What makes them special?
     Clearly, the mountains of the East and West cannot be judged by the same standards. Western mountains are majestic, so tall and massive that they inspire awe….1…., perhaps, even terror in the beholder. Most of the eastern speaks are too gentle and …2…to cause such reactions. And possibly they are too familiar. About half the people in North America live….3…of the Appalachians or the Laurentians; …4….who live nearby are sometimes tempted to take their mountains for granted, to accept them as familiar features holding …5…. That is exciting or glamorous.
     ….6…., many of the eastern speaks are impressive in their own modest way. No one who has ever …7….from Pinkham Notch to the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire or caught a glimpse of Mount Marcy from Lake Placid in New York is likely to forget these sights. …8…knows only the evergreen forests of the West is certain to be impressed by his first view of an eastern mountain covered with oaks, hickories, birches, maples, tuliptrees, and other deciduous trees, especially….9….he sees them in their splendid autumn foliage. Moreover, the East’s springtime spectacle of blossoming redbuds, dogwoods, rhododendrons, and mountain laurel, ….10…..western counterpart.