ii6 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCHWOMAN 



beauty of the Fall that expressive word for 

 which autumn is so poor and meaningless an 

 equivalent I would do so; but it is not. 

 English people, however, who have ever 

 abandoned their own clammy October and 

 November in order to test the same across 

 the Atlantic, can form some notion of what it 

 is here in New Mexico. A world painted in 

 blue or gold an atmosphere so exhilarating 

 that no amount of malaise or worry can 

 render one who breathes it utterly insensible 

 to its charms and, at the same time, each 

 day as it rolls by so unvarying in its per- 

 fection that to sit, walk, ride, or drive, 

 whether in sun or shade, is alike delightful 

 and desirable. In short, whatever you choose 

 to do, the weather will endorse your choice 

 as being exactly the right one. And this 

 weather sometimes endures for months, and 

 always for weeks. 



Then is the sportsman abroad in the valley, 

 hunting the crested quail, and the jack rabbit 

 lengthens his already monstrous bounds, 

 fleeing for his life ; and camping -parties 

 betake themselves to the mountains in search 

 of higher game deer, and even bear ; and 



