THE MOUNTAIN TRAIL 



terers. Now these mountains are 

 our Holy Land, and we ought to 

 saunter through them reverently, 

 not 'hike' through them." And 

 John Muir lived up to his doctrine. 

 He was usually the last man to 

 reach camp. He never hurried. 

 He stopped to get acquainted with 

 individual trees along the way, 

 he would hail people passing by 

 and make them get down on hands 

 and knees if necessary to examine 

 some tiny seedling or to see the 

 beauty of some little bed of almost 

 microscopic flowers. Usually he 

 appeared at camp with some new 

 flowers in his hat and a little 

 piece of fir bough in his button- 

 hole. 



Now, whether the derivation of 

 saunter just given is scientific or 

 fanciful, is there not in it another 

 parable? There are people who 

 "hike" through life. They meas- 

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