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Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
46
antlers. After a long ramble[ing] [saunter] through the dense encumbered woods I emerged upon a smooth [level] meadow [level as a lake] full of sunshine like a lake of light. [the banks of which are the forests which hemmed in] bounded by the two-leaved pines, tall & arrowy pines. X (See pg 93) It is about [2]1 1/2(?) miles long [&] a quarter of a mile wide & the sod is made of silky Agrostis & calamagrostis chiefly, [with] their panicles of purple flowers & purple stems of which are so light & fine [it] they seem[s] to fairly float above the green plush lawn of leaves like a mist. While [it] the whole meadow was made yet more joyous [by] & beautiful by thousands of [flowers] gentians, [polentilus], ivesias, orthocarpus, etc. & their corresponding bees & butterflies. All the [glacier] meadows hereabouts [one of many] are beautiful. All more or less alike in their main characteristics] but few are so perfect as this one, compared with it the most carefully level, licked, snipped, artificial lawn of pleasure grounds are course things. I should like to live here always. It is so calm & withdrawn while open to the universe in full communion with everything good. To the north of this meadow I discovered the camp of some Indian hunters by the smoke of their fire. They had not yet returned from the chase but I saw them later.
47
From meadow to meadow every one beautiful beyond telling, & from lake to lake through groves & belts of arrowy trees I held my way northward towards Mt. Conness [& Dana] finding wild novel beauty everywhere [near & far]. [Had telling views of] The encompassing mountains are ever calling come. Hope I may climb them all & learn their stories. Though that scarce seems possible. A most delightful fruitful enriching day [full of the richest wildness].
Aug [August] 12) The sky scenery has changed but X little so far with the change in elevation [we have made]. Clouds about .05, glorious pearly cumuli tinted with purple of ineffable fairness [delicacy] of tone. Moved camp to the side [finest] of the glacier meadow[s] mentioned above. To let sheep trample so divinely fine a place seems a barbarous desecration. [It seems a] [a place] [of so divinely fair]. Fortunately they [sheep] prefer the succulent broad leaved triticum & other woodland grasses to the silky species of the meadows & therefore seldom set foot in them. The Shepherd & the Don could not agree about the method [style] of herding [sheep]. Billy set [the] his dog Jack on the[m] sheep too often, so the Don thought & after some dispute today in wh [which] the shepherd loudly claimed the right to dog the d—d sheep as much as he liked he was discharged
Date Occurred
1869
Resource Identifier
MuirReel31 Notebook 009 Img026.jpg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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