4 6 



JOHN BURROUGHS 



RESURRECTED FOREST, NEAR MUIR GLACIER. 



water; the black vegetable mould and decayed moss had 

 a fresh undisturbed look. Evidently no force had plowed 

 or rubbed over the surface of this ground. 



While at the Muir we had some cloud and fog but no 

 storms, and we had one ideal day. That was Sunday the 



nth of June, a 

 day all sun and 

 sky — not a 

 cloud or film to 

 dim the vast 

 blue vault — and 

 warm,even hot, 

 on shore; a day 

 memorable to 

 all of us for 

 its wonderful 

 beauty, and es- 

 pecially so to 

 two of us who spent it on the top of Mt. Wright nearly 

 3,000 feet above the glacier. It was indeed a day with 

 the gods, strange gods, the gods of the foreworld, but 

 they had great power over us. The scene we looked 

 upon was for the most part one of desolation — snow, 

 ice, jagged peaks, naked granite, gray moraines — -but 

 the bright sun and sky over all, the genial warmth and 

 the novelty of the situation, were ample to invest it with 

 a fascinating interest. There was fatigue in crossing the 

 miles of moraine ; there was difficulty in making our way 

 along the sharp crests of high gravel banks; there was 

 peril in climbing the steep boulder-strewn side of the 

 mountain, but there was exhilaration in every step and 

 there was glory and inspiration at the top. Under a sum- 

 mer sun with birds singing and flowers blooming, we 

 looked into the face of winter and set our feet upon the 

 edge of his skirts. But the largeness of the view, the ele- 



