August-September 1880, Second Expedition of 1880 Image 4

Creator

John Muir

Preview

Transcription

Structureless storm in the sky. The rain is falling in heavy plopps [plops] & [dashes] on my page & hat & shoulders & on the lvs [leaves] of [huck] bushes & fern fronds at my feet. The wind is [sweeping] in a steady flood overhead, making a continuous [ ] [calm] storm. A-a-a-h binding the tops of the [ ] [nest] trees (100 ft) but only moving gentley low dripping branches & the bushes & [smiles] & [now] & then turning the fronds of the ferns on edge so you can see their [dotted] undersides of those nearest to me. [Over] [the] cliff [whose] the [ ] [have] [all] been carried away by the [ ] [ ] are a half day [ ] [ ] [glad]of [voice] & [strong] & [one] [torrent] [rocking] it [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] over boulders in a fresh & ever & anon A mass of [ ] in the blue crystal cliffs. [ ] with resounding clash & roar [mingling] its tone with those of wind & the torrents & [ ] making on grand [ ] such as delights the [ear] of the mtneer [mountaineer] How different from last Sunday in [Sundown] with its peace & [polar ] calm. When the sun shone on the [ ] water & the sounds of the birds & the bergs even seemed in their strength to be tranquil in deep repose. The falling berg with heavy thunder [tones] sustained one after another crowding then a [prolonged] roar & a series of reverberations chasing one another down the fiord from bastion to bastion & from dome to dome overhead, then dying [sleepily] away leaving the impression of reserved rather than spent power. Then the clash of the bergs & waves up the shore. This storm seems so complete & the ferns at my feet frail as they are & the blooming bushes all take it so kindly that it appears a sort of balanced calm of storms. A [mode] of beauty all tending to after beauty of a warm life – bestowing kind.

Date Original

1880

Source

Original journal dimensions: 10.5 x 17.5 cm.

Resource Identifier

MuirReel26Journal04P05-06.tif

Publisher

Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Rights Management

To view additional information on copyright and related rights of this item, such as to purchase copies of images and/or obtain permission to publish them, click here to view the Holt-Atherton Special Collections policies.

Related Reources

To view additional images from the "August-September 1880, Second Expedition of 1880" journal, click here to view the image gallery. To view additional journals by John Muir, click here to view the top level of the collection.