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THE NATURAL BRIDGE IN VIR
GINIA.
mmm HIS wonderful curiosity
of nature is in Eock-
WSpdflK& bridge county, Western
Virginia, 63 miles from
jfL the White Sulphur
yk\ Springs, and about 14 from Lexing-
My ton, the nearest point. The road to
m is said to tlie most abominable
even in that part of the country,
where all the roads are bad. A writer
who has visited the Natural Bridge thus
describes it:
“The first sensation of the beholder is
one of double astonishment; first, at the
absolute sublimity of the scene ; next, at
the total inadequacy of the descriptions
he has read, and the pictures he has seen,
to produce in his mind the faintest idea
of the reality. The great height gives
the arch an air of grace and lightness that
must be seen to be felt, and the power of
speech is for a moment lost in contempla
ting the immense dimensions of the sur
rounding objects. The middle of the arch
is forty-five feet in perpendicular thick
ness, which increases to sixty at its junc
ture with the vast abutments. Its top,
which is covered with soil, supporting
shrubs of various sizes, is two hundred
and ten feet high. It is sixty feet wide,
and its span is almost ninety feet. Across
the top passes a public road, and being in
the same plane with the neighboring
country, you may cross it in a coach
without being aware of the interesting
pass. There are several forest trees of
large dimensions growing near the edge
of the creek directly under the arch,
which do not nearly reach its lowest part.
“The most imposing view is from about
sixty yards below the bridge, close to the
edge of the creek ; from that position the
arch appears thinner, lighter, and loftier.
From the edo'e of the creek at some dis-
O
tance above the bridge, you look at the
thicker side of the arch, which from this
point of view approaches somewhat to
Gothic. A little above the bridge, on the
western side of the creek, the wall of rock
is broken into buttress-like masses, which
rise almost perpendicularly to a height of
nearly two hundred and fifty feet, termi
nating in separate pinnacles which over
look the bridge. It requires a strong
head, (perchance a thick skull,) to stand
on one of these narrow eminences and
look into the yawning gulf below.
“ When you are exactly under the arch
and cast your glances upwards, the space
appears immense; and the symmetry of
the hollow concave formed by the arch,
and the gigantic walls from which it
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
springs, is wonderfully pleasing. From
this position, the views in both directions
are sublime and striking from the im
mense height of the rocky walls, stretch-
BaWMBi
. wgSBBKs*
ing away in various curves, covered in
some places by the drapery of the forest,
green and graceful, and in others without
a bramble or a bush, bare and blue.”
Scaring Herself into Bed.
Little Alice found out an ingenious
way of getting to bed in a hurry. The
crib in which she slept was so low, that
by placing one foot on the inside, and ta
king hold of the post, she could easily
spring in.
“Mamma,” she said to her mother, “do
you know how I get to bed quick ?”
“No,” was the reply.
“Well,” said she in great glee, “I step
one foot over the crib, then I say ‘ rats,’
and scare myself right in.”
__ ♦<»«
No Good from Passion.
« Will putting one’s self in a passion
mend the matter ?” said an old man to a
boy who had picked up a stone to thiow
at a dog. The dog had only barked at
him in play.
“Yes, it will mend the matter,” said the
passionate boy T ANARUS, and quickly he dashed the
stone at the dog.
The animal, thus enraged, sprang at
tho boy and bit his leg, while the stone
bounded against a shop window and
broke a pane of glass.
Out ran the shop-keeper, and seized
the boy, and made him pay for the bro
ken pane.
Conflict and Conquest.
Courage, brother, do not stumble,
Though thy path be dark as night;
There’s a star to guide the humble:
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Lot the road be rough and dreary,
And its end far out of sight,
Foot it bravely—strong or weary,
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Perish “ policy ” and “ cunning 1”
Perish all that fears the light!
Whether losing, whether winning,
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Trust no party, sect, or fashion;
Trust no “ leaders ” in the fight;
But in every word and action
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Simple rule, and safest guiding,
Inward peace and inward might,
Star upon our path abiding:
“ Trust in God, and do the right,”
Some will hate thee, some will love thee,
Some will flatter, some will slight;
Cease from man, and look above thee,
“ Trust in God, and do the right.”
Only One Brick upon Another.
ARNBSTLYaboy watch-
a lar S e building, as
the workmen from day
to day carried up bricks
mortar.
“My son,” said his father, “you
l seem taken with the bricklayers,
i Bo you think of learning the
* trade?”
“No, sir; I was thinking what a little
thing a brick is, and what great houses
are built by laying one brick upon an
other.”
“Very true, my son; never forget it.
So it is in all great works. All your
learning is one lesson added to another.
If a man could walk all around the world,
it would be by putting one foot before
another. Your whole life will be made
up of one moment upon another. Brops
added to drops make the ocean.
“Learn from this not to despise little
things.
“Be not discouraged by great labors.
They become easy if divided into parts.
You could not jump over a mountain, but
step by step takes you to the other side.
Bo not fear, therefore, to attempt great
things.
“ Always remember that the large
buildings went up only one brick upon
another.”
Keep Them Out.— “l don’t want to
hear naughty words,” said little Chailie
to one of his school-fellows.
“It does not signify,” said the boy,
“ that they go in at one car and out of
the other.”
“No,” replied Charlie, “the worst of it
is, when naughty words get in they’stick ;
so I mean to do my best to keep them out,
for it is sometimes hard work to turn
them out when they once get in.”
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