MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 373 



is the autumn dress of the Lyall's Larches; for when the brief 

 alpine summer is past the leaves of these beautiful trees, 

 which grow in clusters out of woody cups, and in July are a 

 tender pale green, turn golden-hued before they fall. 



The cones are small and dainty and soon drop off. It is 

 very pleasant to pause awhile amongst a grove of these 

 exquisite feathery apple-green Larches, and recall the words 

 of one who said : 



" Behind nie lay tlie forests hushed witli sleep ; 

 Above me in its granite majesty, 



Sphinx-like, the peak thro' silent centuries 

 Met the eternal question of the sky. 



Victor at last — throned on the cragged height — 

 I scan the green steeps of the mountain side 

 Where late I toiled. The forest lands stretch wide. 



And in deep valleys farms gleam far and white, 



Vistas of distance break upon my sight. 



The peopled plain creeps to the sky's blue rim. 

 Where new peaks gather substanceless and dim. 



As half-remembered dreams at noontime light. 



"Between two silences my soul floats still 



As any white cloud in this sunny air. 



No sound of living breaks upon my ear, 

 No strain of thought — no restless human will — 



Only the virgin quiet, everywhere — 



Earth never seemed so far, or Heaven so near. 

 In the awed silence of this dim high place 



One keeping vigil might not fear, indeed, 



If it befell him as that man of old. 

 Who in tlie mountain met God face to face." 



COTTON-GRASS 



Erioplioniin capitatiu)i. Sedge Family 



Perennial by rootstocks. Stems: culm obtusely triangular, stiff, 

 smooth, slender. Leaves: filiform, channelled; spikelet terminal, solitary, 

 erect ; involucre none ; scales spirally imbricated, ovate-lanceolate, 

 long-acuminate, purplish-brown, membranous ; bristles numerous, white 

 or slightly yellowish, weak. 



