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Circa Date
1887
Transcription
33
Escape
# Such a gush of canine hallelujahs burst forth on the safe side of the gulf of ice
How eloquent he became though so generally taciturn – a perfect poet of misery & triumphant joy
I never saw the dear queer little fellow creature again
Crevasses as unsearchable as the depths of sky
The swift rack of clouds
The springs of action hidden so we could never foretell what he would do. Now he was translucent as ice – no mistaking his meaning
Every hair of him up in alarm
Yet how wisely capable of fears
# In his eyes his strength lay suggestive of hidden power dull condensed smooth haired [lump] of humdrum as unlike those queer merry terriers as day & night
# wise hairy whisps of fun & affection
What charm could draw him out of his bed cold & breakfastless in so stormy a morning
# Twinkling of little clean shanks of black & tan lithe bounding of hounds etc.
34
General – results
# In all my wild walks seldom have I had a more definite & useful message to bring back
# Stick was the herald of a new gospel
His mental virtues & depth of character revealed – brought forth
Deliverance more like a [represented] a miracle than common providence
# His trial like white light laid him bare body & soul
# What an opening that little dog made for me through the dark that separates us from the vast multitudes of our animal fellow mortals. We are led a way we know not of. One experience hides or obscures another but that little dog in deathly peril hush & [braved/braced] walking that narrow bridge with [cautious] steps & the tumultuous joy of deliverance still stands out clear through the most of all after perils & the whole animal kingdom has been nearer to be from that day
At first we had to walk a mile or two over mudflat & I had on a rubber coat & boots, but left there in the woods fearing I could not [jump] well etc., balance might he endangered made up mind to take no heed of rain
# & it was in this dreadful crevasse that I tried so hard to avoid that saw through Stick down into the depths of our common nature
# Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own & makes it so much the larger & better every day. But this was more than a glimpse. I was a deep look “been in the heart” as the Scotch say & make all the animals friends & fellow mortals indeed.
Resource Identifier
MuirReel33 Notebook01 Img019.Jpeg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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