My First Summer 



sometimes the bark and tender shoots of the 

 various species of ceanothus. 



"July 2. --Warm, sunny day, thrilling 

 plant and animals and rocks alike, making 

 sap and blood flow fast, and making every 

 particle of the crystal mountains throb and 

 swirl and dance in glad accord like star-dust. 

 No dullness anywhere visible or thinkable. 

 No stagnation, no death. Everything kept 

 in joyful rhythmic motion in the pulses of 

 Nature's big heart. 



Pearl cumuli over the higher mountains, 

 clouds, not with a silver lining, but all 

 silver. The brightest, crispest, rockiest-look- 

 ing clouds, most varied in features and 

 keenest in outline I ever saw at any time of 

 year in any country. The daily building and 

 unbuilding of these snowy cloud-ranges 

 the highest Sierra is a prime marvel to 

 me, and I gaze at the stupendous white domes, 

 miles high, with ever fresh admiration. But 

 in the midst of these sky and mountain af- 

 fairs a change of diet is pulling us down. 

 [98 ] 



