant air, wholesome food, and hurryless spirit of rural life, are the least anxious to change the enstoms of the native population.
Many an old piece of colonial furniture has been linnted out and brought down from the garrets of centenary houses, to the glad surprise of the "city visitor," who purchases it for a few shillings from an honest dweller, who suffers a little in conscience, if he takes anything for the discarded old spinning-wheel, or chair or desk, while on the other hand the pur- chaser is exultant and feels quite guilty that so small a price is paid for so great a treasure, to be polished and then given a conspicuous place in the city house.
There is no detraction of interest or enjoyment on part of the people who come from the city, because of the blunt, rugged, homely and characteristic ways of the hill town farmer. And yet changes do come. Rome conquers Greece, and still the Greeks are made the teachers of the Romans, because Grecian civiliza- tion is higher. The native population hold the ground and the rule, and would not be driven to accept eity ways and ideas ; but if these subjects from the town bring ways and ideas that seem better, they are adopted. It is easy to recog- nize how favora- ble the conditions are made, for marked trans- THE " MANHAN," ON THE ROAD TO WESTFIELD. formations in so- cial customs and ideas in practical affairs of life, when, as is the case, those who exhibit the novel thoughts and methods come not as compelling conquerors, or with the spirit of innovation ; but as visitors and with strong sentiment usually, in favor of the old fashioned and practical ways of the people. In the tide of emigration, moving westward for the past thirty years, many enterprising people have gone from the Hampshire hills. It can be safely said that the losses in population in the county, of the last quarter of a century, which amount in
PARADISE " IN SOUTHAMPTON.
42
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
OLD HOUSE ON POMEROY MOUNTAIN.
these towns to from twenty-five to fifty per cent. are due to the fact that the young men have gone to sow and reap in the more fertile lands of the west; so that there has been a spirit of discouragement brooding upon the people of the hills, having a strong tendency to paralyze progress and let in elements of decay, which have affected the complexion of moral as well as of material things. But within the past few years, a brighter and more hopeful spirit has become apparent; and this has come about largely by the return or periodic visits of energetic, successful, progressive persons, whose presence, even for a few weeks of the smnmer, has brought encouragement and impulse to better ideas and movements among the people.
The farmer who used to go to church in shirt sleeves, when the trying weather of "dog days" came on, and who felt no embarrassment in going about in ragged clothes, is succeeded by the farmer who is careful to have his best coat on in church and his work day dress in every way respectable. A landable ambition is fast growing, to have premises improved, barns and houses painted, fences and fields restored from an aban- doned look and condition. A wholesome self-respect seems to be inspired by the look and fellowship of people who move abont, enjoying as visitors the scenery and freedom of the country.
It is not difficult thus to sum up a few of the advantages, which, though not so apparent, are very real to the people of the hills, by reason of the coming back of friends, and the resort thither of people for the summer weeks.
1. The first great gain to notice, is in the direction of better spirits among the resident people. There can be no doubt that people who live so much shut up to themselves, as the hill town people are compelled to be, during their six months of winter, suffer the almost inevitable result of hopelessness. It is only by the fortification of good health and scholarly tastes, that it could seem possible to live through a score of winters among the Hampshire hills and not develop a melancholy spirit. This can often be detected in the settled tone of voice, which has become sad and complaining, even when speaking of the most ordinary and even cheerful facts. Where is the
IN THE FIELDS AFTER THE RAIN.
bright spirit that will not suffer loss of sunshine, somewhat, by living week after week in a farmer's or farmer's wife's sphere, with no new face about, but the face of another snow-storm, with winds piling the drifts in more and more forbid- ding heights along all the highways ?
So it is a great thing for those who have hurried six months to gather the feed for stock, and then have waited six months for the soil to be ready for another sum- mer's incessant toil, to have the prospect of seeing people come into the community who can speak about failures and losses even, in a hopeful, cheerful tone of voice. 2. Another advantage to be emphasized is from the new ideas brought by the sum- mer excursionist and tourist resident. It
FALLS IN SOUTHAMPTON.
is true the ideas thus brought are not new in the world, nor practiced as such by the visitors in the rural community, bat in the Hampshire hills they may be quite new. To anyone who has found his way from the best privileges of col- lege and seminary, and has lived awhile in the ambition of giving the best results of his education to the people of these hills, there must be felt a deep sense of obligation to the sons and brothers and daughters and sisters, who have been some time away among people of great cities and abundant privi- leges, and who now come back for a brief summer vacation among conser- valive friends.
These are the ones who encourage plans for establishing public libraries, reading-rooms ; who further the work of setting trees on public and pri- vate grounds, and by the roadway; who help to build and furnish a new church, according to modern archi- tecture and ideas, as in Cummington and Worthington.
3. Then it is to be spoken of as a thing of great encouragement to the towns of the Hampshire hills, that some men of wealth are taking permanent interest in these places of their early life. The influence and aid of a few public-spirited men of means in the towns mentioned, is incalculable. Their stone wall carefully laid, their sidewalk, their door-yard and lawn, their neat cottage, their gifts to publie enterprises are themes of conversation worthily turning some of the easy but pernieions drift of talk on unworthy subjects. No where do good examples weigh so well as right among these hills, where influences good or bad are tenacious and persistent.
The future of the Hampshire hills looks more enconraging in every way than for thirty years past; and much of this brighter outlook is due to the Taet that the attractions of the hills, are more and more being sought out by those who live, for the most part, in the city.
THE FARM PET.
The Charms of Hampshire County.
It was my first visit to Hampshire County, and I had landed at Amherst. The business that brought me to this part of the state was not so pushing that I had not time to look about me. I was at first attracted by the college buildings. In spite of my Harvard prejudices, or, rather, in the impulse of my Harvard sympathies, I looked kind- ly on Amherst. It is happy in its location. The hills are not far away ; and the buildings stand on pleasant grounds, gracefully sloping down to village and meadow. Here are abundant influences to feed the imagination and stimulate the passion for learning. The familiar words came at once to my lips :
"This castle hath a pleasant seat; the air Nimbly and sweetly doth commend itself Unto our gentle sense."
And, mingling with the students, I found (without a twinge of envy) that all the bright boys do not go to Harvard.
On another day I visited another institution for which Amherst is famous, the Agricultural col- lege. Considering that half the population are farmers, it is hit that scientific research and enltiva- ted intellect should be made to add to the profits and delights of the most ancient and noble of human vocations. "These fresh-water colleges," I thought,
RUSTIC BRIDGE OVER BROOK.
43
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
WESTHAMPTON, LOOKING OF THE HILL.
"have some compensation for the absence of the breath of the salt seas. Nature, bountiful everywhere, has here lavished enough to charm the eye and elevate the thought."
But I had to forsake the spot. A short ride took me to Northampton. The time came when I had reason to wonder that the road over which I passed was for this county, so nearly level. I did come up here with an artist's eye, in search of sublime natural pictures,-my guest was eminently practical and pro- saic. Yet when I canght the first glimpse of the stately river whose glories have been sounded so often, I stopped to gaze on what I saw, and imagine what might still be hidden from my view. I afterwards saw more of the valley of the
STARTING FOR SCHOOL.
Connecticut ; and I (not an untraveled man) pronounce its landscapes to be unsurpassed anywhere. The inter- vales and gently sloping terraces, sparkling with the fruits of careful culture; the variegated colors of the fields; the bright rays of the summer sun filling the air with joy, and irradiating the scattered dwellings with the benediction of peace, the inspiration of new life and hope that came with every passing breeze, these take one at once ont of the dull realities of a plodding world, into the realms of a nobler being. This valley defies de- scription ; and that, perhaps, may account for the unexpected impressions by which I was captivated. A river valley like this would make the fame of any land.
Crossing the river, I entered Northampton. I knew what terms of praise had been lavished on this town. I remembered that Jenny Lind, the "Swedish Nightin- gale," who for months found here a delightful residence, had summed up its attractions in the frequent phrase of "Paradise of America." I had read, in the pages of " Kathrina," that Dr. Holland, whose name is a house- hold word in these regions, had crowned it as the " Queen village of the meads." I knew that Henry Ward Beecher, in his novel of "Norwood," had affirmed that
"No finer village glistens in the sunlight, or nestles under arching elms," than that which "looks over upon the transcendent valley " of the Connecticut.
But, with all this in memory, the actual sight surpassed the imagined scene; and, in defiance of the claims of business, I lingered for days in the pleasant streets and rural walks of this unique town. Architecture may boast its triumphs in vast urban structures; but here may be seen the added beauty which the handiwork of man gains by the forms of living green in the midst of which the creations of his genius are reared. One is compelled to confess that, in many instances, the loveliness of the setting surpasses the brightness of the jewel ; a pleasing fact which, however it may have been overlooked hy the thoughtless looker-on, is doubtless appreciated by the happy young ladies who seek the delights of learning in the classic retreats of the now celebrated Smith college.
And when you leave the streets, and wander in the more secluded valleys and along the
ON THE HILL, IN WESTHAMPTON.
brooks or miniature rivers with which the town is enriched, the harmonious combinations of form and color, the foliage of tree and shrub, the sparkling tints of blossom and flower, present pictures of loveliness on which the eye is never tired of gazing. There are seenes in Northampton which rival the fairy beanty of the Vale of Tempe, the imagery of which has long been the despair of the painter, and tempted the poet's flight almost in vain.
Outlying from the main village there are several smaller clusters of dwelling and fac- tory, which not only please the senses of the worldling, but appeal to the imaginative mind. Of these the chief is distinguished by the poetic name of Florence. Here is the magnificent temple devoted to the free expression of the most advanced conceptions of truth and good- ness. It is certainly in the nature of things that minds nursed where the "prodigality of nature " has embellished her external forms should aspire to the conditions of that happier time when "Old things shall pass away, and all things become new."
I have attempted nothing in detail, but thrown into few words the impressions made by a first visit to a town which chal- lenged the admiration and kindled the en- thusiasm of so eminent a genius and poet
Boyle
as John O' Reilly.
But I had to has- ten away. Follow- ing the rail to its termination in the adjacent village of Williamsburg, up- on whose pleasant A HILL-TOWN HOME. appearance I could east but a passing glanee, I mounted a stage coach, and, after a long latter-day ride, dropped at nightfall into the village of Cummington. The scene was changed
NORWICH PONDS-IN HUNTINGTON.
44
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
ON THE ROAD TO CHESTERFIELD, BY WAY OF ROBERTS MEADOW.
but the beanty had not departed. This quaint little vil- lage nestles in the valley of what I was told was the main branch of Westfield river. It would be gratuitous to name the sensations I experienced here. In a spot surrounded by hills on every hand, so that, to whatever point you turn, you are forced to look up, what moral does nature more directly suggest than that man's business is to aspire,- to mount to loftier heights of moral purity and intellectual grandeur. I had conceived myself to be eminently prac- tical; but, to my surprise, sentiment took possession of me at once. I felt that the spirit of Bryant informed the scene. The varied effects of slope and meadow spoke in distinct yet harmonious notes. It seemed that "Thanatopsis" might have been conceived if not written here. Without the aid of memory I could read the opening lines :
"To him who in the love of nature holds Communion with her visible forms, she speaks A various language; for his gayer hours She has a voice of gladness, and a smile And eloquence of beauty; and she glides Into his darker musings with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away Their sharpness, ere he is aware."
All the "varions language," every separate dialect of nature may here be heard, translated to the nobler instincts, at least, of him who "holds communion with her visible forms." For what is external nature to us, and what can it be, if its wondrous effects do not minister to the develop- ment of our higher human possibilities ? So, at all events, it appeared to me. Where else does friendship's ardent eye kindle with a kindlier glow ? Where else does love breathe a purer or more impassioned sigh ?
Leaving Cummington with regret, and with the impres- sion that nature had no more surprises for me, I started, behind a span of spirited horses, towards Middlefield, to
take a train going west. The distance was said to be short; and, though I knew a hill must be surmounted in getting away from this charming village, I did not anti- cipate a long drive. But how little we know of what is before ns. It was by no means my first experience along the roads of a "hill country," and 1 fancied I knew something of their variations. But when we had made the first ascent, and reached an elevation which afforded an extended view, I saw a landscape new to me, and which might well awaken enthusiasm in the most pro- saie mind. I have no faculty for description, which Byron, perhaps in sport, said was his "forte." You look over the surface of the ocean, when it is still, or a vast plain bounded only by the horizon, and you see but one image, that of an immense level space, a monotony which soon tires the eye. But on this road from Cum- mington to Middlefield, all that you look upon makes you remember, by contrast, the ocean or the plain as a type of poverty-stricken sublimity. Hills closely stacked in irregular tiers ; some appearing indistinct at first through the foliage of the trees at the roadside, to show their summits in clear outline the moment after ; hills near at hand standing bright in the sunshine, hills far away bathed in ether; all differing in height and in
who shall say that, as he stands upon the heights, both mind and heart are not enlarged by the visions of a bright and glowing earth which these heights unfold ? The vast billows of the hills are insensibly bearing him as the waves of ocean bear the ships, to fairer climes.
One scene I shall never forget. On reaching the crest of a hill, higher than any over which onr road had led, we saw that it at once descended precipi- tously into a deep valley (I think one of the branches of Westfield river ran through it) and ascended a hill opposite, equally precipitous and equally high, imme- diately beyond. The scene arrested our progress. The summer season was in its glory. The farmers, the few that we saw, were in the midst of the hay harvest,-and there was nothing inharmonious in this. Earth was made for man, and is none the less lovely for his presence; for what, I ask, were even nature itself without him? The fields or the foliage had not yet lost that rich green tint which in these latitudes crowns the month of June with unspeaka- ble splendor. The sky was lavish of the magnificent effects which it alone can produce on the earth's sur- face. The clouds, floating lazily in upper air, had cast the valley into deep shadow, while the sunlight
CHESTER FIELD HILL, LOOKING EAST.
form, and seen in ever-varying light,-here are countless picturesque images on which none may look withont a kindling eye and a swelling heart. Even Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke, as seen from Northampton, do not so deeply impress you. The methods of nature surpass the possibilities of human taste. If these hills had been built by human hands they would, I suppose, have been arranged in accordance with some regular design; they must stand in exactly parallel lines, their summits standing against the sky in pro- portional gradation. But now they are scattered in every con- ceivable position, with every va- riety of altitude ; as if Jove, from his thione in the clouds, ;had pitel- ed his thunder- bolts on every hand, and they had cooled in the spots where they hap- pened to fall. Would man have so designed them ? Would he not have placed them in straight lines, so that he could pass through his level valleys, from point to point, with- ont the toil of elimbing hills and descending into vales ? But, Inck- ily for him, he is born into a world where he cannot always plod in low-lying ways, with nothing to feed his nobler aspira- tions He must of necessity go up; and
sparkled, at the same moment, on the pictured slope beyond. On each side of us, also, sunshine and shad- ow were flecking the hillside fields. It would make the fame of a painter who could fitly put on canvass such a landscape as that. I could no longer wonder that a man, born and nursed amid such scenes, feels such an undying attachment for his native hills.
"The intrepid Swiss, who treads a foreign shore, Condemned to elimb his native cliffs no more,
OLD MILL ON ROAD TO CHESTERFIELD.
If chance he hears the songs, so sweetly wild, Which on those cliffs his youthful hours beguiled, Starts at the long-lost scenes which round him rise, And sinks a martyr to repentant sighs.
Night had nearly overtaken us before we came
A SUMMER HOME IN CHESTERFIELD.
45
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
CHESTERFIELD " HOLLOW."
in sight of the iron rail ; but I was well content to abide till the morrow, that I might feast on the views which Middlefield presented, before departing for the west. In all this trip I was glad to find that I had not been unfitted for business by the flashes of sentiment and visions of picturesque beauty which had cheered my journey.
" I love not man the less, but nature more For these, our interviews."
From the comparatively level drive to Northampton, to the steep roads and wild sublimity of the upper towns, I had passed through a rapid succession of wildly different, but equally charming scenes. Afterwards I saw other parts of the county ; of which, if I spoke more particularly, I should have to repeat im- pressions similar to those I have given. This trip presented a fair picture of this enchanting land. All that I saw only confirmed my first impression, that of all the counties from Cape Cod to Berkshire, Hampshire must be pronounced the queen. Stranger as I am to nearly all her people, I gratefully lay this tribute, inadequate as it is, at her feet. J. M. L. B.
too, and the pasture is a rough sort of place, full of swamp holes, rocks and tangles of sernb bushes and blackberry vines. I thought to myself when I see 'em sweatin' away there that it was mor'n the whole thing was wuth. But then I've always noticed that boys don't mind any amount of hard work in what they call play-they seem to enjoy hard work if you only call it by a different name.
" Well, these fellers had a tent with 'em, and they chopped down two little trees and one they set up in front and the other they used for a ridge pole and fastened it at the back to a maple tree that grew right in the stone wall. When they got their tent up, and their things inside they chopped a lot of boughs off of a pine tree for bedding, and took those inside. Then they took a spade and a tin pail, and went for some water. "Twan't an easy thing to find. There was plenty of boggy places and sometimes a little dirty water in the places where the cows had stepped. In one place the fellers dng a hole, hopin' it would fill up with clear water after a while, but it was too slow and they kept stampin' around, and finally on t'other side of the pasture they found a nice spring under a big boulder. It was gettin' dusky now, and they hurried back with their water and had supper in front of their tent. It was kinder a pretty place where they was; well np so they could look down over the pasture and fields, and half a mile away in the holler you could ketch glimpses of the stream, always whisperin' and com- plainin' as it tumbled over the stones. It's kinder a pretty sound. I think.
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