To Emporium Country —
A late start, but that did not bother me, for on this day I wanted chiefly to get more studies for the Road Picture and “In a Mountain pass” both of which required afternoon lighting effects.
Terrific humid heat that came in waves into the car —
When I got into the high-hill country north of Emporium I noticed that many trees had already changed to a pure orange-yellow, tho all the rest were still green.
At noon, I stopped at a Spring below Emporium for a drink. Drive on to the hill overlooking Sinnamahoning, from where, in the opposite (western direction) I had made the studies for the Road picture.
Lunch by the side of the road, under a young oak tree, overlooking the valley which shimmered with the heat-haze; after which I stretched out on the drying grass, and dozed in the heat. How far away the world seemed — here the war did not matter — I felt at peace.
Studies all afternoon of the road, and also theMountainPasspicture (which was at the bottom of the hill). Looking up the side of the tree-covered hills into the dazzling sun-shot sky, which seemed to dissolve and stream down over the trees in a hot blue-haze.
Very late when I headed for Emporium — (Study of sunburst behind the huge dark hill — the muffled human voices in the valley — a cow-bell).
At dinner – when I asked the waiter what kinds of pies they had he solemnly replied —apple, cherry, one piece of lemon, one berry, and custard.
For a walk thru the town after dark. Then later, drive up the mountain to the south — The dark, and loneliness gave me a thrill as I went on and on up the winding road. When I came out on the hill plateau, I parked by the side of the road, turned out the lights, and stood in the road. Save for a farmhouse, where someone, doing chores, carried a lantern, there were no lights to mar the effect of the dark, which at first seemed very black indeed, but which soon receded into a vague luminous dark gray — Over-head, the star-studded sky was divided with the SW –NE diagonal of the Milky Way, which faded into the northeast into the glow of light from Emporium (that seemed like a false dawn — a thing of mystery). As I watched, the SW portion of the Milky Way, above a hill, suddenly was blotted out by a bank of cloud, which was visible only by the fact of the stars’ disappearance.
--Charles E. Burchfield, September 8, 1939