562    scenery    in    new-hampshire.

liberty, common schools, more village spires pointing to Heaven, and

more of the monuments which mark a high and advanced state of

civilization than any other State of this Union, with, perhaps, one

or two exceptions. If she is indebted to any cause under Heaven    ^

for her advancement in prosperity, wealth and civilization, it is to

her lofty mountains, and her beautiful and fertile valleys.”

Our description of the mountains in New-Hampshire,

Whose snowy tops
Among the clouds are towering high,

And seem to meet the heavens
Amid the stax-ry sky;

Her hundred glassy lakes, and
Like brilliant diamonds
Set in emerald green,

Add beauty
To her mountain scene;

And her sparkling, winding rivers,

That feed her glassy lakes,

Or meet the briny ocean’s tide,

Are like the golden chains
Which hold the diamond to the maiden’s breast;    **

They stretching back their silver arms,

Clasp them to the mountain crests;

Are the sequel to the beautiful scenery to be found in almost ev-
ery section of the State, and with the exception of a few remarks
made by Dr. Moses F. Morrison on New-Hampshire scenery, and
its bearing upon industry and civilization, will be all the descrip-
tion given of its grand ocean, mountain, lake and river scenery.

In many respects the White and Green mountain ranges differ
perhaps from all others in the known world. They are purely of
primitive origin, while most others are thrown up through the tran-
sition, secondary or tertiary strata. We have not even the organic
remains of the transition period, and hence the search for coal,
which is now known to be in every instance vegetable matter, acted
upon by the united agency of heat and pressure, is equally futile
and hopeless. But primitive rocks contain the most valuable ores,    ^

and in our instance their surface is covered almost to. the summits
of our higheskmountains with a productive soil and with a beauti-
fulljrvaried vegetation. The world produces not a spot where the
air is more pure, the water more clear and limpid, and the scenery    )

more wild and beautiful, where the human foot can move with
more boldness and less danger. The wolf and lanmiernuir of the

%