Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

Page 23 text:

For the different types of tourist there are accommodations to suit his desires and his pocket-book, and everyone finds some place to his satisfaction. For the wealthy such huge establishments as the Hotel Randall at North Conway and the Mt. Washington at Bretton Woods have been built, where one may find the same luxurious accommo- dations and smart company that are common to Newport or Palm Beach. I venture to say, however, that most of the true White Mountain lovers could not be hired to stay at one of these hotels for any price. These true mountaineers you will find in soiled khaki shorts and battered hats, sitting on the edge of some lofty ledge far above the clouds or boiling coffee over a fire before their tents in pine groves. They pre- fer a hard cot and the cool pine- scented wind from the mountains to any feather-bed you might offer even with the addition of running water. For these campers there are any number of inviting reservations set aside by the government in the White Mountain National Forest. Perhaps the most famous is the Dolly Copp camping ground in Pink- ham Notch under the shadow of Mt. Washington. Statistics are usually dry, but I think it might interest you to know that it is not unusual for five hundred outfits to be pitched in a single day there with two thou- sand campers registered. If you ever stop at this encampment with its stone fireplaces, swimming pool, clubhouse, and dancehall, and smell the wonderful odor of woodsmoke, frying bacon, and coffee boiling that hangs over the place, you will want to set up camp and stay for- ever — everyone does. Nobody seems to know a great deal about Dolly Copp, for whom the reservation was named. Her history has become obscure in competition with the many other mountain legends. The records show that Dolly was what is known as a “character’’ — they abound in New Hampshire. She lived in Bartlett, and when she was twenty-three, she was married to Hayes Copp and came to live in the Notch. Life for the women in those early days was hard, and Dolly cooked, sewed, took in travelers, and raised a family in the mean- time. The Copp fortune grew, and by their golden wedding anniver- sary Hayes and Dolly had a flourish- ing farm and were comfortably well-off. But Dolly decided that she had had enough of her rigorous pioneer life and Hayes in the bar- gain; so she packed her trunk and prepared to leave. When a neigh- bor remonstrated, she said, “Oh, Hayes is well enough, but fifty years is too long for a woman to live with any man.’’ So she and her husband peaceably divided their savings of a life-time, left their comfortable homestead, and as far as I know, never saw each other again. The Appalachian Mountain Club maintains many cabins both on the established trails and at populated spots in the mountains. The hut- masters put up trail lunches — three sandwiches, raisins, and chocolate — and provide supper, lodging, and breakfast for footsore and hungry travelers who find themselves half- way down a mountainside with darkness coming on. The Dart- mouth Outing Club is another or- ganization whose members are fre- 21

Page 22 text:

words ever spoken by Horace Mann: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity ’ Nature’s Wonderland In New Hampshire By Priscilla Bailey J HAVE chosen this subject, ad- mittedly a little unorthodox for the occasion, because New Hamp- shire and its mountains make a sort of background of my life and be- cause I couldn’t talk on any subject more familiar or pleasant to me. New Hampshire has that faculty of remaining on one’s mind, and though it is not famed in song and story, as much as are the splendors of the Rockies or the romantic qual- ities of the South, it is just as dear to large numbers of people as are these other places. People, as a rule, never go once to New Hamp- shire and then just go away after a pleasant outing; they return again and again to their familiar haunts and urge their beauties on all whom they meet. The ranges and foothills that make up the White Mountains cov- er the whole of central and north- ern New Hampshire, with the full grandeur of rugged peaks and ma- jestic scenery concentrated in the North country, and the sylvan beau- ty of lake, forest, and wooded slopes in the southern part. Robert Frost, our celebrated contemporary poet, who reflects the charm of the country north of Boston in his writ- ings, has expressed the whole plan of the mountains in his poem “New Hampshire” much more briefly and clearly than I could ever hope to do. He says about them : “Anything I can say about New Hampshire Will serve almost as well about Vermont Excepting that they differ in their moun- tains. The Vermont mountains stretch extended straight; New Hampshire mountains curl up in a coil.” Within this coil, there is such a concentrated wealth of valleys, peaks, waterfalls, and forests form- ing a veritable wonderland for the nature-lover, that it seems as if God had conspired to set down in New England a place where people might forget the world and its cares and follies and come nearer to peace and happiness. And the vacationist is using New Hampshire for just that purpose. Crowding the roads leading north are people of all walks and ages of life, in haughty limousines with shining luggage, and in battered beach-wagons with worn tents and frying pans strapped on back. This flow of vacationists started way back when Henry Ward Beecher discovered that the air in Bethle- hem was an infallible cure for hay- fever sufferers and made it the headquarters for the National Hay- Fever Association. Since then the number of tourists has increased so rapidly that one wonders at times how the small state can manage to hold them all and still preserve its rustic beauty and its solitudes with- out becoming a second Coney Is- land. 20

Page 24 text:

kVVXXVXVV ,VVX%X% wwvxvvx vvxxvww .x wvvvxx wv .xxxwvxv xv % xv% quently seen on the trails. For the most part, undergraduates at Dart- mouth, they spend their summers and all other available time in New Hampshire. They are invaluable in making life safe and comfortable there. Carrying all their supplies on their backs, they carry provi- sions to forest-rangers, tip-top houses, and Appalachian huts, take care of trails, build nevr huts, and place trail-markers. Many a lost or exhausted tenderfoot or “goofer,” as they are popularly known, has offered thanks that a D. O. C. boy happened along at just the right moment to lead him to the food and warmth of a hut. Working long hours and for short pay, the boys perform these tiring but satisfying labors, so important to the welfare of mountain-climbers, simply be- cause they like it. They would do anything to stay among their be- loved peaks and they are amply re- warded by nature. All Appalachian guides and D. O. C. boys are char- acterized by their tanned healthy bodies, cheerful grins, and their un- failing good humor. One thing that makes the moun- tains so intriguing is that there is hardly a spot in them that is not steeped in legend. Perhaps the place that most abounds in history and story is Crawford Notch. The early story of this famous pass be- tween Mt. Willey and ] It. Webster is contained in the Crawford His- tory written by Ethan Allen Craw- ford, which gives in detail the rig- orous life of the early settlers. The Crawford family did the most to- ward developing and civilizing this Notch. Abel Crawford was known as the “Patriarch” of the hills and stood six feet five in his stocking feet. He had eight sons, all giants, the largest and best-known of whom was Ethan Allen Crawford. He built an inn in the Notch, farm.ed, hunted, guided innumerable travel- ers to the top of the peaks, until he became so closely bound to the mountains that he was almost a part of them. We cannot help but feel that Ethan and his father can- not be far distant in spirit from the scenes among v hich they lived and with which they have been associ- ated. There has been tragedy also in the Notch the saga of the Willey family becoming one of the best known in the mountains. The family was annihilated by a land- slide from the side of Mt. Willey back in 1821. The most tragic part of the whole episode was that, be- coming terrified at the sound of the approaching avalanche, they rushed out of their home and were crushed in the path of the slide. Thoir house, hov ever. v. ' as left untouched, the torrent having divided on a rock behind the house and rushed by on each side, leaving it stand- ing. If the familv had remained in- side, they would have escaped un- harmed. In Franconia Notch in the western part of the state is the most famous landmark in New Hampshire, the Profile, or as he is familiarly called, the Old Man of the Mountains. His profile juts out from the side of Mount Cannon as if some omnipo- tent god had left his visage stamped there. Since the Indians worshiped it and the first awestruck vdiite man beheld it, it has never failed to im- press all who see it with its expres- sion of serenity and power. Many 22