My First Summer 



Back of this flowery strip there is a wavy up- 

 sloping plain of solid granite, so smoothly 

 ice-polished in many places that it glistens in 

 the sun like glass. In shallow hollows there 

 are patches of trees, mostly the rough form 

 of the two-leaved pine, rather scrawny look- 

 ing where there is little or no soil. Also a 

 few junipers (Juniperus occidental!*}, short 

 and stout, with bright cinnamon-colored 

 bark and gray foliage, standing alone mostly, 

 on the sun-beaten pavement, safe from fire, 

 clinging by slight joints, a sturdy storm- 

 enduring mountaineer of a tree, living 

 on sunshine and snow, maintaining tough 

 health on this diet for perhaps more than 

 a thousand years. 



Up towards the head of the basin I see 

 groups of domes rising above the wave- 

 like ridges, and some picturesque- castellated 

 masses, and dark strips and patches of silver fir, 

 indicating deposits of fertile soil. Would that 

 I could command the time to study them ! 

 What rich excursions one could make in 

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