THE MASS 15 



naturally silent that my ear could detect 

 not even "the slender clarion of the un- 

 seen midge." 



And, as to visible movement, there was 

 just one exception to an apparently mo- 

 tionless surface of things, and that one 

 exception was the "Arctic butterfly" 

 (czneis semidea), as, half -crawling, half- 

 flying, it worked its tortuous passage over 

 the bowlders, "like a two-inch fleck of 

 gray-brown lichen that has suddenly be- 

 come a spirit." 



But this superficial quiet is not peculiar 

 to the mountains, and, save in the moun- 

 tain-woods, is not, I would say, often ex- 

 perienced on the mountains. On the con- 

 trary, the quiet which I have in mind is 

 peculiar to the mountains, for it is noth- 

 ing less than the intrinsic stillness of the 

 basal mass. I am wont to call it the quiet 

 of the fundament. 



In this connection there stands out 

 in memory one mountain, "the sentinel 

 of Franconia Notch" rugged old La- 



