Forest and Stream 
P a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
Six Months, $1.50. 
Copyright, 1912, by Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 1912. 
VOL. LXXVIII.—No. 22. 
187 Franklin St., New York. 
Entered as second-class matter at the Post-OfiSce, New York, N. Y. 
Vacation Reveries 
I N midsummer we went from Chicago to a 
village in New Mexico, where we were met 
by friends whom we visited on their ranch, 
a few miles from town in a beautiful and fertile 
valley more than a mile above sea level. Nearly 
all of the days are sunny, the atmosphere is dry 
and stimulating, and throughout the year one 
must sleep under blankets in order to be com¬ 
fortable. Our views were of immense scope and 
surpassing beauty, and a vast range of moun¬ 
tains formed an imposing background. The sun¬ 
sets were glorious beyond the 
understanding of those who 
have not viewed, under condi¬ 
tions most favorable, the west¬ 
ern splendor of the departing 
day. 
Each day we drove to the 
village, whose postmaster is a 
Mexican. We saw two village 
Mexican women repairing the 
flat roof of their adobe house. 
One woman mixed earth, water 
and broken straw, and placed 
the compound in a pail which, 
by means of a rope, was 
drawn to the roof by the other 
woman, who plastered it on 
the leaky spot, and when sun¬ 
baked the work was finished. 
Five days after our arrival 
we went to Las Vegas, remain¬ 
ing over night, and the next 
day a wagon carried us far 
into the mountains. The scenery was sublime. 
During the forenoon most of our trip was over 
a road hewn in the mountains by convicts. We 
saw a Mexican woman washing linen and Navajo 
rugs in the Gallinas River. The washed pieces 
spread upon bushes were drying. 
Bright plumaged American magpies flew from 
tree to tree. We passed through five Mexican 
villages and the Pecos National Forest, where 
reforestation is one of the duties of the forest 
ranger. By the side of a mountain stream we 
took lunch and then proceeded to a ranch loooo 
feet above sea level. A half dozen log houses 
furnished our party and other guests present 
with the necessary comforts. For supper we 
had mountain trout and other things delectable. 
A log fire in the open grate made us comfort¬ 
able. We were stimulated by the dry mountain 
air, which was heavily laden with the agreeable 
odors of the great forest surrounding us. We 
retired early and never before were we so pro- 
By B. FRANK OGLE 
foundly impressed wdth the full meaning of 
silence. Securely fastened high in a tree was 
a bell with clarion notes, attached to it was a 
rope which reached nearly to the ground. In 
the morning our host rang the bell as the old 
time curfew bells were rung. This was the 
signal for us to forsake dreamland; a half hour 
later the mellifluous notes of the bell again 
surged forth, reminding us that breakfast was 
on the table. Poor appetites had become good 
and good ones better. Under the spell of 
REVERIES ON THE WAY. 
nature's enchantment we were now truly living. 
An hour later each of us mounted a burro, 
none of which could be likened unto a fiery 
steed, but they could pick their way unerringly 
over mountain passes and steep declivities. Each 
animal knew its name and some of the names 
were fantastic. They carried us down an en¬ 
chanted valley past a willow-fringed stream, 
limpid and musical. We were in tune with the 
harmonies. Necessarily we traveled in single 
file and our cavalcade would have delighted the 
producer of moving pictures. 
The trail was devious and as our coign of 
vantage changed continuously,- so did nature’s 
wondrous and inimitable pageantry appear to us 
successively in its varying forms and colors. 
At the end of a long descent our beasts could 
no longer safely carry us, so we tethered them 
and continued our way afoot. The roughness 
of the trail caused two of our party to fall, but 
neither was hurt. At last, we reached a huge 
shelving rock, the outer edge of which is con¬ 
tinually washed by a clear, cold mountain stream 
from which we all drank. In the shade were 
luxuriant ferns. The end of the jaunt had been 
reached and there we saw Harvey’s Falls, noted 
not for its size, but for its transcendent beauty. 
We returned in time for dinner and then our 
burros, which had been watered and fed again, 
faithfully carried us over a winding trail through 
a forest of aspens, and mutely and forcefully 
did this imposing family of trees appeal to us. 
No bickerings were there, nor 
, conflicting emotions, yet he 
who is versed in woods lore 
knows that strife is an in¬ 
herent quality of forest trees, 
and that the survival of the 
fittest is one of the immutable 
laws of nature. Time turns 
not backward to view its ex¬ 
plored territory; it stands not 
nor loiters; ever its velocity 
is uniformly great. To us the 
hours were as minutes and 
the minutes so small and fleet¬ 
ing that an effort to reckon 
them would have been prepos¬ 
terous. We saw a gray squir¬ 
rel and several chipmunks. 
Our trail divided one of na¬ 
ture’s wonderful flower gar¬ 
dens, whose zephyr - blown 
scarlet blossoms seemed to 
nod hospitality to their admir¬ 
ing visitors. We saw some horned toads and 
small lizards, while a pair of plump grouse, 
alarmed by our approach, flew quickly away. 
From Tv/in Peaks we had a magnificent view 
of valleys, mesas, ranches and mountains, cov¬ 
ered with dense forests, over which hung a blue 
haze touching the tree crowns. At the close of 
the day we arrived at the lodges and after supper 
enjoyed a dance in the dining room. 
On the following day our sure-footed burros 
carried us to the summit of a high mountain 
from which we had a good view of Point of 
Rocks, a massive red-brown mountain support¬ 
ing very little tree or plant life. Far in the distance 
two lakes shimmered under the azure sky with its 
fluffy, clouds ; to our right across a monstrous canon 
was a treePcove'red mountain range; to our left 
another great canon separated us from a gigantic 
treeless mountain, the side of which was almost 
perpendicular. A pair of eagles soared above 
us, their notes of alarm Indicating that not far 
