Adirondack Country. William Chapman White (13).

Why read it? The history of the Adirondacks, the names, the lakes, the peaks, the guides and impressions of the tourists and the seasons. "As a man tramps the woods to the lake.. .he knows he will find pines and lilies, blue heron and golden shiners, shadows on the rocks and the glint of light on the wavelets, just as they were in the summer of 1954, as they will be in 2054 and beyond; he can stand on a rock by the shore and be in a past he could not have known, in a future he will never see; he can be a part of time that was and time yet to come."

Ideas:

“…another October can be added to the tens, the hundreds, the millions of Octobers that have gone before over the Adirondack country.” P. 280. ………. November. “Adirondack homes are ready for the winter; storm windows are up; wood piles are stacked high.” P. 281. ………. “The new moon in the west is too puny to outdo the stars.” P. 285. ………. “In later winter cold, the air under the thick ice will snap and boom and send long cracks running from shore to shore, to tear the night until a man wakens nervously and wonders what hellish misery is loose out there on the lake.” P. 286. ………. “The first heavy snow may melt and bring that Adirondack abomination, a green Christmas….” P. 288. ………. “There is reason to believe that complaining about the passing of the old fashioned winter has been a favorite occupation in northern New York for many years stretching back to 1799.” ………. “the Adirondacks, the land of living Christmas trees.” P. 290. ………. “The winter woods, even the familiar parts, are a different world from the woods in summer.” P. 291. ………. “As the old year ends in the Adirondack country the fields and slopes are white under the December moon and the world is still; shining hillsides wall out the clatter of the world beyond.” P. 294. ………. “Today, the ice-cutters have gone the way of the blacksmiths, the livery stables, and the sleigh-bell makers.” P. 298. ………. “The deep cold of the nights sets the trees to cracking, to break the winter quiet.” P. 299. ………. “In mid-February some people go outdoors on a restless quest to seek some living proof that winter is not forever.” P. 300.

To be concluded.