STEEP TRAILS 



pensation for all the cost. And when we at 

 length go down the long white slopes to the 

 levels of civilization, the pains vanish like 

 snow in sunshine, while the noble and exalting 

 pleasures we have gained remain with us to 

 enrich our lives forever. 



The fate of the high-flying mountain snow- 

 flowers is a fascinating study, though little 

 may we see of their works and ways while 

 their storms go on. The glinting, swirling 

 swarms fairly thicken the blast, and all the 

 air, as well as the rocks and trees, is as one 

 smothering mass of bloom, through the midst 

 of which at close intervals come the low, in- 

 tense thunder-tones of the avalanches as they 

 speed on their way to fill the vast fountain 

 hollows. Here they seem at last to have found 

 rest. But this rest is only apparent. Gradu- 

 ally the loose crystals by the pressure of their 

 own weight are welded together into clear ice, 

 and, as glaciers, march steadily, silently on, 

 with invisible motion, in broad, deep currents, 

 grinding their way with irresistible energy to 

 the warmer lowlands, where they vanish in 

 glad, rejoicing streams. 



In the sober weather of Oregon lightning 



makes but little show. Those magnificent 



thunder-storms that so frequently adorn and 



glorify the sky of the Mississippi Valley are 



288 



