THE GLACIER MEADOWS 131 



and around the margin the stones that were shoved 

 back and piled up into a rude wall by the expan 

 sion of the lake ice during long bygone winters; 

 and along the sides of the streams the slight hollows 

 of the meadow which mark those portions of the old 

 lake that were the last to vanish. 



I would fain ask my readers to linger awhile in 

 this fertile wilderness, to trace its history from its 

 earliest glacial beginnings, and learn what we may 

 of its wild inhabitants and visitors. How happy 

 the birds are all summer and some of them all 

 winter; how the pouched marmots drive tunnels 

 under the snow, and how fine and brave a life the 

 slandered coyote lives here, and the deer and bears ! 

 But, knowing well the difference between reading 

 and seeing, I will only ask attention to some brief 

 sketches of its varying aspects as they are pre 

 sented throughout the more marked seasons of the 

 year. 



The summer life We have been depicting lasts 

 with but little abatement until October, when the 

 night frosts begin to sting, bronzing the grasses, 

 and ripening the leaves of the creeping heath worts 

 along the banks of the stream to reddish purple and 

 crimson ; while the flowers disappear, all save the 

 goldenrods and a few daisies, that continue to bloom 

 on unscathed until the beginning of snowy winter. 

 In still nights the grass panicles and every leaf and 

 stalk are laden with frost crystals, through which 

 the morning sunbeams sift in ravishing splendor, 

 transforming each to a precious diamond radiating 

 the colors of the rainbow. The brook shallows are 

 plaited across and across with slender lances of ice, 



