26 NEW HAMPSHIRE 



credible it seems that the air is so furiously in mo- 

 tion only fifty rods back ! Here it is like Elysium. 

 And almost I believe that this limited prospect 

 is better than the grander sweep from the summit 

 itself, less distracting and more restful. So 

 half a loaf may be better than a whole one, if a 

 man cannot be contented without trying to eat the 

 whole one. A white-throat and a myrtle warbler 

 sing to me as I nibble my sandwich. They are 

 the loftiest spirits, it appears. I take off my hat 

 to them. 



Already I am down far enough to catch the 

 sound of running water ; and every rod brings a 

 new mountain into view from behind the long 

 East Peak. One of the best of them all is cone- 

 shaped Kearsarge, topped with its house. Now 

 the white crest of Washington rises upon me, 

 snow with the sun on it ; and here, by the fourth 

 mileboard, are a few pale-bright spring-beauties, 

 five or six blossoms only. They have found a 

 bit of earth from which the snow melted early, 

 and here they are, true to their name, with the 

 world on every side nothing but a desolation. If it 

 is time for myrtle warblers, why not for them ? 

 Now I see not only Washington, but the moun- 

 tains with it, all strangely foreshortened, so as to 

 give the highest peak a most surprising preemi- 

 nence. No wonder I was in doubt what to call it. 



