58 SATir.DAY I.ECTUrvES. 



they assume tints of ]nnk and crimson and gold, and soon 

 with the morning breezes they melt away and the landscape 

 stands revealed in all its freshness and beauty. 



Rarely on the clearest day can you stand for half an hour 

 upon one of the high peaks without seeing showers and local 

 storms sweeping over the countr}' in various directions. 

 Often several may be seen at once ; not unfrequently one 

 takes a turn and comes over us with most unwelcome sud- 

 denness, though ver}^ often they are below us. 



On two sides of the mountains, deej) gulfs or ravines come 

 nearly to the mountain top, so that you may stand on an al- 

 most perpendicular precipice and look down into a gulf from 

 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep, at your very feet, and see the clouds 

 form far below, as a moist air from the valley sweeps up the 

 gorge and meets the cooler temperature of the upper height. 



It were well if many of us, citizens of this great Republic, 

 could look upon both the northern and southern divisions 

 of this might}' chain, which has been for so many ages the 

 rampart of our easte^'n coast, and learn that neither section 

 has a monopoly of nature's gifts. 



It were well, if we would learn to contrast and enjoy these 

 varieties of mountain sublimit}^ ; that there are mountains 

 and mountains; that, as the stars, one mountain clifFereth 

 from another mountain in glory. 



It were well, if we would learn to study mountains, to ac- 

 quaint ourselves with their peculiarities, to make them our 

 friends, to know and to love them. 



It is well for us, as scientific observers, noting all the facts 

 alike in anthropology and biology, to note and carefully to 

 remember that fact of all history, that mountains have not 

 only deflected the winds and influenced the temperature 

 and rainfall, but have also had a powerful influence upon 

 the dwellers among them; that patriotism has ever flour- 

 ished most vigorousl}^ when nourished by mountain air : 

 that freedom has ever loved to make her home amid moun- 

 tain peaks; that " men, highminded men, who know their 

 rights, and knowing, dare maintain," \\'hether in Greece, in 



