Preview
Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
50
Of the simplicity of His [the] manifestation in clean [and the] calm light giving thought [causing][breeding] sight giving solitude [clean]. Trans ahead to main Yo [Yosemite] camp p 68. Here continue from pg 55 The forest about us tonight is chiefly the magnifica silver fir [Amabilis] which at this elevation above 8000 feet, attains noblest dimensions & fineness of attire. My bed is made of its ferny branches [feathers] & it is a far better one than any combination of dead hair [and] feather, chaff, hay or husks [in the world] with all the luxury of [perfumed] linen & silk ever invented that could be devised. The broad elastic plumes are laid in two rows on level ground. The tips overlapping & curved round at the head & raised higher for a pillow which has a spike or of mint for fragrance combined with the [keen] spicy balsam of the plumes. Anyone which is healthy & young [and happy] & fee enjoys the very sweetest essence of sleep in such a bed & in such an atmosphere as this, & rises with a resounding thrill of vitality [glow] & an alertness & clearness of mind that makes one see as if the veil of flesh were for a few precious moments withdrawn altogether. Here is the place to enjoy [the luxury of
51
[living] life [clear as crystal water & as] pure as light [ere it reaches the earth. [These mortal coil has is] no cloddy heaviness, no care or [noise] only eternal music is heard & in climbing the sculptured mountains one seems to be lifted up without conscious effort [making our] muscles playing in delicate accord & apparently [seem to be] taking their own [sweet] pleasure. Anything else so good in [any other part of the world or even in] the best descriptions of the better land as [what I now [everyday] enjoy [here] at so cheap a rate [anything half] [But where the body is old & somewhat charred with alcohol the case is probably different Trans back to the plan W [west] side Yo crk [Yosemite Creek] basin All our beds were not so good. One night we camped on the steep slope of a hill & I made a level bed by driving two forked stakes & laying a pole for a bedframe on each side, one end on the ground the other on the fork of the stakes to make them level/for a level frame. On this frame boughs were spread & a blanket over the boughs & on this fine looking level bed the Don & I courted sleep. For a while all went well, then the green springy branches began to give way settling more & more until our hips worked through beneath the bed while head & feet remained aloft on the bed. Nevertheless]
Date Occurred
1869
Resource Identifier
MuirReel31 Notebook07 Img028.jpg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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