The Haymakers of the Snow Peaks 



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bravely keep their residence while winter as- 

 saults and holds the icy heights. One of these 

 is our little friend the pika; the other a neigh- 

 bor of his, the sewellel, a creature much like a 

 dimunitive beaver, but one which never takes 

 to the water nor builds a dam, and has in place 

 of a tail like a mason's trowel one like a very 

 small and scanty whisk-broom. I shall have 

 more to say of him presently. 



In no season is the Alpine world more entic- 

 ing than in early autumn. A carpet of exqui- 

 site late flowers is spread upon the softer 

 ground: they are the same that in the valleys 

 sway upon tall stems, but here form a mat close 

 in the earth, for in the short summer of these 

 heights nature has no time to waste on making 

 stems and leaves. The slopes and ridges just 

 above the dwarf trees that mark the limit of 

 forest growth, are golden with ripened grass; 

 and the bared crags overhead glitter upon their 

 edges, but are richly purple in shadow. The 

 sunshine is yellow and mellow, and an opalescent 

 mist veils the peaks, near and remote, which 

 shine in it like the ruins of mighty shells, nbw 



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