He has no children. I pointed to a hill at some distance
before us, and asked what it was. "That, sir," said he, "is a very high
hill. It is known by the name of Graylock." He seemed to feel that this
was a more poetical epithet than Saddleback, which is a more usual name
for it. Graylock, or Saddleback, is quite a respectable mountain; and I
suppose the former name has been given to it because it often has a gray
cloud, or lock of gray mist, upon its head. It does not ascend into a
peak, but heaves up a round ball, and has supporting ridges on each side.
Its summit is not bare, like that of Mount Washington, but covered with
forests. The driver said, that several years since the students of
Williams College erected a building for an observatory on the top of the
mountain, and employed him to haul the materials for constructing it; and
he was the only man who had driven an ox-team up Graylock. It was
necessary to drive the team round and round, in ascending. President
Griffin rode up on horseback.
Along our road we passed villages, and often factories, the machinery
whirring, and girls looking out of the windows at the stage, with heads
averted from their tasks, but still busy.
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