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Circa Date
1887
Transcription
71
His poor [begging] eyes had a tough begging look like a tree growing on the extreme northern edge of the Arctic forest
He had not yet shown any fear no dull forebodings that threatened me, his little elastic fat twinkled in invisible confidence over the icy [prairies] like those of a humdrum team of Esquimaux dogs on the ice of the Arctic ocean in midwinter
# He followed in spite of all I could say as well might the earth got rid of the moon, begged with all his body to be allowed to go with me begged with his tail
I had led his master into trouble now his humble companion
Not shamefaced but shame-bodied in utter abasement – he must go
# Strange he should have ventured forth this stormy day when all the other animals were glad to stay at home in the rocks & woods trying to curl up & keep warm in their damp dwelling. The little ermines about the roots of the trees, marmots on the bare mountaintops, their burrows thatched with kind overleaning bryanthus, wild goats huddled back of cliffs out of the wind too cold to go out to feed, bears wolves crouching in the best chance shelters they can find
72
Grand crevasse
# A grave ready made sweet & pure neither land nor sea blue as the sky & as pure capacious enough for the largest army that ever fought & bled
Imperturbable good nature or good dullness protected him from the stings & arrows of outrageous fortune like brazen armor
Had none of that kittenish drollery so common in small dogs, no enthusiasm of character unspritely, among all natural gifts calm endurance the most noticeable
Terrified & distressed beyond control thrown into agony of fear by the shadow of death but not benumbed by it, for in the manliest way he struggled again & again to escape
Like a clock out of its case could see the working of a dogs heart & mind, mysterious as mans, both are infinite both of them & so unmeasurable & how then shall we measure them Yet how calmly & conceit of ignorance we [lazily] [slump/stump] the whole question into instinct as [fetish]
His higher endowments were hidden in stoic dullness
I felt happy & rich that day & nobly compensated for [all] the dreadful [nerve straining] danger in cutting closer into the brotherhood of all God’s creatures
Resource Identifier
MuirReel33 Notebook01 Img038.Jpeg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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