Tl^iCb 5o(a of (moun^atn?^utttnti^0 



yellow avens, the ruddy stonecrop, and gail- 

 lardias as handsome as any black-eyed Susan; 

 then there is a fine scattering of shooting-stars, 

 starworts, pentstemons of prettiest shades, and 

 the tall and stately columbine, a burst of silver 

 and blue. 



Many of the polar plants that bloom in this 

 Arctic world were probably brought here from 

 the Arctic Circle by the vast and prolonged flow 

 of ice from the north during the last ice age. 

 Stranded here by the receding, melting ice, 

 they are growing up with the country under con- 

 ditions similar to those in the Northland. They 

 are quick to seize and beautify each new soil- 

 bed that appears, — soil exposed by the shrink- 

 ing of snow-fields, piled by landslides, washed 

 down by water, or made by the dropped or de- 

 posited sweepings of the winds. 



Bees and butterflies follow the flowers, and 

 every wild garden has the buzz of busy wings 

 and the painted sails of idle ones. Mountain 

 sheep occasionally pose and group among the 

 flowers and butterflies. Often sheep, crags, 

 ptarmigan, and green spaces, flowers, and water- 



119 



