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Circa Date
circa 1887
Transcription
57
effect colored light falling on colored leaves sifting through & falling on the brown pebbles of the bottom of the pool, part reflected back into the colored foliage. The surface of the pool stirred gently in some spots by bands of [skaters] water beetles, or some trout shooting from shelter to shelter beneath fallen logs.
No wind stirs. The falls too are quiet slipping down the grand precipices in lacework with scarce a sound, silently as the sunbeams the whole valley floor is a finely blended mosaic of greens & purples, yellows & reds. Everything passive in appearance Even the unflinching rocks seems strangely soft in beauty of lines with their strength hidden & held in abeyance.
(See “Yos.” [Yosemite] 156–7)
Snow storm Yo [Yosemite] May 8th 1871
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The [sun pulsed ardent life] warm weather last month [through the plant & insect world] made everybody and everything lively. All the plants were budding and blossoming. Butterflies waved their petal wings over the newborn flowers [& thousands of] with myriads of lesser wings making all the air hum [hummed sweet low music about every opening bud], & birds were building their nests squirrels rustling among the dry leaves
the streams began their spring [songs] anthems, & even the rocks seemed to thrill
But today In the midst of this springtime rejoicing storm-
58
clouds appeared in above the brows of the walls moving with [most] imposing majesty marshalled for snow, moving hither thither [falling into line] taking their places & ranging themselves in order like soldiers [preparing for] in battle array
Sharp winds cutting like leaves came [keen & swift] rushing through the open spaces & rugged detatched [detached] flaws [came] roared & rumbled [rumbling & roaring] down the angular canons on the sides of the valley paralizing [paralyzing] & putting away [all the] insect life at a breath [as if it had never been]. While leaves & petals & budding branches were torn off & scattered broadcast among the rocks. Then the clouds blending into one dark mass shed their snow [in lavish abundance] heaping freezing drifting burying plants & insects quick & dead alike [The last feeble life of the flies & beetles insect life was quenched & all the flowers were buried]. The loaded branches of the trees bent low about the trunks, some of the willows & alders along the riverbank [being] were bent to the ground in [rich] wide bossy arches & the [silent death-like] hushed silence of winter [came again & [sealed] the val [valley]] again reigned supreme. One could not but pity the chilled multitudes overwhelmed like travelers [& villages] in the alpine avalanches
But no storm is cruel. Nature makes the storms & guides them with love among all his creatures
But somehow Every storm that has fallen on these mountains
& tingle in newness of warm life
Date Occurred
1871-1874
Resource Identifier
MuirReel31 Notebook11 Img032.jpg
Contributing Institution
Holt-Atherton Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library
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