Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

that the old glacier that made them van-
ished tens of centuries ago; for, except-
ing the vegetation that has sprung up, and
the changes effected by an earthquake that
hurled rock-avalanches from the weaker
headlands, the basin as a whole presents
the same appearance that it did when first
brought to light. The lake itself, how-
ever, has undergone marked changes; one
sees at a glance that it is growing old. 10
More than two-thirds of its original area
is now dry land, covered with meadow-
grasses and groves of pine and fir, and the
level bed of alluvium stretching across
from wall to wall at the head is evidently 15
growing out all along its lakeward margin,
and will at length close the lake forever.

Every lover of fine wildness would de-
light to saunter on a summer day through
the flowery groves now occupying the 20
filled-up portion of the basin. The curv-
ing shore is clearly traced by a ribbon of
white sand upon which the ripples play;
then comes a belt of broad-leafed sedges,
interrupted here and there by impenetrable 25
tangles of willows; beyond this there are
groves of trembling aspen; then a dark,
shadowy belt of Two-leaved Pine, with
here and there a round carex meadow en-
sconced nest-like in its midst; and lastly,
a narrow outer margin of majestic Silver
Fir 200 feet high. The ground beneath
the trees is covered with a luxuriant crop
of grasses, chiefly triticum, bromus, and
calamagrostis, with purple spikes and 35
panicles arching to one's shoulders; while
the open meadow patches glow throughout
the summer with showy flowers: - hele-
niums, goldenrods, erigerons, lupines, cas-
tilleias, and lilies, and form favorite hid-40
ing and feeding-grounds for bears and
deer.

30

The rugged south wall is feathered darkly along the top with an imposing array of spirey Silver Firs, while the 45 rifted precipices all the way down to the water's edge are adorned with picturesque old junipers, their cinnamon-colored bark showing finely upon the neutral gray of the granite. There, with a few venture-50 some Dwarf Pines and Spruces, lean out over fissured ribs and tablets, or stand erect back in shadowy niches, in an indescribably wild and fearless manner. Moreover, the white-flowered Douglas spi-55 raea and dwarf evergreen oak form graceful fringes along the narrower seams, wherever the slightest hold can be ef

fected. Rock-ferns, too, are here, such as allosorus, pellaea, and cheilanthes, making handsome rosettes on the drier fissures; and the delicate maidenhair, cistoperis, 5 and woodsia hide back in mossy grottoes, moistened by some trickling rill; and then the orange wall-flower holds up its showy panicles here and there in the sunshine, and bahia makes bosses of gold. But, notwithstanding all this plant beauty, the general impression in looking across the lake is of stern, unflinching rockiness; the ferns and flowers are scarcely seen, and not one-fiftieth of the whole surface is screened with plant life.

The sunnier north wall is more varied in sculpture, but the general tone is the same. A few headlands, flat-topped and soil-covered, support clumps of cedar and pine; and up-curving tangles of chinquapin and live-oak, growing on rough earthquake taluses, girdle their bases. Small streams come cascading down between them, their foaming margins brightened with gay primulas, gilias, and mimuluses. And close along the shore on this side there is a strip of rocky meadow enameled with buttercups, daisies, and white violets, and the purple-topped grasses out on its beveled border dip their leaves into the

water.

The lower edge of the basin is a damlike swell of solid granite, heavily abraded by the old glacier, but scarce at all cut into as yet by the outflowing stream, though it has flowed on unceasingly since the lake came into existence.

As soon as the stream is fairly over the lake-lip it breaks into cascades, never for a moment halting, and scarce abating one jot of its glad energy, until it reaches the next filled-up basin, a mile below. Then swirling and curving drowsily through meadow and grove, it breaks forth anew into gray rapids and falls, leaping and gliding in glorious exuberance of wild bound and dance down into another and yet another filled-up lake basin. Then, after a long rest in the levels of Little Yosemite, it makes its grandest display in the famous Nevada Fall. Out of the clouds of spray at the foot of the fall the battered, roaring river gropes its way, makes another mile of cascades and rapids, rests a moment in Emerald Pool, then plunges over the grand cliff of the Vernal Fall, and goes thundering and chafing down a boulder-choked gorge of tremen

dous depth and wildness into the tranquil reaches of the old Yosemite lake basin.

The color-beauty about Shadow Lake during the Indian summer is much richer than one could hope to find in so young and so glacial a wilderness. Almost every leaf is tinted then, and the goldenrods are in bloom; but most of the color is given by the ripe grasses, willows, and aspens. At the foot of the lake you stand in a 10 trembling aspen grove, every leaf painted like a butterfly, and away to the right and left round the shores sweeps a curving ribbon of meadow, red and brown dotted with pale yellow, shading off here and 15 there into hazy purple. The walls, too, are dashed with bits of bright color that gleam out on the neutral granite gray. But neither the walls, nor the margin meadow, nor yet the gay, fluttering grove 20 in which you stand, nor the lake itself, flashing with spangles, can long hold your attention; for at the head of the lake there is a gorgeous mass of orange-yellow, belonging to the main aspen belt of the 25 basin, which seems the very fountain whence all the color below it had flowed, and here your eye is filled and fixed. This glorious mass is about thirty feet high, and extends across the basin nearly from 30 wall to wall. Rich bosses of willow flame in front of it, and from the base of these the brown meadow comes forward to the water's edge, the whole being relieved against the unyielding green of the coni-35 feræ, while thick sun-gold is poured over all.

Storm succeeds storm, heaping snow on the cliffs and meadows, and bending the slender pines to the ground in wide arches, one over the other, clustering and inter5 lacing like lodged wheat. Avalanches rush and boom from the shelving heights, piling immense heaps upon the frozen lake, and all the summer glory is buried and lost. Yet in the midst of this hearty winter the sun shines warm at times, calling the Douglas squirrel to frisk in the snowy pines and seek out his hidden stores; and the weather is never so severe as to drive away the grouse and little nuthatches and chickadees.

Toward May, the lake begins to open. The hot sun sends down innumerable streams over the cliffs, streaking them round and round with foam. The snow slowly vanishes, and the meadows show tintings of green. Then spring comes on apace; flowers and flies enrich the air and the sod, and the deer come back to the upper groves like birds to an old nest.

I first discovered this charming lake in the autumn of 1872, while on my way to the glaciers at the head of the river. It was rejoicing then in its gayest colors, untrodden, hidden in the glorious wildness like unmined gold. Year after year I walked its shores without discovering any other trace of humanity than the remains of an Indian camp-fire, and the thighbones of a deer that had been broken to get at the marrow. It lies out of the regular ways of Indians, who love to hunt in more accessible fields adjacent to trails. Their knowledge of deer-haunts had probably enticed them here some hunger-time when they wished to make sure of a feast; for hunting in this lake-hollow is like hunting in a fenced park. I had told the beauty of Shadow Lake only to a few friends, fearing it might come to be trampled and improved like Yosemite. On my last visit, as I was sauntering along the shore on the strip of sand between the water and sod, reading the tracks of the wild animals that live here, I was startled 50 by a human track, which I at once saw belonged to some shepherd; for each step was turned out 35° or 40° from the general course pursued, and was also run over in an uncertain sprawling fashion at the heel, while a row of round dots on the right indicated the staff that shepherds carry. None but a shepherd could make such a track, and after tracing it a

During these blessed color-days no cloud darkens the sky, the winds are gentle, and the landscape rests, hushed everywhere, 40 and indescribably impressive. A few ducks are usually seen sailing on the lake, apparently more for pleasure than anything else, and the ouzels at the head of the rapids sing always; while robins, gros- 45 beaks, and the Douglas squirrels are busy in the groves, making delightful company, and intensifying the feeling of grateful sequestration without ruffling the deep, hushed calm and peace.

This autumnal mellowness usually lasts until the end of November. Then come days of quite another kind. The winter clouds grow, and bloom, and shed their starry crystals on every leaf and rock, and 55 all the colors vanish like a sunset. The deer gather and hasten down their wellknown trails, fearful of being snow-bound.

few minutes I began to fear that he might be seeking pasturage; for what else could he be seeking? Returning from the glaciers shortly afterward, my worst fears were realized. A trail had been made 5 down the mountain-side from the north,

and all the gardens and meadows were destroyed by a horde of hoofed locusts, as if swept by a fire. The moneychangers were in the temple.

Scribner's Monthly, January, 1879.

HENRY W. GRADY (1851-1889)

Oratory of the fervid, florid type has been a product of the South since the days of Patrick Henry. Of the generation that began its work during the period following the Civil War the orator preeminently was Henry W. Grady of Atlanta, Georgia. The rise of Grady was brilliant and sudden. Leaving college with his degree in 1868, he had taken up journalism as his profession, had been one of the founders of the Atlanta Constitution, had become Southern representative of the New York Herald, and in 1880 managing editor of the Constitution. Rapidly he became a dominating power in the South, and after his speech before the New England Club of New York on Forefathers' Day, 1886, he became a national figure. His death at the age of thirty-eight-he died of pneumonia after a brilliant oration at Boston in December was regarded as a national calamity. More than any other single voice of the period he helped to bring about the new spirit of tolerance between the North and the South, and to make possible that complete reunion of the two sections which has been one of the most remarkable things in the later history of the American people.

THE NEW SOUTH

5

'There was a South of slavery and secession that South is dead. There is a South of union and freedom that South, thank God, is living, breathing, growing every hour. These words, delivered from the immortal lips of Benjamin H. Hill, at Tammany Hall, in 1866, true then and truer now, I shall make my text 10 to-night.

Mr. President and Gentlemen: Let me express to you my appreciation of the kindness by which I am permitted to address you. I make this abrupt acknowledgment advisedly, for I feel that if, when I raise my provincial voice in this ancient and august presence, it could find courage for no more than the opening sentence, it would be well if in that sentence I had met in a rough sense my obligation as a guest, and had perished, so to speak, with courtesy on my lips and grace in my heart.

15

20

about those from whom I come. You remember the man whose wife sent him to a neighbor with a pitcher of milk, and who, tripping on the top step, fell with such casual interruptions as the landings afforded into the basement, and, while picking himself up, had the pleasure of hearing his wife call out: 'John, did you break the pitcher?'

No, I did n't,' said John, but I'll be dinged if I don't.'

So, while those who call me from behind may inspire me with energy, if not with courage. I ask an indulgent hearing from you. I beg that you will bring your full faith in American fairness and frankness to judgment upon what I shall say. There was an old preacher once who told some boys of the Bible lesson he was going to read in the morning. The boys, finding the place, glued together the connecting pages. The next morning he read on the bottom of one page, When Noah was one hundred and twenty years old he took unto himself a wife, who was 'then turning the page-140 cubits long — 40 cubits wide, built of gopher woodand covered with pitch inside and out.' He was naturally puzzled at this. He read it again, verified it, and then said: 'My friends, this is the first time I ever met this in the Bible, but I accept this as an evidence of the assertion that we are I bespeak the utmost stretch of your fearfully and wonderfully made.' If I courtesy to-night. I am not troubled 3 could get you to hold such faith to-night

Permitted, through your kindness, to catch my second wind, let me say that I 25 appreciate the significance of being the first Southerner to speak at this board, which bears the substance, if it surpasses the semblance, of original New England hospitality and honors the sentiment 30 that in turn honors you, but in which my personality is lost, and the compliment to my people made plain.

I could proceed cheerfully to the task I otherwise approach with a sense of consecration.

Pardon me one word, Mr. President, spoken for the sole purpose of getting into the volumes that go out annually freighted with the rich eloquence of your speakers -the fact that the Cavalier as well as the Puritan, was on the continent in its early

stands as the first typical American, the first who comprehended within himself all the strength and gentleness, all the majesty and grace of this republic - Abraham 5 Lincoln. He was the sum of Puritan and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature were fused the virtues of both, and in the depths of his great soul the faults of both were lost. He was greater than Puritan,

days, and that he was up and able to be 10 greater than Cavalier, in that he was

about.' I have read your books carefully and I find no mention of the fact, which seems to me an important one for preserving a sort of historical equilibrium, if for nothing else.

American, and that in his honest form were first gathered the vast and thrilling forces of his ideal government — charging it with such tremendous meaning and 15 elevating it above human suffering that martyrdom, though infamously aimed, came as a fitting crown to a life consecrated from the cradle to human liberty. Let us, each cherishing the traditions and honoring his fathers, build with reverent hands to the type of this simple but sublime life, in which all types are honored, and in our common glory as Americans there will be plenty and to spare for your forefathers and for mine.

20

Let me remind you that the Virginia Cavalier first challenged France on the continent - that Cavalier, John Smith, gave New England its very name, and was so pleased with the job that he has been handing his own name around ever since -and that while Myles Standish was cutting off men's ears for courting a girl without her parents' consent, and forbade men to kiss their wives on Sunday, the 25 Cavalier was courting everything in sight, and that the Almighty had vouchsafed great increase to the Cavalier colonies, the huts in the wilderness being as full as the nests in the woods.

Dr. Talmage has drawn for you, with a master's hand, the picture of your returning armies. He has told you how, in the pomp and circumstance of war, they came 30 back to you, marching with proud and victorious tread, reading their glory in a nation's eyes! Will you bear with me while I tell you of another army that sought its home at the close of the late war- an army that marched home in defeat and not in victory-in pathos and not in splendor, but in glory that equaled yours, and to hearts as loving as ever welcomed heroes home!

But having incorporated the Cavalier as a fact in your charming little books, I shall let him work out his own salvation, as he has always done, with engaging gallantry, and we will hold no controversy 55 as to his merits. Why should we? Neither Puritan nor Cavalier long survived as such. The virtues and good traditions of both happily still live for the inspiration of their sons and the saving of the old fashion. But both Puritan and Cavalier were lost in the storm of the first Revolution, and the American citizen, supplanting both and stronger than either, took possession of the republic bought by 45 their common blood and fashioned to wisdom, and charged himself with teaching men government and establishing the voice of the people as the voice of God.

My friends. Dr. Talmage has told you 50 that the typical American has yet to come. Let me tell you that he has already come. Great types, like valuable plants, are slow to flower and fruit. But from the union of these colonists, Puritans and Cavaliers, 55 from the straightening of their purposes and the crossing of their blood, slow perfecting through a century, came he who

Let me picture to you the footsore Confederate soldier, as buttoning up in his faded gray jacket the parole which was to bear testimony to his children of his fidelity and faith, he turned his face southward from Appomattox in April, 1865. Think of him as ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, enfeebled by

wounds, having fought to exhaustion, he surrenders his gun, wrings the hands of his comrades in silence, and lifting his tear-stained and pallid face for the last time to the graves that dot old Virginia hills, pulls his gray cap over his brow and begins the slow and painful journey.

What does he find let me ask you who went to your homes eager to find, in the welcome you had justly earned, full payment for four years' sacrifice- what does

« AnteriorContinuar »