8o UNDER THE TREES. 



But the rocks are soon climbed, the summit is 

 reached ! The world is at my feet the mountain 

 ranges like great billows, and the valleys, deep, far, 

 and shadowy, between; and overhead the unbroken 

 arch of sky melting into illimitable space through 

 infinite gradations of blue. The vision which has 

 haunted me so long with illusive hints of range 

 and splendor is mine at last, and I have no greet 

 ing for it but the breathless eagerness with which I 

 turn from point to point, as if to drink all in with 

 one compelling glance. But the landscape does 

 not yield its infinite variety to the first nor to the 

 second glance ; the agitation of the first outlook 

 gives place to a deep, calm joy; the eager desire to 

 possess on the instant what has been won by long 

 toil and patience is followed by a quiet mood which 

 banishes all thought of self, and waits upon the 

 hour and the scene for the revelation they will 

 make in their own good time. Slowly the noble 

 landscape reveals itself to me in its vast range and 

 its marvelous variety. The somber groups of 

 mountains to the west become distinct and majestic 

 as I look into their deep recesses ; far off to the 

 north the massive bulk and impressive outlines of 

 a solitary peak grow upon me until it seems to 

 dominate the whole country-side. A kingly mount 

 ain truly, of whose &quot; night of pines &quot; our saintly 

 poet has sung; from this distance a vast and soft 

 ened shadow against the stainless sky. To the 

 east one sees the long uplands, with slender spires 



