Mt. Moosilauke (1883) - Two Women
"Away, away, from men and towns
To the wildwood and the downs.- Shelley
". . . As it takes three hours for the drive to the summit, we had no time to wait for dinner, so had a lunch, and a buckboard and driver were ordered for us. We had been warned to take plenty of wraps, and before we went to lunch had laid them aside, leaving the things we did not wish to take in the office. Everybody was waiting to see us off as we came from the dining-room, and the clerk said, 'Your wraps are all right under the seat.'
We always envy everybody on a buckboard, and now we had one all to ourselves, a pair of horses equal to two mountain trips and a chatty driver ready to answer all our questions. It was a perfect summer afternoon, and we were delighted at every turn until we reached the 'Ridge,' when a cold blast struck us, and the soft breezes suddenly changed to wind that threatened to take our hats off, if not our heads.
Now for the wraps; and - will you believe it? - the man had put in the things we did not want, and those we did want were probably on the chair in the parlor, where we had left them. Between us we had one veil and one neck handkerchief, with which we secured our hats and heads. There were one or two light sacques and abasque! Thinking of our warm wraps at the hotel did no good, so we dressed up in what we had, and with a little imagination, were comfortable.
The narrow and comparatively level stretch, sloping on either side, and the sudden ascent to the highest point on the mountain, suggest a ride upon the ridgepole of a house and final leap to the top of the chimney; once there, we went into the cosy house, something like the old one on Mt. Washington, and tied everything a little tighter before we dared face the gale. We then started out, and, actually in danger of being blown away, we united our forces by taking hold of hands, and ran along the daisy-carpeted plateau to what looked like the jumping-off place to the north. . . ."
From "A Carriage and Two Women" by Frances S. Howe, pp. 480-485, The Moosilaukee Reader (Vol.2). ©1999.
