RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,337
('things left unsaid which you need not repeat')
There's a place in Elmira, above
it, higher up one of the hills that
surround the place and the river
Chemung, called 'Harris Hill.'
We visited it often - on nice
days it was the high-air lungs
of open Elmira; as was the
monument up at the battlefield
where Col. John Sullivan, sent
on a mission by President
Washington, finally caught
up with and 'vanquished' (a
nice way of saying 'slaughtered')
the Five Nation Iroquois Federation
of Indian (natives) tribes that had
dwelled in the area and beyond for
many years previous. Sullivan's
Monument is an obelisk atop a
hillside with a commanding view
over the hills and down to the river,
and it conjoins that view with any
number of panoramic history boards
showing the locations of the slaughters,
burning, fighting, killing, and of the
eventual subduing of the Indians. in
fact, entering the area, from, say,
Taughannock on out (West on Rt. 6)
are historic markers noting and attesting
to the route(s) of 'Sullivan's March).
-
But I return now to Harris Hill, another
spot entirely. When my son was young,
perhaps 4 and 5, we were (he and I), as
we often were, quite playful with the
language - as was my wife too. My son
took to calling Harris Hill, instead of
Harris Hill', 'Ha Ha Hi Hi' - in a sort
of sing-songy voice. Yes, it stuck, and
that was mostly how we referred to it,
without the sing-song. Harris Hill was
part nature-center, part play-park and
picnic/barbecue area, and part wooded
paths and hiking trails. Because of the
sublime location of Harris Hill, the air
above it was filled with updrafts, which
a local soar-plane (glider) company, for
which we often did printing, at work
in Whitehall Printing, used as perfect
updraft areas for their soar-planes. It
was called Schweizer Aircraft co., and
they manufactured gliders, as well as
offered rental rides and instructional
rides. The idea was that a tow-plane
(motorized Piper) would pull the
soar-plane up, tethered by a cable,
and once in proper position the cable
would be dropped and reeled back in
and the soar-plane - silent, and left
to itself, with a competent, trained,
pilot, would ride the wind currents
and updrafts over the hills and valleys
of the area. Perhaps an hour, sometimes
more...or less. The silent, un-connected
soaring plane would then, with its wide,
broad wings, glide itself back down and
land nicely, and from a cruising-float
speed, onto the tarmac again at the
Schweizer Field. No, I never did any
of this, but saw ii underway many
times. It was like having a boat at
the Jersey Shore: you made the
purchase, paid for a berth to keep
it, and used it when you used it.
-
So, that was Harris Hill. Frankly it
was always too 'recreational' there for
me, and I more enjoyed the dour and
serious overview of the Sullivan
Slaughter Fields. In fact, way, way
back then I wrote a piece about it. I
have it here somewhere; perhaps I
can find it. Its refrain is, 'You must be
discreet; things left unsaid which you
need not repeat.' The subject matter
was, of course, meditative times atop
Sullivan's Monument battlefield. The
closing line was, 'the wind rustles
the marsh grass, silently.' I always
wanted to maybe change that to 'the
wind rustles the high grass, silently,'
because in reality, that high up there
wasn't really any 'marsh', just tall
grass. But I let it stay and just
forgot about it.
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