Reminiscences of Joseph Le Conte. 209 



And whenever the way seemed long, 



And his strength began to fail, 

 She would sing a more wonderful song, 



Or tell a more wonderful tale. 



So she keeps him still a child 

 And will not let him go: — 



but she had to let him go at last. The Father himself stooped 

 down and took the child from the nurse's arms. And now 

 we sorrow most of all for this, that we shall see his face no 

 more. And we are glad and thankful that his raemorj' shall 

 dwell here as a benediction in days to come. 



REMINISCENCES OF JOSEPH LE CONTE. 



BY JOHN MUIR. 



""DEYOND all wealth, honor, or even health, is the attach- 



^ ment we form to noble souls." 



I have been one of Joseph Le Conte's innumerable friends 

 and admirers for more than thirty years. It was in Yosemite 

 Valley that I first met him, not far from the famous rock be- 

 neath the shadow of which he died. With a party of his 

 students he was making his first excursion into the high 

 Sierra, and it was delightful to see with what eager, joyful, 

 youthful enthusiasm he reveled in the sublime beaut}^ of the 

 great Valley, and tried to learn how it was made. His fame 

 had already reached me, though he had then been only a year 

 or two in California, and, like everybody else, I was at once 

 drawn to him by the charm of his manners, as to a fine lake 

 or a mountain; and when he kindly invited me to join his 

 party, of course I gladly left all my other work and followed 

 him. This first Le Conte excursion, with its grand landscapes 

 and weather and delightful campfire talks, though now far 

 back in the days of auld lang syne, still remains in mind 

 bright and indestructible, like glacial inscriptions on granite. 



