Volume XIU. 



RECREATION 



AUGUST, 1900. 

 G. 0. SHIELDS (C0QUI1TA), Editor and Manager. 



Number 2* 



A SUMMER LAKE. 



FRANK C. REED. 



In Northwestern Oregon is a little 

 lake of small repute and much beauty. 

 Wallowa is its name, of Indian de- 

 rivation. It lies at the head of a beau- 

 tiful valley, which, with its broad pas- 

 tures and limpid streams, was the 

 country over which Chief Joseph of 

 the Nez Perces, in 1877, entered into 

 martial argument with the United 

 States Government. I always consid- 

 ered Chief Joseph a bad man until I 

 visited the country for which he con- 

 tested. Since then I have not blamed 

 him so much. I would fight for it 

 myself under certain conditions. 



Having heard much of the excellent 

 fishing to be had in Wallowa lake, I 

 decided last summer to pass my va- 

 cation there. In the first day's jour- 

 ney thenceward we scurried across 

 the corners of Idaho, Washington 

 and Oregon, and the next evening 

 found us in the vale of our destina- 

 tion. Proceeding up the valley we 

 reached the little town of Joseph 

 about 2 hours after nightfall. The 

 lake was just behind the Mayor's 

 barn, they told us, so we put up for 

 the night. 



That night I slept the sleep of a 

 tired body and a calloused conscience, 

 waking next morning with nothing at 

 fret but my appetite. After break- 

 fast a visit was made to see the vil- 

 lage. Turning one of the street cor- 

 ners, I commenced to light a match 

 for my pipe, but as far as I know the 

 match is yet unlighted. I had sup- 

 posed myself to be in the same sort of 

 country which abounded when dark- 



ness fell the evening before — a rolling 

 prairie land cut by ridges and deep 

 ravines ; but, as I turned the street 

 corner, suddenly confronting me were 

 hoary, old snow-capped mountains 

 that only paused momentarily before 

 toppling over on my dazed head. 

 Seemingly not a gunshot away they 

 rose majestic, silent and almost awful 

 to one who had never before seen 

 such mightiness so near. Spellbound, I 

 gazed, and gradually all my human 

 pride and arrogance faded away and 

 I felt what a puny, creeping thing 

 man is at best ; a grain of dust on the 

 wheels of the universe ! 



Over all the face of those moun- 

 tains, from base to crowning summit, 

 was written in mighty language the 

 greatness of God and His omnipo- 

 tence. Their very silence breathed 

 an eloquence not found in song or 

 sermon, and their imperturbable calm 

 seemed to speak of knowledge beyond 

 the minds of men. I was awed and 

 subdued by their presence. For per- 

 haps 5,000 feet they rose clothed in 

 the smooth greenness of tree and 

 shrub. Then suddenly all verdure 

 ceased and they ascended 1,000 feet 

 more in the tumultuous grandeur of 

 gorge and precipice to where the snow 

 lay eternally. 



It seemed to me at my first be- 

 holding that one could almost reach 

 his hand and gather snow from their 

 summit. Later I found this to be so 

 only in the seeming. For 5 long and 

 toilsome hours I clambered as 

 straight upward as hangs the noonday 



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