Preview
Circa Date
1887
Transcription
95
□ In the midst of the mighty flood whose ftn [fountain] heads were in La Perouse & Crillon & so we marched on enchanted storm was all [melody]
I don’t know what he was thinking about when we set out in the rain, but judging by self denial in leaving his breakfast his pulse must have been beating high fast with expectation
So full the sympathy with the storm it seemed part of us & this sympathy Stick may have partaken
# Had a look in his eye almost like religion
His wildest rejoicing a song of praise as natural as the wind – as the song of Moses on escape from Egyptians & the Red Sea.
What seemed dullness became masterful good nature & self control. Had comfortable sense of power able for anything come or coming
Dark & Light, calm & storm of Nature – all one web of varied enchantments. Every leaf & particle throbbing with passionate intelligence
And then we had to take pity on him for being wet in such cold weather & cover him up
If we could understand the language of beast & bird their relationship to ourselves & Nature as one be united in sympathy. But we are strangers
96
Had serious withdrawn air. When an eagle was flying from top of one dead spar in the woods to another he noticed it & the crows getting mussels along shore & ducks as if speculating on results of shot the Indians made resting with chin on top of bundle in fine weather
Never feared waves & confidence I afterwards found was from knowledge. Splashing salmon saw everything in his calm way by watching eyes.
Come what may Stick was serene – only in his eyes could one detect play of thought.
Wailing swallowed in the dull abyss. The only times afraid & crept closer were when wolves howled at night
Had set heart on trip as well as I
Disdained even wag of tail by way of conciliation, took life seriously sole judge of his duty & doing it like a dog of honor in his own way. When I was riding over the ice of the Arctic Ocean nothing in the behavior of the dogs that drew the sled imparted me more than this +++++ Stick seriousness soberly pulled in the traces as old oxen
Almost any man or animal detached from the crowd & taken as companion into the wilderness will yield [many] interesting [truths give knowledge] not otherwise to be got sure to teach us something
06474
Resource Identifier
MuirReel33 Notebook01 Img050.Jpeg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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