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434 



RECREATION. 



at intervals of 14 days. We were special- 

 ly conducted up on to the terraces which 

 surround her and sat there several hours 

 while the moon came up dimly over a 

 mountain, behind a veil of mist, and shed 

 a ghostly light on the weird white wrath of 

 roaring water, steam and spray. When the 

 eruption subsided we were led to the edge 

 of the pit and allowed to look down into 

 the ghastly hell, where with many roars, 

 bellows, snorts, groans and shrieks the 

 Giantess was churning up water and steam 

 for another demonstration of her unspeak- 

 able rage. Gertrude looked around at me 

 over her shoulder with large, apprehensive 

 eyes and said, impressively, 



"I'm going to reform." 



Someone with a graceful and artistic 

 imagination has had the naming of the 

 geysers, pools, springs and other objects 

 of interest in the Park; as witness Tur- 

 quoise, Morning Glory, Emerald, Topaz 

 and Electric pools, Rainbow lake, Chrome 

 spring, Orange and Lone Star geysers. An- 

 gel terrace, Cleopatra terrace, etc. Pictur- 

 esque also is the suggestive infernal no- 

 menclature, Hell's Half Acre, the Devil's 

 Ink Pot, the Devil's Frying Pan, his 

 Thumb, his Elbow and other royal appur- 

 tenances. 



One name I resent. It is Old Faithful; 

 which, by the way, is always referred to 

 as "she," while many of the other geysers 

 are mentioned as "it." This sex distinc- 

 tion is unquestionably made because of the 

 constancy of the great geyser ; but is the 

 lady wise to be so timely and reliable in 

 her displays of her beauty? Not so. She 

 has received in return only a contemptu- 

 ous name and she is given far less atten- 

 tion than she really deserves, because she 

 is always there. "Oh, we can go to see 

 Old Faithful any time ; s'he plays every 

 70 minutes," is the oft-heard comment of 

 guide and tourist. "Let us look at some- 

 thing else first." 



Ladies, is the moral clear? 



One memorable day Gertrude and I 

 were granted the privilege, much coveted 

 by Park travelers, of sitting beside the 

 driver of the coach. He was introduced 

 to us as Doc Wilson, and we stared at him 

 with respectful awe. He looked as gentle 

 as a debutante, but to us he represented a 

 dark and mysterious, perhaps a "bluggy" 

 past. We were in doubt how to address 

 him, not daring to venture the familiar 

 "Doc" indulged by his acquaintances, and 

 fearing he might resent with firearms the 

 effete "Mister" of the East. After a hur- 

 ried secret consultation we decided to 

 skate over the difficulty as lightly as pos- 

 sible, to say "Mr. Wilson" if necessary, 

 and to rely on our youth and innocence 

 to protect us from his possible wrath. 



The traveler who sits beside the driver 

 is also perched on the insecure and peril- 



ous horns of a dilemma. He may ask 

 questions and be guyed in reply, or he may 

 sit silent and discreet. The wise tourist 

 does the former. He has to stand the de- 

 risive jesting which the drivers feel it their 

 privilege to bestow, w.th sarcastic smiles 

 at "all them fool tenderfoot questions";' 

 but he saves himself from being disliked. 

 There is nothing a Park driver resents 

 more than he does the tourist who by fail- 

 ure to exhibit his own imbecility deprives 

 the driver of his rightful joy of guying. 

 Besides, the inquisitive one gains rich and 

 varied Western lore ; as witness the story 

 told us by Doc Wilson of the 2 road 

 agents who held up a stage load of gov- 

 ernment officers; of the driver who robbed 

 his own stage, which was carrying many 

 thousand dollars of government money 

 but no passengers ; and of the 2 despera- 

 does, who, one black winter night, com- 

 pelled 8 vigilantes, out in search of a horse 

 thief, to throw up their hands. 



The only wild animals we were so for- 

 tunate as to see in the Park were bears and 

 chipmunks, though Gertrude assured me 

 she caught a glimpse of a cottonwood rab- 

 bit, and kept an anxious lookout for a 

 side-hill gouger, one of the guides having 

 fired her imagination by his description of 

 the same. Everyone knows the Yellowstone 

 Park grizzlies, and there are said to be 

 about 50,000 elk and many deer in the 

 Park, but with unappreciated modesty they 

 kept behind the range. Spring and early 

 summer are, of course, the best times to 

 see the wild animals, and to get in close 

 touch with them one should spend many 

 weeks in the Park, making headquarters at 

 one of the comfortable hotels and taking 

 short side excursions into the hills. 



All other wonders of the Park but lead 

 up to the Grand canyon and falls of the 

 Yellowstone river. We reached them the 

 afternoon of the fourth day, with thick 

 heartbeats of anticipation. There was 

 nothing to say. People do not talk much, 

 looking down on the walls of eternity and 

 the waters that leap from the Throne. We 

 had wanted emotion. The only one of 

 which I was conscious was a wish that 

 my mother might stand beside me just 

 then. What faithless friends are adject- 

 ives! We had juggled them all our lives, 

 and they deserted us. A shirt-waist girl 

 said, "Isn't it pretty!" Gertrude and I 

 looked at each other in despair and tacitly 

 admitted that one word would serve as 

 well as another. "She hath done what she 

 could," murmured Gertrude ; which re- 

 lieved the strain on my feelings. 



It was a silent party that walked slowly 

 back to the carriages, but in each memory 

 was burned a picture of color and won- 

 der and glory, never to be shared with 

 another unless he also can say, "I, John, 

 saw these things." 



