NURSLINGS OF THE SKY 



cesses. Weather does not happen. It is 

 the visible manifestation of the Spirit mov- 

 ing itself in the void. It gathers itself to- 

 gether under the heavens ; rains, snows, 

 yearns mightily in wind, smiles; and the 

 Weather Bureau, situated advantageously 

 for that very business, taps the record on 

 his instruments and going out on the 

 streets denies his God, not having gathered 

 the sense of what he has seen. Hardly 

 anybody takes account of the fact that 

 John Muir, who knows more of mountain 

 storms than any other, is a devout man. 



Of the high Sierras choose the neigh- 

 borhood of the splintered peaks about the 

 Kern and King's river divide for storm 

 study, or the short, wide-mouthed canons 

 opening eastward on high valleys. Days 

 when the hollows are steeped in a warm, 

 winey flood the clouds come walking on 

 247 



