My First Summer 



the snow to the river ! And when we call 

 to mind that thousands of these rejoicing rills 

 are assembled in each one of the main 

 streams, we wonder the less that our Sierra 

 rivers are songful all the way to the sea, 



About sundown saw a flock of dun gray- 

 ish sparrows going to roost in crevices of 

 a crag above the big snow-field. Charm- 

 ing little mountaineers ! Found a species 

 of sedge in flower within eight or ten feet 

 of a snow-bank. Judging by the looks of 

 the ground, it can hardly have been out in 

 the sunshine much longer than a week, and 

 it is likely to be buried again in fresh snow 

 in a month or so, thus making a winter 

 about ten months long, while spring, sum- 

 mer, and autumn are crowded and hurried 

 into two months. How delightful it is to 

 be alone here ! How wild everything is, - 

 wild as the sky and as pure ! Never shall I 

 forget this big, divine day, the Cathe- 

 dral and its thousands of cassiope bells, and 

 the landscapes around them, and this camp 

 [ 338 ] 



