Reminiscences oj Joseph Le Conte. 211 



fleeted in the unstable mirror. But soon came perfect still- 

 ness, earth and sky were inseparably blended and spiritual- 

 ized, and we could only gaze on the celestial vision in devout, 

 silent, wondering admiration. That lake with its mountains 

 and stars, pure, serene, transparent, its boundaries lost in 

 fullness of light, is to me an emblem of the soul of our 

 friend. 



Two years later we again camped together, when I was 

 leading him to some small residual glaciers I had found. But 

 his time was short; he had to get back to his class-room. I 

 suggested running away for a season or two in lime-obliterat- 

 ing wildness, and pictured the blessings that would flow from 

 truancy so pious and glorious. He smiled in sympathy with 

 an introverted look, as if recalling his own free days when 

 first he reveled in nature's wild wealth. I think it was at 

 this time he told me the grand story of his early exploring 

 trip to Lake Superior and the then wild region about the 

 headwaters of the Mississippi. And notwithstanding he ac- 

 complished so much in the short excursions which at every 

 opportunity he made, I have always thought it was to be re- 

 gretted that he allowed himself to be caught and put in pro- 

 fessional harness so early. 



As a teacher he stood alone on this side of the 

 continent, and his influence no man can measure. He 

 carried his students in his heart, and was the idol of the 

 University. He had the genius of hard work which not 

 even the lassitude of sickness could stop. Few of his scholars 

 knew with what inexorable determination he toiled to keep 

 close up with the most advanced thought of the times and get 

 it into teachable form; how he listened to the speech which 

 day uttereth unto day, and gathered knowledge from every 

 source — libraries, laboratories, explorers in every field, assim- 

 ilating the results of other men's discoveries and making them 

 his own, to be given out again free as air. He had the rare 

 gift of making dim, nebulous things clear and attractive to 

 other minds, and he never lacked listeners. Always ready for 



