Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/176

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��The White a?id Francotiia Mountains.

��side they fall to talking of their individ- ual plans, the giiest expressing himself as desirious of achieving fame. It seemed a terrible thing to him to die and to be forgotten, to leave no name behind and no monument to mark his resting place. In the midst of the con- versation the ruin came, and the ambi- tious guest, flying with the family, found his burial with the others. The story will live in Hawthorne long after the true facts have been forgotten ; or they will live because Hawthorne's narrative will have conferred immortality upon them."

This memorable event happened on the night of Monday, the twenty-eighth of August, 1826. A terrible storm of wind and rain prevailed, the mountain branches of the Saco and the Ammo- noosuc speedily overfilled their rocky channels, and the steep sides of hills loosened by the rain swept down upon the

��valleys, destroying many an ancient land- mark. One of these slides swept down toward the Willey House, then occupied by Samuel Willey, his wife, and family. The frightened inmates, seeking safety by flight from the impending ruin, were overwhelmed by the avalanche and per- ished, while the house remained un- touched. The bodies of two sons and one daughter were never found ; the rest of the Willey household lie buried in a small cemetery enclosure near the mansion house of Willey Farm at North Conway.

A most charming ride is that down the line of the Saco river to North Conway, whether by rail or stage. The beauty and boldness of the scenery on either side alternately enchants and awes.

" It reminds me of Switzerland," said Fritz, who had travelled on the conti- nent, " only there are more rocks and

���VIEW FROM BRIDGE IN BERLIN.

�� �