STEEP TRAILS 



granite flesh; and I love them with a love inten- 

 sified by long and close companionship. After 

 I had bathed in the bright river, sauntered over 

 the meadows, conversed with the domes, and 

 played with the pines, I still felt blurred and 

 weary, as if tainted in some way with the sky 

 of your streets. I determined, therefore, to 

 run out for a while to say my prayers in the 

 higher mountain temples. "The days are sun- 

 ful," I said, "and, though now winter, no 

 great danger need be encountered, and no 

 sudden storm will block my return, if I am 

 watchful.' 7 



The morning after this decision, I started 

 up the canon of Tenaya, caring little about 

 the quantity of bread I carried; for, I thought, 

 a fast and a storm and a difficult canon were 

 just the medicine I needed. When I passed 

 Mirror Lake, I scarcely noticed it, for I was 

 absorbed in the great Tissiack her crown a 

 mile away in the hushed azure; her purple 

 granite drapery flowing in soft and graceful 

 folds down to my feet, embroidered gloriously 

 around with deep, shadowy forest. I have 

 gazed on Tissiack a thousand times in days 

 of solemn storms, and when her form shone 

 divine with the jewelry of winter, or was veiled 

 in living clouds; and I have heard her voice of 

 winds, and snowy, tuneful waters when floods 



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