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diff --git a/old/67377-0.txt b/old/67377-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index eae754b..0000000 --- a/old/67377-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6998 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of White Mountain Trails, by Winthrop -Packard - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: White Mountain Trails - Tales of the Trails to the Summit of Mount Washington and other - Summits of the White Hills - -Author: Winthrop Packard - -Release Date: February 11, 2022 [eBook #67377] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Steve Mattern, Tom Cosmas and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was - produced from images generously made available by The - Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHITE MOUNTAIN TRAILS *** - - - - - -Transcriber Note - -Text emphasis denoted as _Italics_. The term "Ursus Major" appears -on page 88. As Ursus is a genus of the family Ursidæ (Bears), it is -assumed the author meant to use Ursus instead of the usual "Ursa Major" -of astronomers. - - - - -WHITE MOUNTAIN TRAILS - - -[Illustration: Sunrise from the summit of Mount Washington] - - - - - WHITE MOUNTAIN - TRAILS - - TALES OF THE TRAILS - - TO THE SUMMIT OF MOUNT WASHINGTON AND - OTHER SUMMITS OF THE WHITE HILLS - - BY - WINTHROP PACKARD - - _Author of "Florida Trails," "Literary Pilgrimage - of a Naturalist," "Wild Pastures," etc._ - - WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS - - [Illustration] - - BOSTON - SMALL, MAYNARD AND COMPANY - PUBLISHERS - - - - - Copyright, 1912 - - By Small, Maynard and Company - (INCORPORATED) - - _Entered at Stationers' Hall_ - - THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. - - - - - TO THE - - APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB - - WHOSE PATHS MADE IT POSSIBLE - - THIS BOOK - - IS APPRECIATINGLY DEDICATED - - - - -FOREWORD - - -The author wishes to express his thanks to the editors of the "Boston -Evening Transcript" for permission to reprint in this volume matter -originally contributed to the columns of that paper; to Mr. Frederick -Endicott of Canton, Massachusetts, for permission to reproduce his -photographs of "Sunrise on Mount Washington," "Clouds Cascading over -the Northern Peaks," "Fog on Mount Cannon," and "Lafayette from Bald -Mountain"; to the Appalachian Mountain Club for the shelter of cosy -camps so hospitably open to all wayfarers; and to many mountain -people, especially those who dwell summers in the tiny hamlet on Mount -Washington Summit, for unassuming hospitality and friendly guidance. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Page - - I. Up Chocorua 1 - II. Bobolink Meadows 17 - III. Climbing Iron Mountain 32 - IV. June on Kearsarge 48 - V. Rain in the Mountains 64 - VI. Carter Notch 79 - VII. Up Tuckerman's Ravine 96 - VIII. On Mount Washington 112 - IX. Mount Washington Butterflies 128 - X. Mountain Pastures 144 - XI. The Northern Peaks 160 - XII. The Lakes of the Clouds 175 - XIII. Crawford Notch 191 - XIV. Up Mount Jackson 206 - XV. Carrigain the Hermit 222 - XVI. Up the Giant's Stairs 238 - XVII. On Mount Lafayette 252 - XVIII. A Mountain Farm 268 - XIX. Summer's Farewell 284 - Index 299 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Sunrise from the summit of Mount Washington _Frontispiece_ - - FACING PAGE - - "The smooth highway over which thousands of automobiles - skim in long summer processions from - Massachusetts to the Mountains" 2 - - "You realize the grandness and beauty of this outpost - sentinel of the White Hills" 8 - - "The shadowy coolness of evening was welling up and - blotting the gold of sunset from the treetops" 16 - - The Glen Ellis River at Jackson, New Hampshire, Thorn - Mountain in the distance 20 - - Down the Wildcat River, over the brink of Jackson Falls, - Moat Mountain in the distance 24 - - "From nowhere does one get a better view of Kearsarge - than from this little cairn on the plateau which is - the summit of Iron Mountain" 44 - - Sunset over Iron Mountain and Jackson, seen from Thorn - Mountain 46 - - Kearsarge and Bartlett, seen from Middle Mountain, - near Jackson 48 - - From Eagle Mountain one may see Kearsarge, blue - and symmetrical in the distance, peering over the - shoulder of Thorn 50 - - Sunset light on the Southern Peaks, seen from the summit - of Mount Washington 64 - - Clouds on Mount Washington, from the Glen Road, - Jackson 78 - - Carter Notch seen over Doublehead from Kearsarge summit 80 - - "Always climbing by easy gradients toward the great V in - the Carter-Moriah Range" 84 - - The Appalachian Mountain Club camp in Carter Notch 90 - - "The snow arch at the head of Tuckerman's Ravine - holds winter in its heart all summer long" 96 - - "Then the shadows are deep under the black growth - that spires up all about the little placid sheet of - water, though it still reflects the sapphire blue of - the clear sky above" 100 - - The Appalachian Mountain Club camp in Tuckerman's - Ravine 104 - - "The giant is awake, has tossed his bed-clothes high in - air, and is striding away along the notch behind - their shielding fluff" 108 - - "It all depends on what winds Father Æolus keeps - chained, perhaps in the deep caverns of the Great - Gulf, or which ones he lets loose to rattle the chains - of the Tip Top House" 112 - - "The more distant valleys were deeply hazed in this - amethystine blue, but the nearer peaks and plateaus - stood so clear above them that it seemed as if one - might leap to the Lakes of the Clouds or step across - the Great Gulf to Jefferson in one giant's stride" 118 - - "Dawn on the mornings of those days was born out of - the sky above the summit, as if the fading stars left - some of their shine behind them" 120 - - Butterfly-time on Mount Washington, the summit seen - over the larger of the Lakes of the Clouds 128 - - The fantastic lion's head which, carved in stone, guards - the trail along Boott's Spur toward the summit cone - of Washington 136 - - "Semidea persistently haunts the great gray rock-pile - which is the summit cone" 138 - - "The stocky, square-headed, white-faced cattle may well - feel themselves superior to these beings far below - who groom and feed them" 144 - - Mountain Sandwort in bloom on a little lawn near Mount - Pleasant on the last day in July 154 - - Clouds on the Northern Peaks, Mount Adams seen from - Mount Washington summit 160 - - "Where the path swings round the east side of Jefferson" 164 - - Cataract of clouds pouring over the Northern Peaks into - the Great Gulf, seen from the summit of Mount - Washington 168 - - "Dwarfed firs, beautiful in their courage, set spires along - portions of their borders, dark, straight lashes for - clear blue eyes" 182 - - Spaulding Lake at the head of the Great Gulf, Mounts - Adams and Madison in the distance 188 - - "Profile of Webster," looking toward Crawford Notch - from the old Crawford farm-house site 192 - - "Where railroad, highway, and river draw together and - touch elbows in passing through the gateway of the - Notch" 198 - - "Just below the nick of the Notch you may see where - the Silver Cascade and the Flume Cascade hurry - down from their birth on Mount Jackson, and farther - down the vast slope of Webster" 202 - - In the heart of Crawford Notch, the summit of Jackson - on the distant horizon 204 - - "As if giants had carved a huge, preposterous figure of - a flying bird there for a sign to all who pass" 224 - - "Nor is this to be said in any scorn of the lumberman. - He bought the woods and is using them now for the - purpose for which he spent his money" 232 - - "My way to the Giant's Stairs lay over the high shoulder - of Iron Mountain, where the road shows you all the - kingdoms of the mountain world spread out below" 238 - - "From the top tread of the Giant's Stairs one sees half - of the mountain world, the half to southward" 248 - - "On the way the gray brow of Mount Cannon looks in - through the gaps in the foliage" 256 - - Profile Lake, Franconia Notch, and Mount Lafayette - from Bald Mountain 264 - - "Such beauties as these the mountains set daily before - the eyes of the man who hewed out the highest farm - in New England on the high shoulder of a westerly - spur of Wildcat Mountain" 270 - - "The Glen Boulder has a George Washington nose, a - Booker Washington chin, and the low forehead of - the cave man" 288 - - The Crawford trail along Franklin, Mount Pleasant in the - distance 294 - - "The world was blotted out in a gray mass of scudding - vapor that gradually became black night out of which - by and by rain came hissing" 296 - - - - - WHITE MOUNTAIN TRAILS - - - - - I - - UP CHOCORUA - - _The Mountain and Its Surroundings in Mid-May_ - - -The smooth highway over which thousands of automobiles skim in long -summer processions from Massachusetts to the mountains, coquettes with -Chocorua as it winds through the Ossipees. Sometimes it tosses you -over a ridge whence the blue bulk and gray pinnacle stand bewitchingly -revealed for a second only to be eclipsed in another second by the -lesser, nearby beauties of the hill country, and leave you wistful. -Sometimes it gives you tantalizing flashes of it through trees or by -the gable of a farm-house on a round, hayfield hill, but it is only as -you glide down the long incline to the shores of Chocorua Lake that -the miracle of revelation is complete. Then indeed you must set your -foot hard on the brake and gaze long over the Scudder farm-house gate -down a green slope of field to the little lake, and as the eye touches -approvingly Mark Robertson's rustic bridge, set in just the right spot -to give the human touch to the wild beauty of the landscape, and leaps -beyond to the larger lake framed in its setting of dark growth, and on -again to the noble lift of the great mountain with its bare pinnacle -of gray granite, you realize the grandeur and beauty of this outpost -sentinel of the white hills. It is hard to believe that Switzerland or -Italy or any other country has anything finer than this to show the -traveller. - - -[Illustration: "The smooth highway over which thousands of automobiles -skim in long summer processions from Massachusetts to the Mountains"] - -It was a wonder day in May when I first stopped, spell-bound, upon -this spot. A soft blue haze of spring was over all the mountain world, -making mystery of all distant objects and lifting and withdrawing the -peak into the sky of which it seemed but a part, only a little less -magical and intangible. Hardly was this a real world on this day, but -rather one painted by some mighty master out of semi-transparent dust -of gems. The lake was a mirror of emerald stippled about its distant -border with the chrysophrase reflection of young leaves, carrying -deep in its heart another, more magical, Chocorua of softest sapphire -tapering to a nadir-pointing peak of beryl. Out of the nearby woods -came the song of the white-throated sparrow, the very spirit of the -mountains, a song like them, built of gems that fade from the ear -into a trembling mist of sound, the nearby notes sapphire peaks, the -others distant and more distant till they seem but the recollection -of a dream. Such days come to the mountains in May and they bring the -white-throats up with them from the haze of the subtropics where they -are born. - - * * * * * - -If one would climb Chocorua by the Hammond trail he must leave the -smooth road that winds onward to Crawford Notch after he passes -Chocorua Lake. There another, less smooth but still available to -carriage or motor, will take him across Chocorua Brook and end at a -house in the woods. Just before the end it crosses a second brook, -and there is the beginning of the trail, a slender footpath only, but -well defined in the earth and well marked by little piles of stone -wherever it goes over ledges. It is hardly possible to miss it in -daylight; after dark it would be hardly possible to find it. Twice it -crosses the brook, the second time leaving it to gurgle contentedly -on in its ravine and rising more directly skyward. Beech and birch -branches shimmered overhead with the translucent green of half-grown -young leaves along the lower reaches of this trail. Maples flushed the -green in spots with tapestry of coral red. Scattered evergreens, pine, -spruce, hemlock and fir lent backgrounds of green that was black in -contrast to the lighter tints. Smilacina, checkerberry and partridge -berry wove carpets of varying color in the tan brown of last year's -leaves, climbing the slope as bravely as anyone, and painted and purple -trilliums did their best to follow, but had not the courage to go very -far. The pipsissewa, bellwort and Solomon's seal did better. A few of -them dared the ledges well up to the top of the first great southerly -spur which the trail ascends. - -It was the day after I had first seen Chocorua and a wind out of the -west had blown the blue haze of unreality away from the mountain, -massing it to the east and south where it still held the land in -thrall. I got the blue of it through straight stems of beech and birch -and through the soft quivering of their young leaves painted with the -delicate coral tracery of maple fruit. - -All the way up the lower slope one is drowned in Corot. I watch -yellow-bellied sap-suckers make love among the beeches, the crimson -of their crowns and throats flashing with ruby fire, the blotched -gray and white of wings and bodies a living emanation of the bark to -which they cling. Their colors seem the impersonal fires of the young -trees personified. In this, another wonder day of May, the goodness -of God to the green earth flows in a tide of unnameable colors up -the mountain-side, enflaming bird and tree alike and from the great -shoulder of the mountain I look down through its mist of mystery and -delight to Chocorua Lake, a clear eye of the earth, wide with joy -and showing within its emerald iris as within a crystal lens magic -mountains, upside down, and between their peaks the turquoise gateway -to another heaven, infinitely deep below. The lowland forest sleeps -green at my feet, a green of sea shoals that deepen into the tossing -blue of mountains far to the south, Ossipee, Whittier, Bear Camp and -the lesser hills of the Sandwich range. - -Many of the shrubs and trees of the lower slopes climb well to the top -of this great southerly spur of the mountain, but straggle as they -climb and lessen in number as they reach the height. Few of the lowland -birds get so far, but among the dense spruces and firs which crowd one -another wherever there is soil for their roots among the weather worn -ledges, deciduous trees sprinkle a green lace of spring color, and -among the spruces, too, is to be heard the flip of bird wings and an -occasional song. Here the hardier denizens of the country farther to -the north find a congenial climate. Myrtle warblers show their patches -of yellow as they flit about, feeding, making love and selecting nest -sites, and with them the slate-colored juncos glisten in their very -best clothes and show the flesh color of their strong conical bills. -These two are birds of the mountain and they climb wherever the spruce -does. - - * * * * * - -Beyond the crest of this great southerly spur the path dips through -ravines and climbs juts of crag and débris of crumbled granite to the -base of the great cone which is the pinnacle. Now and then one gets -a level bit for the saving of his breath and his aching leg muscles -and may find a seat on fantastically strewn boulders, dropped by the -glaciers when they fled from the warmth to come. On up the mountain -go the small things of earth, too. Here are sheep laurel and mountain -blueberries, stockily defiant of the winter's zero gales, the laurel -clinging as firmly to its last year's leaves as it does on the sunny -pastures of the sea level hundreds of miles to the south, the roots set -in the coarse sand that the frost of centuries has crumbled from rotten -red granite. Poplars climb among the spruces and willows are there, -their Aaron's rods yellow with catkins in the summer-like heat that -quivers in the thin air. The trees feel in them the call to the summit -as does man. - -As they go on you seem to see this eagerness to ascend expressed in -the attitudes of the trees themselves. To the southwest a regiment of -birches has charged upward toward the base of the pinnacle. Boldly they -have swarmed up the steep slope and, though the smooth acclivities -of the ledges about the base of the cone have stopped all but a -corporal's guard, and though they stand, theirs is the very picture -of a turbulent, onrushing crowd. Motionless as they are, they seem to -sway and toss with all the restless enthusiasm of a mighty purpose; -nor could a painter, depicting a battle charge, place upon canvas a -more vivid semblance of a wild rush onward toward a bristling, defiant -height. Few are the birches that have passed this glacis of granite -that forever holds back the body of the regiment, yet a few climb -on and get very near the summit of the gray peak. More of the dwarf -spruces have done so. In compact, swaying lines they rush up, marking -the wind and spread of slender defiles and leaning with such eagerness -toward the summit that you clearly see them climbing, though they are -individually motionless, rooted where they stand. There is a black -silence of determination about these spruces that must indeed carry -them to the highest possible points, and it does, while to the eye the -birches behind them toss their limbs frantically and cheer. - -[Illustration: "You realize the grandness and beauty of this outpost -sentinel of the White Hills"] - -Whether the little blue spring butterflies climb the mountain or -whether they live there, each in his chosen neighborhood, going not -far either up or down, it is difficult to say, but I found them in -many places along the trail to the base of the cone, little thumbnail -bits of a livelier, lovelier blue than either the sky or the distant -peaks could show, frail as the petals of the bird-cherry blossoms -that fluttered with them along the borders of the path, yet happy -and fearless in the sun. With them in many places I saw the broad, -seal-brown wings of mourning cloaks, and once a Compton tortoise -flipped from the path before me and hurried on, upward toward the -summit. I looked in vain for him there, but as proof that butterflies -do climb to the very top of Chocorua I saw, as I rested on the square -table of granite which crowns it, a mourning cloak, which soared up -and circled me as I sat, rose fifty feet above, then coasted the air -down toward the place where the birches seemed to toss and cheer in -the noonday sun. He had won the height, and more, and I envied him the -nonchalant ease with which his slanting planes took the descent. - - * * * * * - -One other creature I saw, higher yet, a broad-winged hawk that swung -mighty circles up from the ravine to the southeast, down which one -looks in dizzy exaltation from the very summit. There was a climber -that outdid all the rest of us in the swift ease of his ascent. Out -of nothing he was borne to my sight, a mote in the clear depths three -thousand feet below, a mote that swept in wide spirals grandly up with -never a quiver of the wing. Up and up he came till he swung near at -the level of my eye, then swirled on and on, a thousand feet above -me. A moment he poised there, then with a single slant of motionless -wings turned and slid down the air mile on mile, one grand, unswerving -coast, to vanish in the blue distance toward Lake Ossipee. - -Southerly from Chocorua summit the land was soused in the steam of -spring. Chocorua Lake lay green at my feet, an emerald mirror of the -world around it. To its right a little way Lonely Lake was a dark -funnel in the forest, a shadowy crater opening to unknown depths in the -earth below, filled with black water, and all to the east and south the -country lay flat as a map, colored in light green, the lakes in dark -green or steel blue, the roads in dust brown, the villages scattered -white dots, while beyond a blue mist of mountains was painted on the -margin for the horizon's edge. - -To look north and west was to look into another world, to realize for -what mountains Chocorua stands as the sentinel at the southeast gate. -Paugus lifted, a blue-black, toppling wave to westward, seemingly near -enough to fall upon Chocorua summit, while over its shoulder peered -Passaconaway flanked with Tripyramid and White Face. Northward and -westward from these toppled the pinnacles of jumbled, blue-black waves -of land that passed beyond the power of vision. Northward again the -glance touched summit after summit of this dark sea of mountains till -the crests lifted and broke in the white foam of the Presidential Range -with Mount Washington towering, glittering and glacial, above them -all. Here was no steam of spring to soften the outlines and blur the -distance in blue. Rather the crystal clearness of the winter air still -lingered there, and though but a few drifts of December's snow lay -on Chocorua and none were to be seen on the other, nearer mountains, -Carrigain was white crested and Washington topped the ermine of the -Presidential range like a magical iceberg floating majestically on -a sea of driven foam. Chocorua is not a very high mountain. Three -thousand feet it springs suddenly into the blue from the lake at its -feet, 3508 feet is its height above the sea level, but its splendid -isolation and the sharpness of its pinnacle give one on its summit a -sense of height and of exaltation far greater than that to be obtained -from many a summit that is in reality far higher. - - * * * * * - -Yet to him who stays long on the summit of Chocorua thus early in -the spring is apt to come a certain sense of sadness, following the -exaltation of spirits, sadness for the inevitable passing of this -inspiring pinnacle. The work of alternating heat and cold, of sun and -rain, are everywhere visible, beating the granite dome to flinders and -carrying it down into the valley below. The bare granite shows the -sledgehammer blows of the frost as if a giant had been at work on it -making repoussé work with the weapon of Thor. Not a square foot of the -sky-facing ledges but has felt the welts of this hammer of the frost, -each lifting a flake of the stone, from the size of one's thumbnail to -that of a broad palm. These crumble into nodules of angular granite -that make drifts of coarse sand even on the very summit. The sweep of -the wind and the rush of the rain come and send these in streams down -the mountain side. The rain and the water of melted snow do another -work of destruction, also. Such water has a strong solvent power, even -on the grim granite. Always after rain or during the snow-melting -season of early spring, there is a little basin full of this water in -the bare rock just northeast of the very summit. There it stands till -the winds blow it away or the thirsty sun dries it up, and year after -year it has dissolved a little of the rock on which it rests till it -has worn quite a basin in the granite,--a basin which looks singularly -as if it had been hollowed roughly out by mallet and chisel. So the -work goes on, and Chocorua summit is appreciably lowered, century by -century. - -Fortunately man thinks in years and not in geological epochs, else -the sadness of the thought were more poignant. After all, the work of -erosion of the centuries to come can never be so great on the mountain -as that of the centuries that have passed, for the geologists tell us -that all the summits of the Appalachians were once but valleys in the -vast table-land which towered far higher above them than they now do -above the sea. The forces of erosion whose patient work one now sees -on Chocorua summit have hammered at the hills thus long. So wears the -world away, but the great square block which sits on the very peak of -the mountain shows none of the bruises which fleck the soft granite -below it, and it may well be many a thousand years before it slides -down into the ravine below. - - * * * * * - -The black bulks of Paugus and the mountains beyond were rimmed with the -crimson fire of the westering sun as I reluctantly climbed down from -the peak of this hill of enchantment, greeted by the evensongs of the -juncos and myrtle warblers in the first broad patches of spruce about -the base of the cone. A pigeon hawk swung up from the westerly ravine -and hovered a moment so near me that I could see the white tip of his -tail and the rusty neck collar, then slid down the air and vanished in -the ravine on the opposite side of the mountain. He builds his nest -on mountains and was well fitted to show me the easiest way down. I -grudged him his wings as I waked the yelps in a new set of leg muscles, -slumping down the slopes and climbing laboriously down the almost -perpendicular, rocky ravines. The Hammond trail is no primrose path, -for all its beauties, and it was my first climb of the year. I was glad -indeed to drink deep of the mountain brook near the end of the trail -and then rest a bit to the soothing contralto of its song. - -The shadowy coolness of the evening was welling up and blotting the -gold of sunset from the treetops as I rounded Chocorua Lake and watched -the sunset fire the summit where I had lingered so long,--a fire -reflected deep in the very heart of the mirroring waters. The roar of -the little river on its way down to Chocorua town came faintly to me, -a sleepy song, half that of the wind in pines, half an echo of droning -bees that work all day in the willow blooms by its side. Liquid, clear, -through this came the songs of wood thrushes out of the shadows. The -peace of God was tenderly wrapping all the world in night, and the -mountain loomed farther and farther away in blue mystery and dignity, -while from its pinnacle slowly faded the rosy glow of the passing, -perfect day. - -[Illustration: "The shadowy coolness of evening was welling up and -blotting the gold of sunset from the treetops"] - - - - - II - - BOBOLINK MEADOWS - - _Early June about Jackson Falls and Thorn Mountain_ - - -On a May morning after rain the bobolinks came to the meadows up under -the shadow of Thorn Mountain. The morning stars had sung together and -the breaking of day let tinkling fragments of their music through, or -so it seemed. Something of the sleighbell melodies that have jingled -over New Hampshire hills all winter was in this music, something of the -happy laughter of sweet-voiced children, and something more that might -be an echo of harps touched in holy heights. Surely it is good to be in -the mountains at dawn in May, when such sweet tinklings of melody fall -out of celestial spaces! The high hills were veiled in the mists of the -storm that had passed, but the nearer summit of Thorn leaned friendly -out of them, and over it from the south pitched the fragments of -heavenly music, fluttering down on short wings like those of cherubs. -The bobolinks had come to Jackson. - -It is as easy to believe that the cherubs of Raphael and Rubens can -make the journey from high heaven to earth on their chubby wings as -that these short-winged, slow-fluttering birds can have come from the -marshes below the Amazon on theirs, but so they have done, finding -their music on the way. They went south in early September, brown, -inconspicuous seed-eaters with never a note save a metallic "chink." -Somewhere in the far south they found new plumage of black with plumes -of white and old gold. Somewhere in the sapphire heights of air above -the Caribbean Sea they caught the tinkling music of the spheres and -dropped upon Florida with it in the very last days of April, bringing -it thence again in joyous flight that drops them among the mountain -meadows in mid May. - -Now June is making the grass long about the little brown nests where -the brown mother-bird sits so close, but the meadows are full of -tinkling echoes of celestial music still. All the mountain world is -rapturous with this same joy of something more than life which the -bobolinks brought from on high in their songs, dancing and singing with -it and tossing something of beauty skyward day and night. Round the -margins of the bobolink meadows the apple trees have completed their -adoration of bloom, the strewing of incense and purity of white petals -down the wind, and now yearn skyward with tenderness of young leaves. -The meadow violets smile bravely blue from shy nooks, and the snow that -lingered so long on the slopes is born again in the gentler white of -houstonias which frost the short grasses with star-dust bloom. All the -heat of the dandelion suns that blaze in fiery constellations round the -margins cannot melt away this lace-work of the houstonias, and it is -not till the buttercups come, too, and focus the sun rays from their -glazed petals of gold that the last frost of the season, that of the -houstonia blooms, is melted away. Dearly as the bobolink loves his -brown mate in the nest, the moist maze beneath the grass culms where -he dines, and his swaying perch on the ferns that feather the meadow's -edge, he, too, feels this upward impulse within him too strong to -resist and continually flutters skyward, quivering with the joy of June -and setting the air from hill to hill a-bubble with his song. - -The bobolink meadows begin on the grassy levels between the Ellis and -Wildcat rivers, the bottom land which forms the foothold of Jackson -town, and they climb the mountains in all directions as do the summer -visitors, scattering laughter and beauty as they go, till you hear the -tinkle of the bobolink's song and find the beauty of meadow blooms in -tiny nooks well up toward the very summits. Up here the shyest meadow -birds and sweetest meadow flowers seem to love the rough rocks well and -climb them by the route that the brooks take as they prattle down from -the high springs. Up the very rivers they troop, and though they turn -aside eagerly to the safer haven of the brook sides, they climb as well -by way of the boulders that breast the roar of the bigger streams. The -Wildcat River plunges right down into Jackson village by way of Jackson -Falls, a thousand-foot slope over granite ledges worn smooth with -flood, and mighty boulders scattered in bewildering confusion. In time -of freshet this long incline is a welter of uproarious foam. This year -a long spring drought has bared the rocks in many places, and one may -climb the length of the falls as the stream comes down, from ledge to -ledge and from boulder to boulder. - -[Illustration: The Glen Ellis River at Jackson, New Hampshire, Thorn -Mountain in the distance] - -The rush of the water drowns the warbling of the water-thrushes in the -alders and viburnums on the banks, it drowns the cool melodies that -the wood thrushes sing from the deep shade of the wooded slopes along -the stream, but nothing has drowned the wild flowers that climb the -falls by way of the ledges and boulders as the adventurous fisherman -does. Why the whelming rush of freshets has not wiped them out of -existence it is hard to say. There must be times each year when they -are buried deep beneath the boiling foam, but there they cling this -June and smile up in the sun and take the fresh scent of the churning -waters as a strong basis for their perfumes. They knew the tricks -of the perfumer's trade long before there were perfumers, and the -moisture of the flood itself is their ambergris. Here the cranberry -tree leans over the water and drops the white petals of the neutral -blooms from its broad, flat cymes to go over one fall after another on -their way to Ellis River and, later, the Saco. The gentle meadow-sweet -dares far more than this. It grows from slender cracks in the face -of perpendicular granite, and with but rocks and water for its roots -thrives and bathes its serrate leaves in the spray. The mountain -blueberries have set their feet in similar places and hang fascicles of -white bells over the water for the more daring of the bumblebees that -have their nests in the moss of the river banks. - -Showiest and boldest of all is the rhodora which has taken possession -of a rock island in midstream well up the falls. Here in a tangle of -rock points and driftwood it grows in clumps and puts out its umbel -clusters of richest rose, a mist of petals that seems to have caught -and held one of the rainbow tints from the spray that dashes by the -blooms on either side. Nor is even this, with its showy beauty that -Emerson loved, the loveliest thing to be found growing out of granite -in the very tumult of the waters. The blue violet is there, unseen from -the bank but smiling shyly up to him who will clamber out to midstream, -finding coigns of vantage down where even at low water the splash of -spray sprinkles its pointed leaves and violet-blue flowers. Viola -cucullata is common to all moist meadows and stream margins from Canada -to the South, but nowhere does it bloom more cheerily and confidingly -than in the midst of the rush and roar of Jackson Falls in these danger -spots among the rocks. One clump I found in a square well of granite -in the very wildest uproar, holding its sprays of bloom bravely up in -a spot that at every freshet must be fairly whelmed with volumes of -whirling icy water. How it holds this place at such times only the -clinging, fibrous roots and the gray granite that they embrace can -tell, but there it is, blooming as sweetly and contentedly as in any -sheltered, grassy meadow in all the land. - -Up from the bridge above Jackson Falls the road climbs by one bobolink -meadow after another along the slope of Tin Mountain till it stops at -the wide clearing on the higher shoulder of Thorn, which was once the -Gerrish farm. Farm it is no longer, for the farmers are long gone. The -jaw-post of the old well-sweep leans decrepitly over the well, which -is choked with rubbish. The weight of winter snow and the rush of -summer rain have long since broken through the roof of the old house -and are steadily carrying it down into the earth from which it sprang. -The chimney swifts have deserted the crumbled chimney, and the barn -swallows no longer nest in the barn, last signs of the passing of a -homestead, and even the phœbes have gone to newer habitations, but the -broad acres are still strong in fertility and the grass grows lush and -green on the gentle slopes. Down from Thorn summit and over from Tin -the forest advances, but hesitatingly. It is as if it still had memory -of the strokes of the pioneer's axe and did not yet dare an invasion of -the land he marked off. It sends out skirmishers, plumed young knights -of spruce and fir, scouts of white birch and yellow, of maple and -beech, to spy out the land, and where these have found no enemy it is -advancing, meaning to take peaceful possession, no doubt, for the wild -cherries and berry bushes mingle with the old apple trees, and both -hold out white blossom flags of truce. - -[Illustration: Down the Wildcat River, over the brink of Jackson Falls, -Moat Mountain in the distance] - -One wonders if the pioneer did not have an eye for mountain scenery -as well as for strong, rich land, for from the very doorstone of the -old house the glance sweeps a quarter of the horizon, scores of miles -from one blue peak to another. At one's feet lies Jackson as if in a -well among the hills, Eagle Mountain and Spruce and the ridges beyond -dividing the valley of the Wildcat from the glen of Ellis River, yet -not rising high enough to hide the peak of Wildcat Mountain, up between -Carter and Pinkham notches. Iron Mountain rises on the left of Jackson, -and beyond it the unnamed peaks of Rocky Branch Ridge lead the eye on -to the snow still white in the ravines of the Presidential Range and -Mount Washington looming in serene dignity to the northwest. One may -climb thus far on Thorn Mountain by carriage if he will, or by motor -car indeed, provided he has a good hill climber. The ascent is often -made thus. But to get to the very summit, the point of the thorn, a -footpath way leads up through the bars into the pioneer's pasture, -onward and upward through the forest. - -The pasture ferns climb too, and the pasture birds love the wooded -summit as well as they do the slopes far below the pioneer's farm. The -June delight which echoes in the bobolink music in the meadows so far -below sweeps up the mountain-side in scent and song and color till it -blossoms from the Puritan spruces on the very top of Thorn. There one -glimpses the rare outpouring of joy that comes from reticent natures. -They are in love, these prim black spruces, and they cannot wholly hide -it however hard they try. Instead they tremble into bloom at the twig -tips, and what were brown and sombre buds become nodding blossoms of -gold that thrill to the fondling of wind and sun and scatter incense -of yellow pollen all down the mountain-side. In the distance they -are prim and black-robed still, but to go among them is to see that -they wear this yellow pollen robe in honor of June, a shimmering -transparent silk of palest cloth of gold. More than that, their highest -plumes blush into pink shells of acceptance of joy, pistillate blooms -of translucent rose as dear and wondrous in their colors of dawn as -any shells born of crystalline tides, in tropic seas, blossoms whose -fulfilment shall be prim brown cones, but each of which is now a fairy -Venus, born of the golden foam of June joy which mantles the slender -trees. Only with the coming of June to the mountains can one believe -this of the spruces, because seeing it he knows it true. - - * * * * * - -The little god of love has shot his arrow to the hearts of the -trembling spruces, and he sings among their branches in many forms. The -blackburnian warbler lisps his high-pitched "zwee-zwee-zwee-se-ee-ee" -all up the slope of Thorn to the summit and shows his orange throat and -breast in vivid color among the dark leaves. The black-throated green, -moving nervously about with a black stock over his white waistcoat, -sings his six little notes, and the magnolia warbles hurriedly and -excitedly his short, rapidly uttered song. The mourning warbler -imitates the water-thrush of the misty banks of Jackson Falls, and the -Connecticut warbler echoes in some measure the "witchery, witchery" -of the Maryland yellow-throats, both birds that have elected to stay -behind with the bobolinks. - -Thus carolled through cool shadows where the striped moosewood hangs -its slender racemes of green blossoms, you come rather suddenly out -on the bare ledges which face northerly from the summit. Truly to see -the mountains best one should look at the big ones from the little -ones. Here is the same view that Gerrish had from his farm, only that -you have a wider sweep of horizon. Over the Rocky Branch Ridge to the -westward rises the Montalban Range, with the sun swinging low toward -Parker and Resolution and getting ready to climb down the Giant's -Stairs and vanish behind Jackson and Webster. Everywhere peak answers -to peak, and you look over low banks of mist that float upward from -unknown glens, forming level clouds on which the summits seem to sit -enthroned like deities of a pagan world. There is little of the bleak -débris of battle with wind and cold on the summit of Thorn. It is but -2265 feet above sea level, lower than most of the mountains about it, -and the trees that climb to its top and shut off the view to the east -and south are in no wise dwarfed by the struggle to maintain themselves -there. But from it one gets a far better outlook on mountain grandeur -than from many a greater height. Washington holds the centre of the -stage which one here views from a balcony seat, seeming to rise in -splendid dignity from the glen down which the Ellis River flows, and it -is no wonder that there is a well-worn path from the Gerrish farm to -the point of the Thorn. - - * * * * * - -It may be that the pioneer who first hewed the mountain farm from the -forest also first trod this path to the very summit of the little -mountain. It may be that he got a wide enough sweep of the great hills -on the horizon to the north and west from his own doorstone. But I like -to think that once in a while, of a Sunday afternoon perhaps, he went -to the peak and dreamed dreams of greater empire and higher aspirations -even than his mountain farm held for him. There is a tonic in the air -and an inspiration in the outlook from these summits that should make -great and good men of us all. These linger long in the memory after the -climb. But longer perhaps even than the hopes the summit gives will -linger in the memory of him who climbs Thorn Mountain in early June the -recollection of two things, one at least not of the summit. The first -is the joy of June in the bobolink meadows far down toward Jackson -Falls, the celestial melodies that the bobolinks echo as they flutter -upward in the vivid sunshine and sing again to mingle their white and -gold with that of the flowers that bloom the meadow through. The other -is the bewildering beauty of the once black and sombre spruces in their -sudden draperies of golden staminate bloom, looped and crowned with -the pistillate shells which so soon will be prim brown cones. The -bobolinks will sing in the meadows for many weeks. The mountains will -blossom with one color after another till late September brings the -miracle of autumn leaves to set vast ranges aflame from glen to summit, -but only for a little time are the spruces so filled with the full tide -of happiness that they put on their veils of diaphanous gold and their -rosy ornaments of new-born cones. It is worth a trip into the hills and -a long climb to see these at their best, which is when the bobolinks -have eggs in the brown nests in the meadow grass and the blue violets -are smiling up from the rock crevices in the midst of the tumult of -Jackson Falls. - - - - - III - - CLIMBING IRON MOUNTAIN - - _Some Joys of an Easy Ascent Near Jackson_ - - -The dawn lingers long in the depths of the deciduous woods that line -the eastern slope of Iron Mountain. You may hear the thrushes singing -matins in the green gloom after the sun has peered over Thorn and -lighted the grassy levels in the hollow where Jackson wakes to the -carols of field-loving birds. The veery is the bellman to this choir, -ringing and singing at the same time, unseen in the shadows, the -notes of bell and song mingling in his music till the two are one, -the very tocsin of a spirit in the high arches of the dim woodland -temple, calling all to prayer. The wood thrushes respond, serene in -the knowledge of all good, voices of pure and holy calm, rapturous -indeed, but only with the pure joy of worship and thoughts of things -most high. So it is with the hermit thrushes that sing with them, nor -shall you know the voice of the hermit from that of the wood thrush by -greater purity of tone or exaltation of spirit, though perhaps it falls -to the hermits to voice the more varied passages of the music. Of all -bird songs that of these thrushes seems to be most worshipful and to -touch the purest responsive chords in the human heart. As they lead -the wayfarer's spirit upward, so they seem to lead his feet toward the -mountain top, the cool forest shades where they sing alternating with -sunny glades as he scales the heights with the mountain road, which -climbs prodigiously. - -Way up the mountain the sunny glades widen in places to mountain -farms, their pastures set on perilous slants, so that one wonders if -the cattle do not sometimes roll down till checked by the woodland -growth below, but their cultivated fields more nearly level, spots -seemingly crushed out of the slopes by the weight of giant footsteps, -descending. The wooded growth and ledges of the summit leap upward from -the southern and western edges of these clearings, but to the north -and east the glance passes into crystal mountain air and penetrates -it mile on mile to the blue summits that cut the horizon in these -directions. Far below lie the valleys, with the smaller hills that -seem so high from the grassy plains about Jackson village smudged and -flattened from crested land waves to ripples. Highest of all mountain -cots is the Hayes farm-house, its well drawing ice water from frozen -caverns deep in the heart of the height and its northern outlook such -as should breed heroes and poets through living cheek by jowl with -sublimity. Here the mighty swell of the mountain sea has sunk the -rippling hills below, but the sweep of crested land waves leaps on, -high above them. Looking eastward, one seems to be watching from the -lift and roll of an ocean liner's prow as the great ship runs down a -gale. Out from far beneath you and beyond roar toppling blue crests, -ridge piling over ridge. Thorn Mountain, Tin and Eagle are the nearer -waves, their outline rising and falling and showing beyond them Black -Mountain and the two summits of Doublehead, and beyond them Shaw and -Gemini and Sloop, great billows rising and rolling on. Down upon the -forest foam left behind in the hollows of these rides the Carter Moriah -Range, a jagged, onrushing ridge, driven by the same gale. The day may -be calm to all senses but the eye, yet there is the sea beneath you and -beyond, tossed mountain high by the tempest. - - * * * * * - -To turn from the tumult to things near by is to find the forests of -the mountain coming down through the pastures to look in friendly -fashion over the walls at the clean mowing fields. On these they do -not encroach, and though they continually press in upon the pastures -and narrow their boundaries they do it gently and with such patient -urbanity that the open spaces hardly know when they cease to be and the -woodland occupies them. The flowers of the pasture sunshine grow thus -for years in the forest shadows before they realize that they are out -of place and hasten back to seek the full sunshine, and the trillium -and clintonia and a host of other shade-loving things move out into -the open and mingle with the buttercups and blue violets, sure that -the trees will follow them. Thus gently does nature repair the ravages -that have been wrought by the hand of man. Yet all through the mountain -region she moves on, and fewer farms nestle in the giants' footfall on -the high ridges than were there fifty or a hundred years ago. In many -cases the summer hotel or the summer residence has taken the place of -the one-time farm-house, but the dwellers in these encourage the wood -rather than hold it at bay. The lumbermen make sad havoc among the big -trees, but the forest acreage is greater in the mountains now than it -was a century ago, more than making up in breadth what it loses in -height. - -In this low growth of the pastures about the farms high on Iron -Mountain the June sunshine seems to pass into living forms of plant and -animal life. Not only do the dandelions and buttercups blossom with -their gold in all the moist, rich soil, but out of the green of forest -leaves and the deep shadows of the wood it flutters upon quivering -wings. The yellow warblers that flit and sing vigorously among the -young birches are touched with the olive of the gentler shadows, but as -they sing their vigorous "Wee-chee, chee, chee, cher-wee" their plumage -is as full of the sunshine gold as are the dandelion blooms. The -myrtle warblers of the spiring spruces, the magnolias, Blackburnians, -mourning, Canadian and Wilson's, are flecked with it, and the forest -shadows that touch them too only seem to bring it out the more clearly. -But these are birds of the wood or its edges. In the trees that stand -clear of the forest the goldfinches sing as if they were canaries, -caged within the limits of the farm, their gold the brightest of all -that which the birds show, the black of their wings densest, the color -of night in the bottom of the glen, under evergreens. The thrushes that -sing in the deep woods far down the mountain chant prayers, even until -noon, the warblers in a thousand trees twitter simple ditties that are -the mother-goose melodies of the forest world, cosy, fireside refrains -hummed over and over again, but the goldfinches are the choristers of -the summer sunshine when it floods the open spaces. They seem to be -the familiar bird spirits of summer on the little mountain farms. - - * * * * * - -As the sunshine blossoms from the mountain meadows, as it flits and -sings in the forest margins and in the goldfinch-haunted trees of the -open farm, so it is born even from the twigs in the deeper wood, far -up above the highest farm on the way to the summit of Iron Mountain. -Great yellow butterflies, tiger swallowtails, flutter in the dapple of -light and shadow, their gold the sunlight that flows across them as -they sail by. A few days ago not one of these soaring beauties was in -all the woodland; then, of a day, the place was alive with them. Born -of chrysalids that have wintered under dry bark and in the shelter of -rocks and fallen leaves, passing unharmed through gales and cold that -registered forty below and six feet of hardened snow? Nonsense! Watch -the play of sunlight on young leaves of transparent green. See it -flame with shining gold, stripe them with rippling shadows of twigs, -and then see the whole quiver into free life and flutter away, a -tiger-swallowtail butterfly, and believe these spirits of the woodland -shadows are born in any other way, if you can. Papilio turnus may -come out as chrysalids in scientists' insectaries, but these woodland -sprites are born of the love of sunshine for young leaves and quiver -into June to be the first messengers of the full tide of summer, which -neither comes up to the mountains from the south nor falls to them from -the sky, but is a miracle of the same desire. - -It is for such miracles that the young shoots of the forest undergrowth -ask as they come forth each year with their tender leaves clasped -like hands in prayer. Through May you shall see this attitude of -supplication in the young growth all along the mountain-sides where -the shade of the woods is deep, and it lingers with the later-growing -shrubs and herbs even until this season. Most devout of these seems the -ginseng, its trinity of arms coming from the mould in this prayerful -attitude, and now that these have spread wide to receive the good and -perfect gifts that they know are coming the trinity of leaflets at -their tips are still clasped most humbly. So it is with the bellwort -and the Solomon's seal and many another gentle herb of the shadows. -Their leaf hands are clasped in prayer as they come forth, and their -heads are bowed in humble adoration all summer long. The joy of warmth -and the sweetness of summer rain are theirs already, and one might -think it was for these creature comforts that the prayer had been. But -it was not. It was, and is, for grace of bloom and the dear delight of -ripening fruit, the one deep wish of all the world. - -The very summit of Iron Mountain, 2725 feet above the sea level, is -a plateau of broken rock, scattered over solid ledges which protrude -through the débris. Trees and shrubs of the slopes and the lowland -have climbed to this plateau, poplar and birch, bird cherry, sumac, -dwarf blueberries and alder, that find a footing here and there among -the crevices. Spruces, somewhat dwarfed and scattered but spiring -primly, are there, too, and the whole concourse makes the bleak rock -glade-like and friendly, yet do not altogether obstruct the outlook. -The breath of summer has pinked the young cones on the spruce tops -and robed them in the gold of pollen-bearing catkins. It has set -silver reflections shimmering from the young leaves of poplar and -birch, and the dwarf blueberries are pearled with white bloom. Other -spirits of summer are among these; alert, frantically hasty skipper -butterflies dash about among them, and a big, lank mountain variety -of bumblebee drones from clump to clump, showing a broad band of deep -orange across the gold and black of his back. He is a big and husky -mountaineer of a bee, but buzzing with him comes a clearwing moth, -the spring form of the snowberry clearwing. Hæmorrhagia diffinis, -if I am not mistaken, though I hardly expected to find this little -day-flying moth at so great an elevation so far north. The very spirit -of summer, the tiger-swallowtail butterfly, was there, too, hovering -confidingly at the tip of my pencil as I wrote about him, and with him -the black, gold-banded Eastern swallowtail, Papilio asterias, these two -the largest butterflies of the summit. Of all the insect life, large -or small, that revelled in the vivid sunlight of the thin air of the -little plateau the most numerous were the little bluebottle flies that -hummed there in swarms, very busy about their business, whatever it -was, filling the air with glints of the deepest, most scintillant azure. - - * * * * * - -But he who climbs Iron Mountain will not linger too long with the -summer denizens of its little rocky plateau. From the cairn which -mountaineers have built of its loose rocks the eye has a wide sweep -of the mountain world in every direction. To the south the land fades -into shadowy mountains far down the Ossipee Valley, mountains that -seem to float there in a soft, violet haze as if they were but massed -bloom of the Gulf Stream that flows and gives off its wondrous colors -half a thousand miles farther on. East the tossing sea is dappled with -green and blue as the cloud shadows follow one another over the forest -growth. West the peaks against the sun loom blue-black and stern as -they climb northward into the Presidential Range, lifting their summits -over the rough ridge of the Montalban Range till one wonders what -wildernesses lie in the shadowy ravines between the two. But whether -to the east or the west the gaze still falls upon a surging sea of -forest-clad granite, the very picture of tumultuous motion, till the -cairn beneath the gazer takes on the semblance of a mainmast-head on -which he stands, and from which the plunge of the ship may at any -moment send him whirling into space. - -To look northward from this main-truck is to get a further insight into -the mystery of the motion. Here, as the clouds blow away from the upper -slopes of the highest peak, the semblance of a tossing sea vanishes, -and one seems to understand what happened here in an age long gone. -Once upon a time this mountain earth must have been fluid, one thinks, -and the wind have blown an antediluvian gale from the northwest. It -sent great waves of earth tossing and rolling and riding southeast -before it, with clouds for crests and the blue haze of distance for -the scurrying spindrift. Then uprose from the depths of this awful sea -Mount Washington, enthroned on the Presidential Range, "clothed in -white samite, mystic, wonderful," and commanded the tumult to cease. -There it stands. - -It stands, not only in the rock but in the imagination of the onlooker, -once he has found the dignity and grandeur of the highest summit, -for authority. Dignity and grandeur are the impressions which come -to one from the north through the crystal clear, thin air out of the -cool, snow-samite which still stands in the deep ravines even on the -southerly slope of the master mountain, just as illusion and romance -dwell in the violet haze which veils all the south in pleasing mystery. -Here on Iron Mountain one is lifted high in air between the two and -able with a turn of the head to see either, and again it should be said -that to know the mountains well it is best to see them from the lesser -summits of their ranges. From every one of these they stand before -the onlooker in new aspects, so different each from each that they -seem new peaks whose acquaintance he has not hitherto made. Only thus -is their many-sided completeness revealed and their full personality -brought out. Nor need the visitor be among them long before he realizes -that they have personality and grow to be individual friends, as well -loved and as ardently longed for when absent as any human neighbor or -associate. Within them dwell a deep kindliness and a strength which -goes out to those who love them, unfailing and unvarying through the -years. It is no wonder that prophets seek them, and that within the -sheltering arms of their ridges are cosy nooks where hermits build -their hermitages and find a deep peace which the cities of the world -deny them. - -[Illustration: "From nowhere does one get a better view of Kearsarge -than from this little cairn on the plateau which is the summit of Iron -Mountain"] - -From nowhere does one get a better view of Kearsarge than from this -little cairn on the plateau which is the summit of Iron Mountain. The -long ridge which rises from the east branch of the Saco to Bartlett -Mountain and goes on and up to make the summit of Kearsarge stands with -its edge toward him and vanishes against the mountain itself, leaving -its outline that of a narrow cone, rising abruptly from a plain below. -There is something spectacular in its dizzy, abrupt loom into the sky, -quivering in gray haze against the violet depths beyond, making of -it a magic peak such as the early voyagers of legendary times saw and -viewed with fear and wonder. Such a mountain as this seems was the -lodestone which drew the ship of Sinbad from the sea to be wrecked on -its base, and over it at any time might come flying a roc with the -palace of a prince of India in its talons. - -The sun that sinks to his setting behind the great ridges that wall -in Crawford Notch sets their peaks in eruption, black smoke of clouds -rising from them and glowing with the reflection of lakes of lava -below and the flicker of long flames. The Presidential Range looms -and withdraws in mighty solemnity and dignity, lost in the turbid -glow of this semblance of what may have happened in æons gone, but -the reflection of these fires only deepens the amethystine gray of -Kearsarge and the purple gloom beyond it, while it touches the very -summit with a soft rose, a flower of mystery as sweet as any that ever -bloomed in legendary lore. When the watcher on the peak sees these -signs, it is time to begin the descent to the deepening shadows far -down the mountain, where the thrushes are singing vespers in tuneful -adoration, prayerfully thankful for a holy day well spent. - -[Illustration: Sunset over Iron Mountain and Jackson, seen from Thorn -Mountain] - - - - - IV - - JUNE ON KEARSARGE - - _Butterflies and Flowers on a Summit of Splendid Isolation_ - - -The familiar spirits of Kearsarge Mountain this June seemed to me to -be the white admiral butterflies. Clad in royal purple are these with -buttons of red and azure and broad white epaulettes which cross both -wings. These greeted me in the highway at Lower Bartlett and there was -almost always one in sight up Bartlett Mountain, over the ledges and -to the very top of Kearsarge itself. One of them politely showed me -the wrong wood road as a start for the trail up Bartlett which leaves -the highway just a little south of the east branch of the Saco. Then -when the road ended in a vast tangle of slash and new growth he showed -me what was to him a perfectly good trail still, up in the air and -over the tops of the trees and ledges in easy flight, and I dare say -he thought me very dull that I did not follow as easily as he led. -It is the season for white admirals and you may meet them in favored -places all over the mountains from now on, but nowhere have I seen them -so plentiful as they are this June along the slopes of Bartlett and -Kearsarge. A South American navy could not have more admirals. - -[Illustration: Kearsarge and Bartlett, seen from Middle Mountain, near -Jackson] - -With the white admirals I find, flying lower and keeping well in -shadowy nooks, a thumbnail butterfly which might well be a midshipman, -he is so much a copy on a small scale of the admiral, very dark in -ground color and having white epaulettes across both wings also. This -butterfly is new to me, nor do I find him figured in such works on -lepidoptera as I have been able to consult since I have seen him. I had -to get lost on the way up Bartlett to find him most plentiful, but his -fellows are common throughout the shady woodlands of the upper branches -of the Saco from Pinkham Notch to the borders of the Conway meadows. -In fact I fancy the whole White Mountain region is a school for these -understudies of the white admirals, and they certainly could have no -more noble exemplar. - -No doubt my volunteer white admiral guide had a great contempt for any -would-be sailor that could not climb as he did when he went straight -toward the main truck of Kearsarge by way of the bobstay, but he left -me where the lumber road did, in a wild tangle of slash, to get up -the mountain the way the bear does, on all fours. There is a path up -Bartlett, a proper one that enters from the highway as the A. M. C. -guide says it does and sticks to its job after the first third of the -ascent is accomplished, but the way it flirts with the wood roads -between these two points is bewildering to the sober-minded stranger -who attempts to follow it. However, missing this slender trifler had -its compensations. I am convinced that I reached portions of the slope -of Bartlett that are rarely visited. I was long getting out of the -awful mess which lumbermen leave behind them at the upper ends of their -roads. The inextricable confusion of tangled spruce tops and the sudden -riot of new deciduous growth, wild with delight over the flood of -sunshine it gets, held me as if in a net. And all the time I wrestled -with it an indigo bunting sat on the top of a rock maple and sang his -surprise at seeing such a thing in such a place. "Dear, dear!" he -gurgled, "who is it? who is it? dear, dear, dear!" and once in a while -he added a little tittering "tee, hee, hee." It was all very well for -him. He could follow the white admiral if he were bound for the main -truck of Kearsarge by way of the Bartlett bobstay, and he looked very -handsome and capable as he glistened, iridescent blue-black up there -against the sun. How poor a creature a man is, after all! A box turtle -could have gone up through that slash better than I did. - -[Illustration: From Eagle Mountain one may see Kearsarge, blue and -symmetrical in the distance, peering over the shoulder of Thorn] - - * * * * * - -However, man wins because he keeps everlastingly at it, and I reasoned -that if I kept climbing I would come out on top of something or other, -and I did. On top of a pretty little hill, which is an outlying, -northwesterly spur of Bartlett, a spot which gave me a glimpse of -the dark, spruce-covered summit far above and a deep ravine between -down into which I must go and begin my scramble all over again. A -no-trail trip gives one an idea of what a mountain really is, showing -him, for one thing, how rapidly it moves down into the valley beneath -it. Here on steep slopes were loose masses of angled fragments of -granite, weighing from a few pounds to a few tons each, broken from the -precipices above by the frost and ready, some of them at least, to be -toppled at a touch and start an avalanche. It needs but the footfall of -a climbing deer, a bear, or a stray man to start one rock, or two, and -it is easy to see that a down-rush of spring rain takes always a part -of the mountain with it. To go up one of the precipitous ledges, "tooth -and nail" as one must who misses the path, is to find how easily these -broken chunks, separated by the frost from the parent rock, fall out -and join the masses below. - -Yet such a climb has its joys, which the path does not always give. -Here the deer have browsed and left prints of slender hoofs in the -black earth beneath the trees, there the white hare had his lair all -winter, a jutting rock sheltering him and the sun from the southwest -warming him as he crouched. Here are holes where the porcupines have -scratched their bristly way, or a cave where perhaps a bear had his -den. This the wandering stranger views with suspicion and approaches -with many delightful thrills strangely compounded of hope and fear. -Probably there are no bears on Bartlett, but what if there were one, -and nothing for defence but the majesty of the human eye! A man is -apt to get his own measure in places like these. Of course the bear, -if there be one, will run--but which way? In the wildest glen, filled -with rough dens and suspicions of bears of the largest size, I found -grateful traces of at least the former presence of men, men in bulk, so -to speak. Here, in the forest tangle, wreathed with mountain moosewood -blooms, was a good-sized cook-stove. There was no suspicion of a road, -and I could only guess that it had wandered from a lumber camp and lost -the trail, as I had. It reminded me that Bartlett summit was still -distant, more distant perhaps than the noon hour which this mountain -range also suggested, and it set me to the ascent with renewed vigor. - - * * * * * - -All the way up in woodsy nooks where are little levels of rich black -soil the moccasin flowers climb till the very top of Bartlett is -reached. Their rose-purple foot coverings with the greenish-purple -pointed thongs for tying seem scattered as if pukwudgies had lost -them, fleeing in terror from the bears which I could only suspect, the -mountain top their refuge, where I found them, grouped rather close -together in mossy nooks among the ledges. The dwarf cornels climb with -them, finding footing in much the same places and stare unblinkingly -up with round and chubby foolish faces. The cypripediums are sensitive -and emotional; these that climb with them are strangely stolid and -shallow by comparison, yet they add beauty of their own sort to the -wide, moss-carpeted stretches beneath the trees. On the very ledges -themselves neither of these advance, yet wherever the frosts of winter -have split the rock the slender lints of strange lettering are green -with mountain cranberry vines, and the creeping snowberry has followed -and holds rose-white blooms up to lure the mountain bees. The lichens -have painted these ledges, of which the upper part of Bartlett Mountain -is built, with wonderful soft colors of mingled grays and greens, and -the spruces spire, black and beautiful, all over the summit, making -one hunt for open spaces from which to view the world stretched out -beneath. I found the path again on the ledges well up toward the -summit, a slender, coquettish thing still, hard to follow, but enticing -with its waywardness, its most bewildering vagaries marked by former -lovers, men of the A. M. C. without doubt, little piles of stone which -lead him who trusts them to the very summit. - -Here, as on that lower spur of Bartlett which I had struggled to -attain, one looks upon a greater height, with a ravine between, -Kearsarge looming grandly up into the sky to eastward. The white -admiral butterfly danced along here, too--or was it another?--seemingly -impatient at my long delay in following, and the path coquettes in -vain, down ledges and up ledges, always to be found by patient study of -those little piles of marking stone, till, breasting the steep slope -of Kearsarge itself, one enters the comparatively broad highway which -leads up from Kearsarge village. After that the ascent to Olympus is -easy. - -On few mountains does one get the sense of exaltation and ecstatic -uplift that comes to him when he stands on the high summit of -Kearsarge. The mountain is splendidly isolated, only Bartlett rising -high near it, and the summit of that even being so far below as to be -readily overlooked. Northwestward looms Mount Washington, higher, no -doubt, but so buttressed by the great ranges on which it sits serene as -to lose the effect of upleap that Kearsarge has. Under you is spread -all eastern Maine, like a map, and you look northeastward across silver -levels of lakes and mottled green of dwarfed hills till, shadowy on -the far horizon, looms the peak of Katahdin, a blue land-cloud on -the rim of the silver-flecked green sea. The two peaks of Doublehead -are curious twin green knolls below to the north, and only in the -far-distant north and west are summits of height that equal or exceed -your own. Far away in these directions they begin and pinnacle and -retreat, range beyond range, till they fade into the dim blue haze of -the farthest horizon. Southeast lie one silver lake after another, till -the eye finds Sebago, and beyond that the thin rim of the world which -is Casco Bay and the sea. - -Much cool water must well up from the heart of Kearsarge to its summit, -for grass grows long there in the hollows of the granite, and many -alders, hung with powdery curls of staminate bloom and green with -many leaves in mid-June. The moccasin flowers failed in their climb -from Bartlett summit to reach the top of Kearsarge, but the rhodora -has come up and set rose purple blooms in the same season, the leaves -here pushing out with the flowers instead of waiting, as they do in -lower latitudes, at lesser heights. Under their caresses the mountain -has smiled and given forth butterflies. Here are the white admirals, -conscious with epaulettes as if they had just stepped ashore from the -white cloud fleets that swing with cumulus sails piled high just off -shore. Here is the painted lady, hovering admiringly by, seemingly -unnoticed by the admirals. Here are tiger swallowtails, their gold -black-barred with rippling shadows, and little skippers, swift and busy -when the admirals heave in sight. Most of all I note mourning cloaks, -and one in particular is in deep mourning, the usual pale rim of his -wings replaced by a brown that is so deep it is black and hides all -azure spots that should be there. It may be that all these butterflies -sailed up into the island port of a mountain top that swims so high in -the vivid sunshine of the June afternoon that the air about it seems -to me, watching them, to be a veritable transparent blue sea of great -depth, yet it is just as likely that many were born on or near the -summit, of generations of mountain dwelling lepidoptera. Of these must -have been my black-bordered mourning cloak, the winter's cold having -dulled his color within the chrysalis and giving an added depth to his -mourning. He was as sombre as the dusky-wings which dashed about with -the skippers, like black slaves come to help in the lading of their -vessels. - - * * * * * - -Into this island port in the high air came, about four in the -afternoon, a wind from the sea, cooling the intense heat and spreading -a smoke-blue haze all along the southeastern horizon. It wiped out the -coast-line of Casco Bay and moved the sea in with it, swallowing Sebago -and pushing on till Lovell's Pond and the lesser ones within the New -Hampshire line became estuaries at which one looked long, expecting to -see slanting sails and smell the cool fragrance of tide-washed flats. -Into this haze loomed one after another the distant Maine mountains and -vanished as if slipping their cables and sailing away over the rim of -the world, bound for foreign ports. A new romance of mystery had come -to the outlook from the mountain top. Far up its side, borne on this -cool air, came the song of thrushes, a jubilation of satisfied longing. -The breath of the sea had come with cool reassurance to soothe and -hearten all things. - -On beyond Kearsarge, toward Crawford Notch and the Presidential Range -swept this cool reviving air, carrying its blue haze with it. The low -sun sent broad bands of palest blue down through this vapor and with -it, northwestward, the mountains seemed to withdraw; details that had -been so clear vanished, and instead of dapple of purple-green forest -and rose-gray cliff were long cloud-ridges of wonderful deep blue -riding one beyond another like waves on a painted sea, the darkest -nearest, the farther paling into the farthest and that vanishing -into the blue of the sky itself. Out of Crawford Notch rolled the -Saco, flecking the valley below with patches of gleaming silver. The -cumulus cloud fleets that had swung over the mountains all day long, -bluing the green of the hills with the shadows of their canvas, swept -northwestward with this wind, a great convoy for the sun on into the -ports of the radiant west. Now one of them hid him from sight, its -edges all gold with the joy of it. Again the rays flashed clear and -the shadow of Kearsarge moved its point of blue a little farther out -on the green of the forest to eastward. Down the mountain path a -Bicknell's thrush sang, the veery's song, less round and loud and full, -but with much of the spiral, bell-tone quality in it. It reminded me -that the visitor to the summit who is to go home by way of the broad -path to Kearsarge village may well wait till this pointed shadow of -the summit climbs Pleasant Mountain in Maine and looms upward into the -purple shadows beyond. I was to go back by that coquette of a trail -down Bartlett, and the thought of what tricks it would play on me by -moonlight made me hasten. - -The cool of evening was descending like a benediction on the level, -elm-fringed meadows of Intervale, and the little village of North -Conway gleamed white in the low sun and pointed the broad way down the -Saco Valley to a hundred lakes as I climbed over the brow of Bartlett -and clinked my heels on the ledges of its western face. The mocassin -flowers nodded good night and the golden green, spiked blooms of the -mountain moosewood waved me on down the path that seemed as true as -slender as it wound on down the hill. Surely, I thought, holding is -having, and I shall keep this little path close till the end of the -way. And then it slipped from under my arm and snickered as it made off -in the bushes, goodness knows where, leaving me two-thirds the way down -Bartlett with the dusk and the tangle of forest all before me. However, -"down hill goes merrily," and so did I, and by and by I came to a tiny -mountain brook, and we two jogged on together in the deepening gloom, -prattling of what we had seen. - -At least, mountain brooks do not run away from you as mountain paths -do, but it is as well not to trust them too much, after dark. This one -led me demurely to the brink of the little precipice of "No-go" Falls -and chuckled as it took the thirty-foot leap, a slim thread of silver -in the moonlight. I dare say it was thinking what a fine splash I would -make in the shallow pool below. Instead I clambered carefully around -and made the foot of the little cliff without a thud, there to find -that the laugh is really on the brook, for its leap takes it into a -big iron funnel whence it is personally conducted down a mile more of -mountain into the little reservoir of the North Conway water supply. I -followed the pipe, too, but outside, and the brook did not gurgle once -about it all the way down. - - - - - V - - RAIN IN THE MOUNTAINS - - _The Gods, Half-Gods and Pixies to be Seen as the Storm Passes_ - - -There are other beauties in the high mountains than those of fair -days which show blue peaks pointing skyward in the infinite distance. -Now and then a northeaster comes sweeping grandly down from Labrador, -swathing the peaks in mist wraiths torn from the weltering waves of -Baffin's Bay and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Then he who knows the storm -only from the sea level finds in it a new mystery and delight. On the -heights you stand shoulder to shoulder with the clouds themselves, -seeing the gray genie stalk from summit to summit or anon swoop down -and bear a mountain away to cloud castles that build themselves in a -moment and vanish again in a breath. At the sea level the storm rumbles -on high above your head, tossing down upon you what it will; here you -are among the mysteries of its motion, sometimes almost above their -level, and through rifts in the clouds you may get glimpses of their -sun-gilded upper portions and see the storm as the sky does for a -moment from above. Again the clouds coast to the valleys and wrap even -them in the matrix of mist out of which rain is made. - -[Illustration: Sunset light on the Southern Peaks, seen from the summit -of Mount Washington] - -Most beautiful is such a storm in the hours of its passing, when the -main cohorts have swept by, when the rear guard and camp follower -clouds pass at wider and wider intervals and more and more sun comes -to paint their folds with rose and flash the meadows and dripping -woods with scattered gems set in most vivid green. Far off the high -hills loom mightier and more mysterious than ever, for their shoulders -still pass into the storm and the imagination gives them unrevealed -majesties of height, built upon the blue-black cloud plateaus that hide -them. No wonder the great gods dwelt on Mount Olympus. So they do on -cloud-capped Mount Washington, on Carrigain, Lafayette and Carter Dome. - -In time of storm lesser divinities may well come down to the valleys, -and when the passing clouds are mingled with the coming sunshine is the -time to look for trolls in the woodland paths, pixies by the stream, -and to find, in the very blossoming shrubs and graceful trees of the -level river meadows a personality that is as nearly human as that which -the Greeks gave their gods. Who can know the elms of the Conway and -Intervale meadows without loving them for their femininity? Each one -"walks a goddess and she looks a queen." Yet each one flutters feminine -fripperies with a dainty grace such as never yet stepped from motor -car at the most fashionable hostelry between Bretton Woods and Poland -Spring. The summer visitors who wear hobble skirts on the piazzas and -along the lawns of the most luxurious mountain hotels need not think -they are the first to flaunt this curious inflorescence of fashion -before the stony stare of the peaks. The river-bottom elms have worn -their peek-a-boo garments of green that way ever since they began to -grow up in the meadows. Nor can the newcomers vie in grace, however -clever their artifice, with these slim mountain maids, than whom -no dryads of any grove have ever combined caprice and dignity into -more bewitching beauty. The meadow elms are the queens of all summer -exhibitions of the perfect art of wearing clothes. - - * * * * * - -The elms of the deep wood are far more simply dressed, losing not -one whit of dignity by it, as he who intrudes upon them in their -cool, shadowy bowers may know. But these elms of the sandy intervales -where the sun would otherwise touch them with the full warmth of his -admiration are dressed for the world, all in fluffy ruffles of green -that flow yet sheathe, that clothe in all dignity yet are of such -exquisite cut and proper fashion that the highest art of Fifth Avenue -has nothing to match them. To look beyond these to the hillsides is -to see the firs and spruces as prim Puritans of an elder day wearing -the high, pointed caps of witch-women and conical skirts that follow -the flaring lines of a time long gone; and the maples and beeches are -roundly, frankly, bourgeois, grafting the balloon sleeves of a quarter -of a century ago upon the bulge of hoop-skirts such as some of our -great-grandmothers wore in conscious pride. But the meadow elms! -Sylph-like and teasingly sweet, fluffy, fashionable and fascinating, -yet robed throughout in a gentle dignity such as might well be the aura -of purity and nobility, no tree in all the mountain world can quite -match them. - -In these valleys among the high hills the man from the lowland regions -is apt to miss and long for the sheen of placid waters. All descents -are so abrupt that streams rush impetuously always downward toward -the sea, carrying with them whatever may obstruct, whether flotsam of -blown leaves or the very granite ledges themselves if they impede the -advance too long. They burst ledges, smash boulders to pebbles and -grind pebbles to sand and then to silt and spread it over the meadows -where the elms grow or hurry it on to make deltas and vex ships on -the very sea itself. If they may not smash the ledges or the boulders -they slowly dissolve them or more rapidly wear them away by constant -scouring with the passing sand of their freshets, and always in the -ravines they have dug sounds the uproar of their perpetual attrition -and unrest. Far away this comes intermittently in a soothing sibilation -which seems to be saying to itself "Hush, hush." It is as if one heard -the voices of little mother levels of still pools trying to quiet the -fretful child-foam of the cascades. - -But sitting on the rock itself by the stream as it dashes down one -gets, through this, a deep vibration which has almost too few beats to -the second to be a tone, that is as much a jar as a sound, the deep -diapason of the quivering granite itself. A beaten ledge responds like -a mighty gong with a humming roar that is strangely disproportionate -to the means employed to produce the sound. Sometimes to stamp with -the foot over a rounded surface of earth-covered granite is to produce -an answering, drumlike boom that makes one suspect that he stands on a -thin film of rock over a cavern. The music of a fall has many parts. -One of these is the sand-dance sibilation of the shuffling waters, -another this boom of the rock drum on which the green flood beats with -padded blows. - - * * * * * - -As the heart of the listener is tuned so it answers to the mingled -voices of the waters. One may hear in them the well-harmonized parts of -a runic lullaby and be soothed to peace and belief in all things good -by the music. To many another their perpetual turmoil and unrest find -too loud an echo from the depths within him, and he longs for still -lakes that look friendlily up to him with the blue of the sky in their -clear eyes, fringed with the dark-pencilled lashes of firs beneath the -brow of the hill. The valleys of the high white hills have so few of -these that one may count them on the fingers of a hand. "Echo Lake" or -"Mirror Lake" we find them named, and all summer long they have their -throng of admirers, who in the lowland regions would pass such tiny -tarns with little thought of their beauty. They may be so set that they -mirror no mountain peak. Their echo may be no more silvery in tone or -more frequently repeated than one would get if he blew a bugle in some -dusty, forgotten city square where red brick blocks would toss the -call from one to another, yet the little lakes have a charm of placid -personality that the cataracts cannot give. - -Some day, without doubt, man will fill the blind ravines of the upper -mountain region with a thousand eyes of these, binding the waters -for use and thereby adding to their beauty. Every narrow ravine has -its stream, dashing uproariously downward. It needs but a barrier of -boulders set in cement to make at once a little lake and a cascade. The -water, set for a moment to turn a turbine, will again dash on with its -full gift of flashing foam and musical uproar for all who watch and -listen, but its momentary restraint will have helped the men of the -mountains with power and have helped the hills themselves to greater -permanency and added beauty. Man must do this if he would keep the -beauty of the hills whence cometh his strength, or indeed if he would -keep the hills themselves. The black spruce growth that once clothed -them from base to summit, holding the winter's snow and ice beneath -their sheltering boughs to melt slowly almost all summer long, making -deep, cool shadows for the growth of water-holding, spongy mosses, -he has ruthlessly cut away. For many years, winter after winter, -out of the Glen Ellis River Valley, right up under the slope of the -Presidential Range, went half a hundred million feet of this growth, -and in all the other valleys where spruce remained it was the same. -The sudden freshets are more sudden, the disintegrating droughts more -severe now because of this, and by these the very mountains themselves -are torn down. - -Such a little lake, built not to turn a wheel but to please the eye -of the lovers of mountain beauty, has lately been made just north of -Jackson. There it sits in a little bowl of a hollow among spruce-clad -hills and its waters purl gently over a cement dam, to splash for -the square-tailed trout under the shadows farther down the ravine. -Creatures that already knew the little stream and the marshy hollow -where the lake had welled have taken kindly to its presence, but the -wider ranging woodland folk are still surprised at finding it there -and shy about trusting themselves on it or its borders. It is too -young to be adopted by the water birds that have known the region long. -The sand-pipers that move leisurely north up Ellis River, feeding and -teetering as they go, do not light in on the borders of the new-born -lake, and though the loons have no doubt seen it as they fly over, -they, too, go by. I have never yet seen a loon plunge over the ridge -to ripple its waters with his splash or set the goblin echoes of the -forest laughing with his eerie cry. A mountain lake without one loon is -lonely. In the tiny "mirror lake," which is a mountain tarn that has -been an eye to the woodland for countless centuries over beyond the -southeast slope of Kearsarge, a loon family dwells, and I watch them -from the summit, diving, feeding and making great sport in their world. -Over on Chocorua there are two such, and I fancy they are equally -numerous on all still waters of the high mountain world, but they have -not yet trusted this new-born mountain lake, nor have the spotted -sand-pipers come to nest among the ferns on its margin. - -But the little lake mirrors many a bird wing nevertheless, mainly -those of the eave swallows that nest in a long row under the eaves of -a Jackson barn. These know that man loves them, and the things that he -has made, whether barn roofs or little lakes, are to be adopted and -used without fear. So they swoop over the fir tops and skim the surface -of the unruffled waters, dipping to touch their own reflections and -twittering mightily about it as they sweep the dust of tiny insects out -of the shimmering air. Nor does the lake mirror lack for the reflection -of many even more beautiful wings. When the sun breaks through the -passing storm a thousand gauzy, white-bodied dragon-flies magically -appear. They cluster on sunny margins and dash into the air and clash -wings in infinitesimal rustlings. Their fellows of a score of varieties -of coloration and shape are here too, spirits of the air but children -of its love for the waters and born of the lake itself. While the storm -passes I watch their miracles of recreation. When the sun lights up the -shallow margins they come swimming beneath the surface, strange little -slender submarines with filmy propellers behind and round conning -towers in front. They come to a projecting twig and climb up on this -with hitherto unsuspected legs till they are many inches above the -surface, where the sun and wind will dry them. - -How do they know the appointed time? Whence comes this impulse to leave -the water which has been their home since the first faint beginnings of -individuality were theirs? There is no answer to these questions in any -depth to which scientific investigation has yet probed. Yet the impulse -is there and they do know the appointed time. Moreover they know if -they have obeyed the promptings of the impulse too soon. Now and then -one climbs out and rests for a moment, then in a sudden panic lets go -his hold on the twig and drops into the water again, scuttling back to -the depths in haste. For him the hour has not yet struck. But most of -them come out to stay. They cling motionless with the sun drying their -backs and filling them with such new life and vigor that they burst. -The submarine is itself a shell, and as it bursts out of it comes the -life that animated it, in a new form, to dry and stretch its wings and -presently dart into the air on them, henceforth a creature of the sun. -Behind each remains its water-world husk, still clinging to the twig -to which it crawled. Sometimes I put a finger into the water in front -of the swimming insect, and it as readily crawls out on that as on a -twig, but neither of us has yet had patience to wait thus till the -transformation is complete. - -The larger dragon-flies, with their clashing wings and darting flight, -which is so swift sometimes that the eye fails to record it clearly, -seeing the insect at the beginning and again at the end but unable to -receive an impression of the passage, seem well named. Here are small -creatures, indeed, but veritable dragons nevertheless that may well -carry apprehension to the human watcher as well as to the tiny midges, -which they capture in this darting flight and summarily devour. It may -be that they will not sew up the mouth of the boy that swears in their -presence, but no boy is to be blamed if he believes that they can. -Their gorgon-like build and their uncanny swiftness of motion might -well prompt the superstitious to believe that they could be a terror -to evil-doers. But no one could think the gentle demoiselles capable -of wrong, though they are dragon-flies too and are born of the same -waters and eat tiny insects in the same way. Appearances count for much -with all of us, and the demoiselles flit so softly and fold their wings -on alighting in such prayerful demureness of attitude that they seem -instead the good folk of the fairy world that margins the little lake, -created to bring rewards to the good rather than to punish evil. - -Thus by the man-made mountain tarn one may find the dragons and the -pixies that man has made too, out of the débris of dreams that the -race has accumulated since it too grew up out of placid waters which -in ages past seem to have sheltered all elementary forms of life as it -shelters the dragon-fly nymphs before they have grown up to use their -wings. While the storm wraps the world in the illusions of romance the -half-gods of Greek myth stalk the mist-entangled meadows and shout in -the winding valleys, across the mountain streams. As the storm breaks, -the clouds pass, and the sun floods the thin air with his gold, these -mayhap, like the pixie dreams, will vanish. The half-gods go, but the -gods arrive. The eye lifts with the clouds to wider and wider spaces -and greater and greater heights, up stepping-stones of glistening -cliffs, along rugged ranges to where the peaks sit enthroned in -splendor, the great gods themselves. Vulcan looms vaguely by his black -anvil, the distant storm swathing him in the smoke of his forge fire. -The chariot of Apollo rides beyond, his arrows flashing far and fast. -Cytherea passes with the clouds and flames them with her opalescent -presence, and high over all, mighty and storm-compelling, sits Zeus -himself, enthroned in white majesty on the carved nimbus of the passing -rain. - -[Illustration: Clouds on Mount Washington, from the Glen Road, -Jackson] - - - - - VI - - CARTER NOTCH - - _Its Mingling of Smiling Beauty and Weird Desolation_ - - -Sometimes, even in midsummer, there comes a day when winter swoops -down from boreal space and puts his crown of snow-threatening clouds -on Mount Washington. They bind his summit in sullen gray wreaths, and -though the weather may be that of July in the valleys to the south, -one forgets the strong heat of the sun in looking upward to the sullen -chill of this murky threat out of the frozen northern sky. Thus for a -day or two, it may be, the summit is withdrawn into cloudy silence, -which may lift for a moment and let a smile of sunlight glorify the -gray crags, and flash swiftly beneath the portent, then it shuts down -in grim obsession once more. - -At other times winds come, born of the brooding mass of mists, and -sweep its chill down to the very grasses of the valley far below, but -this shows the end of the portent to be near. The morning of the next -day breaks with a bright sun, and you go out into a crisp air that -sends renewed vitality flashing with tingling delight through every -vein down to the very toe tips. The clouds that blotted out the summits -with their threat of winter are gone, and the mountains leap at you, -as you look at them, out of a clarity of atmosphere that one learns to -expect where the hills rise from the verge of the far Western plains -but which is rare in New England. - -[Illustration: Carter Notch seen over Doublehead from Kearsarge -summit] - -The mystical haze that has for weeks softened all outlines and -magnified all distances till objects within them took on a vague -unreality, is gone, and we see all things enlarged and clarified as if -we looked at them from the heart of a crystal. And as with outlines, so -with colors. No newly converted impressionist, however enthusiastic in -his conversion, could paint the grass quite such a green as it shows -to the eye, or get the gold in its myriad buttercup blooms so flashing -a yellow as it now has. All through the soft days these have been a -woven cloth of gold. Now the cloth is unmeshed, the very warp has -parted, the woof separated and the particles stand revealed, a thousand -million scattered nuggets instead, each individual and glowing, a sun -of gold set in the green heaven of the meadow. The wild strawberries -that nestled by thousands in the grasses so shielded that one must hunt -carefully to see them, seeming but blurred shadows complementing the -green, now flash their red to the eye of the searcher rods away. Here -for a day is the atmosphere of Arizona, which there reveals deserts, -drifting in from the north over the lush growth and multiple rich -colors of a New England hillside country. - -It is a scintillant country on such a day. The twinkling leaves of -birch and poplar flash like the mica in the rocks far up the hillsides, -the surface of each dancing river vies with these, and through the -crystal waters you look down upon the bottom where silvery scales of -mica catch the light and send it back to the eye. It is no wonder the -early explorers from Massachusetts Bay colonies came back from the -white hills with stories of untold wealth of diamonds and carbuncles to -be found here. You may find these jewels on such a day at every turn, -though they are fairy gems only and must not be covetously snatched, -lest they turn to dross in the hand. - -The meadows above Jackson Falls flash with this beauty from one -hillside across to another, and through them winds the Wildcat River, -luring the casual passer to wade knee deep in the grass and clover from -curve to curve, always fascinating with new enticement till it is not -possible to turn back. Nor are the fairy gems which the long, winding -valley has to show confined to the sands of the river bottom or the -boulders scattered along its way. At times the air over the clover -blooms is full of them, quivering in the sun, borne on the under wings -of the spangled fritillary butterflies that swarm here in early July. -Above, the fritillaries have the orange tint of burnt gold, plentifully -sprinkled with dots of black tourmaline, but beneath they have caught -the silver scintillation of the mica-flecked rocks and sands on which -they love to light when sated with the clover honey. These too are gems -of the mountain world which, if not found elsewhere, one might well -come many miles to seek. It is easy to believe, too, that the spangled -fritillaries know the source of the silver beauty of their under wings -and cunningly seek further nourishment for it. You find them hovering -in golden cloud-swarms over bare spots of scintillant sand along the -reaches of the river or in the paths of the roadside which rambles -down from the hills with it, anon lighting upon this bare and shining -earth to probe with long probosces and draw from the mica-flecked sand -perhaps the very essence of its silvery glitter, for the renewing of -their wing spots. The white admirals are with them, not in such swarms -to be sure, but in considerable numbers, eager also for the same -unknown booty. It may be that they too thus renew the silver of their -white epaulets. - -I found all these and a thousand other beauties on my trip up the -Wildcat to its source in Carter Notch, through this region of mica-made -fairy gems. They lured me from curve to curve and from one rapid to -the next beyond, always climbing by easy gradients toward the great V -in the Carter-Moriah range, whose mysteries, to me unknown, were after -all the chief lure. The crystal-clear air out of the north, which -had swept the gloom from the high brow of Mount Washington, made the -mountains seem very near and sent prickles of desire for them through -all the blood. On such a day it is a boon to be allowed to climb, nor -can one satiate his desire for the achievement of heights except by -seeking them from dawn till dusk. Little adventures met me momentarily -on the way. Here in a mountain farmer's field was a great mass of ruddy -gold, showing its orange crimson for rods around a little knoll. Yet -this was but fairy gold as the gems of the Wildcat meadows are fairy -gems, a colony of composite weeds which no doubt the farmer hates, but -which produce more wealth for him than he could win from all the rest -of his farm for a decade--if he could but gather it. The fritillary -butterflies know its value and flock to it, losing their own burnished -coloration in it, and the wild bees are drawn far from the woodland -to it by its soft perfume. To come suddenly on this was as good as -discovering a new peak. - -[Illustration: "Always climbing by easy gradients toward the great V in -the Carter-Moriah Range"] - -To hear a tiny shriek in the wayside bushes and on search to rescue -a half-grown field sparrow from the very jaws of a garter snake, -sending the snake to gehenna with a stamp of a big foot and seeing the -fledgling snuggle down again into the nest with the others, was as -pleasant as finding the way to a new cascade. But after all, the great -lure of such a crystalline day is toward the high peaks. The Wildcat -River has its very beginning in the height of Carter Notch, and its -prattle over every shallow teased me to follow its trail back to this -high source and see what the spot might be. To do this step by step -with the falling water would be a herculean task, for the gorges down -which it runs are choked with boulders and forest débris and tangled -with thickets as close-set and difficult of passage as any tropical -jungle. But there is no need to seek its source by that route. You may -go within four miles of it by motor, if you will, up the good road -from Jackson that finally dwindles and vanishes on the slope up toward -Wildcat Mountain, but not before it has taken you through a gate and -showed you the entrance to the A. M. C. trail to the top of the Notch. - -All the way up to this point the outlook to the south has been growing -more extensive and more beautiful. Black Mountain still lifts its broad -ridge from pinnacle to pinnacle on the east side of the Wildcat, but -Eagle Mountain, Thorn, Tin, and the little height between these last -two have been dropping down the sky line till Kearsarge, Bartlett, -Moat, and even the distant Sandwich and Ossipee ranges far to the -south, loom blue and beautiful above them, while the valley of the -Wildcat unrolls its slopes, checkered with farm and woodland, to where -the river vanishes from sight around the turn at Jackson Falls. Fifty -miles of sylvan beauty lie before you as you look down the narrow -valley, over the green heights that rim it to the blue ones far beyond, -and up again to the amethystine sky. - -It is a wide world of sun and it is good to look at it now, for the -path before you plunges to shade immediately and is to give you little -more than a dapple of sunlight for five miles. Yet it is a wide and -easy way for most of the distance, for which the chance traveller -may thank the lumbermen, whose road it follows, and the Appalachian -Mountain Club. The lumbermen opened it. The Appalachians have kept -it up since the tote road was abandoned. They even have mowed its -grassy stretches each spring, lest some fair Appalachian pilgrim set -her foot upon a garter snake, inadvertently and without malice, and -henceforward abjure mountaineering. A half-dozen brooks splash down -the mountain-side and cross this trail, all for the slaking of your -thirst, and if you do not find the garter snake to step on you may have -a porcupine. Indeed, to judge from my own experience, the porcupine is -the more likely footstool. Just before you round the low shoulder of -Wildcat Mountain to enter the Notch is a burnt region full of gaunt -dead trees, and this neighborhood grows porcupines in quantity, also in -bulk. One of them looms as big as a bear at the first glimpse of him -in the trail ahead, and if he happens to start from almost beneath your -foot as you step over a rock, giving that queer little half squeal, -half grunt of his, you are momentarily sure that you have kicked up -Ursus Major himself. - -But though the porcupine may squeal and move for a few shambling steps -with some degree of quickness, he is by no means afraid of you. He just -moves off a few feet, turns his back, shakes out his quills till they -all point true, then waits for you to rush at him and bite him from -behind--waits with a wicked grin in his little eye as he leers over his -shoulder at you. Then if nothing happens he shambles awkwardly away -into the shadows of the forest. If something does happen it is the -aggressor that shambles away with a mouthful of barbed, needle-pointed -quills. But then, why should anyone bite a porcupine? They do not even -look edible, and judging by the numbers of them that strayed casually -out of the path round the shoulder of Wildcat that day nothing has -eaten any of them for a long time, else there had not been so many. In -this burnt district you get a glimpse of Carter Mountain on the other -side of the notch you are about to enter and then you plunge again into -deeper woods on the west side, under the cliffs of Wildcat, whose very -frown is hidden from you by the high trees. - -The cool, shadowy depths here will always be marked in my mind as -the place of great gray toads. I saw several of these right by the -path, six-inch long chaps, looking very wise and old and having more -markings of white than I ever before saw on a toad, besides a white -streak all the way down the backbone. The place is as beautiful as -these bright-eyed, curious creatures, and as uncanny. Mossy boles of -great trees rise through its gloom and through the perfumed air comes -the cool drip of waters. Moss is deep, and over it and the rough, -lichen-clad rocks grows the Linnæa, holding up its pink blooms, fairy -pipes for the pukwudgies to smoke. Here out of high cliffs have fallen -great rocks which lie about the patch in mighty confusion. Here are -caves, little and big, that might shelter all the hedgehogs roaming -the fire-swept mountain-side below, and as many bears. Yet neither -porcupines nor bears appeared, or any other living things except the -great white-mottled toads, that would not hop aside for my foot, but -sat and gazed at me with the calm patience of woodland deities. - -Then the path swung sharp down the hill through lesser trees that -gave a glimpse of the high frown of Carter cliffs, swimming in the -sky above, and then--I wonder if every pilgrim does not at this point -laugh with pure joy and caper a bit on road-weary legs, for here in -the gruesome depths of the great Notch, at the climax point of its -wildness, is a little clear mountain lake where surely no lake could -be, set in thousand-ton fragments of mighty broken ledges. To look -north is to see a little barrier of wooded ridge stretching across from -side to side of the place, and between the eye and this a low barrier -of wood growth among great rocks, behind which is the air of empty -space. I pushed through this, expecting a crater, and behold! Here is -another little round lake with lily pads floating on its surface, and -beyond this an open space in the woods and the A. M. C. camp. - -[Illustration: The Appalachian Mountain Club camp in Carter Notch] - -The time was early afternoon of one of the longest days of the year, -and the sun sent a cloudburst of gold a thousand feet down the -perpendicular cliffs of Wildcat Mountain and flooded the highest source -of Wildcat River with it. The north wind poured its wine over the ridge -and set the surface of the little lake to dancing with silver lights -such as had greeted me in the river far below, in the boulders along -the way, and in the spangles of the thousands of fritillary wings that -had fluttered and folded as I passed. Here is the crucible for the -making of these fairy gems, and I dare say the wise old toads from the -shadows on the side of Wildcat just above are the sorcerers whence the -tinkering trolls learned the trick of their manufacture. - -I had to wait but a little while, however, to know the difference. -Stretched on the slope on the farther shore of the flashing lake, I -watched the sun swing in behind the high pinnacle of a wildcat cliff -that leaps from the water's edge almost a thousand feet in air, its -sheer sides embroidered by the green of young birch leaves. I had -left the full tide of early summer in the Jackson meadows. Here it was -early spring. There the strawberries were over ripe, here the blossoms -were but opening their white petals, and the mountain moosewood and -mountain ash, there long gone to seed, were here just in the height of -bloom. By the lake side the Labrador tea offers its felt-slipper leaves -for the refreshment of weary travellers who may thus drink from fairy -shoon; nor need one go to the trouble of steeping, for the round heads -of delicate white bloom send forth a styptic, aromatic fragrance that -is as tonic as the air on which it floats. A drone of wild bees was in -this air, and looking up the cliff toward the sun a million wings of -tiny, fluttering insects made a glittering mist. - -But even then the shadow of the pinnacle of the great cliff fell on -the western margin of the pool and, as I lay and watched it, moved -majestically out across the waters. It wiped the golden glow and the -fluttering sheen of insects from the air, the glitter from the surface -of the lake, and spread a cool mystery of twilight over all things -which it touched. A chill walked the waters from the base of the cliff, -whose rough rock brows frowned where the birches but an hour before -had smiled, and all the hobgoblins of the wild Notch showed themselves -in the advancing shadows. Rock sphinxes and dead-tree dragons suddenly -appeared, and as the afternoon advanced so did the shadows of Wildcat -Mountain, sweeping across the narrow defile and bringing forth all its -weird and sinister aspects. - -The way to the light of day lies down the stream southerly. But there -is no stream. The waters of the upper lake flow to the other one -beneath a great jumble of broken ledges, and then go on to form the -stream farther down under a titanic rock barrier of shattered cliff -and interspersed caverns. Gnarled and dwarfed spruces climb all over -this great barrier, and so may a man if he have patience and will step -carefully on the arctic moss which clothes the rocks and gives roothold -to the spruces, watchful lest it slip from under him and drop him into -the caverns of unknown depth below. It is a region of wild beauty of -desolation even with the sun on it, and after the shadow of Wildcat -has climbed it, its rough loneliness has something almost sinister -about it. Only when its topmost rock is surmounted and the valley below -shows down the Notch, still bathed in sunshine and peaceful in its -green beauty and its rim of blue mountains far beyond, may one forget -the weird spell which the shadows have cast on him in the very heart of -the chasm. Here is the scintillant world of the Wildcat River valley -once more, still bathed in sunshine, though the shadows of the range to -westward creep rapidly toward its centre. I had seen the heart of its -beginnings at the moment when the toiling trolls were at their work. I -had seen the weirder spirits cast their mantle over the place, and far -down the Notch I could hear the little river calling me to come down -to it again as I scrambled off this giant's causeway to the friendly -leading of the path and went on down through the region of great gray -toads to the slope of a thousand porcupines, and on to where the -footpath way enters the road. The smile of sunshine had gone from the -face of the valley and the night shadows of Wildcat and its spurs were -drawn across it, but only for a little was it sombre. With the darkness -came a million scintillations of firefly lights in all its grasses, -and out of the clear blue of the sky above twinkled back the answering -stars. - - - - - VII - - UP TUCKERMAN'S RAVINE - - _Day and Night Along the Short Trail to Mount Washington Summit_ - - -The snow arch at the head of Tuckerman's Ravine holds winter in its -heart all summer long. In the sweltering heat of the early July weather -it is an unborn glacier, a solid mass of compacted snow and ice, two -hundred feet in vertical diameter and spreading fan-fashion across the -whole head of the ravine. Out from under it rumbles a stream of ice -water, and it still makes danger for the mountain climber on the upper -part of the path which climbs the head wall of the ravine and goes -on, up to the summit of Mount Washington. All winter long the north -wind sweeps the snow over the round ridge between the summit cone and -Boott's Spur and drifts it down the perpendicular face of rock which -stands above the beginning of the ravine. There are summers when the -heat of the sun, beating directly upon this glacial mass, melts it -away. There are others when it lingers till the snows of autumn come to -build upon it again. - -[Illustration: "The snow arch at the head of Tuckerman's Ravine holds -winter in its heart all summer long"] - -He who would do much mountain climbing in a comparatively short -distance will do well to go up Mount Washington by the Tuckerman -Ravine. A good motor road leads from Jackson to Gorham, and on, and the -trail leaves this nine miles above Jackson. A. M. C. signs and the feet -of thousands of mountain lovers have made the path's progress plain, -but for a further sign the wilderness sends the swish of Cutler River, -flashing over its boulders, to the ear all the way up to the snow arch, -and it serves free ice water for the refreshment of travellers. Only -in rare spots does this tiny torrent find time to make placid pools. -All the rest of the way it leaps boulders, shelters trout in clear, -bubbling depths, and makes its longest, maddest plunges at the cliffs -down which foam the Crystal Cascades. Here, at the end of your first -half-mile of ascent, you may lie in the shadow of maple and white -birch on the brink of a narrow gulf, see the white joy of the river as -it makes its swiftest plunge toward the sea, and listen to the myriad -voices in which it tells the lore of the lonely ravine which the waters -have traversed from the very summit of the head wall. No water comes -down the Crystal Cascade that is not beaten into a foam as white as -the quartz vein in which it has its very beginnings, high up the cone -of the summit. It is as if this quartz were here turned to liquid life -which spurts in a million joyous arches from the black rock which it -touches and leaves more nimbly than the feet of fleeing mountain sheep. -There are wonderfully beautiful pink flushes in this white quartz and -you may see them as you go up the path to the summit above the alpine -gardens of the plateau. But you do not have to climb that far to see -them. The same colors of dawn are in the cascade when the sun filters -through the leaves and touches those curves of beauty in which the -river laughs down to its wedding with the Ellis in the heart of the -Pinkham Notch. - -In the heart of the snow arch is winter. On its steadily receding -southern margin all through July is a continual dawn of spring. As the -snow recedes the alders emerge bare and leafless. A rod down stream -they are tinged green with the beginnings of crinkly leaves and have -hung out their long staminate tassels of bloom. Another rod and they -are in full leafage and the staminate tassels have given place to the -brown seed cones. These mountain alders have a singularly crimped rich -green leaf, and they so love the snow water torrents of Tuckerman's -Ravine that they stand in them where they plunge in steepest gullies -down the cliffs, bearing their tremendous buffeting with steadfast -forgiveness. Sometimes the freshets skin them alive and leave them -rooted with their white bones yearning down stream as if to follow the -water that killed them. The torrents hurl rocks down and crush them, -and always the downpour of water and mountain-side has bent them till -in the steepest places they grow downward, their tips only struggling -to bend toward the sky. Yet still in July they put out their bright -green, corrugated leaves, array themselves in the beauty of golden -tassels flecked with dark brown, and scatter pollen gold on the waters -that now prattle so lovingly by. - -In places the river-side banks are white with stars of Houstonia and -the lilac alpine violets nod from slender stems nearby. Down the high -cliffs the mountain avens climbs and sets its golden blooms in the -most inaccessible places, flowers from the low valleys and the alpine -heights thus mingling and making the deep ravine sweet with fragrance -and wild beauty. The rough cliffs loom upward to frowning heights on -three sides, but on their dizziest gray pinnacles the fearless wild -flowers root and garland their crags, clinging in crevices from summit -to base. With equal courage the alders have climbed them till they can -peer at the very summit of the high mountain across the wind-swept -alpine garden. - -[Illustration: "Then the shadows are deep under the black growth that -spires up all about the little placid sheet of water, though it still -reflects the sapphire blue of the clear sky above"] - -By the middle of the afternoon the shadows of the heights begin to wipe -the sunshine from the upper end of the ravine and the shade of the head -wall marches grandly out, over the snow arch and on, down stream. The -long twilight begins then and moves out to Hermit Lake by six. Then the -shadows are deep under the black growth that spires up all about the -little placid sheet of water, though it still reflects the sapphire -blue of the clear sky above. The lake is, indeed, a hermit, dwelling -always apart in its hollow among the spiring spruces, a tiny level of -water, strangely beautiful for its placidity amid all the turmoil and -grandeur about it. From its boggy margin the morning of the day that I -reached it a big buck had drank and left his hoof prints plain in the -mud among the short grasses. I waited long at evening for him to come -back, but the only signs of life about the margins were the voices -of three green frogs that cried "t-u-g-g-g" to one another by turns. -One living long here might well measure the flight of time on a clear -afternoon and evening by the changes of color in the lake. It is but a -shallow pool, but you look through the mud of its bottom and see far -below, by the inverted spires of the marginal trees, into infinite -depths of a blue that is that of the sky but clarified and intensified -by the clear waters from which it shines till it is to the eye as -perfect and inspiring as a clear musical note that leaps out of silence -to the longing ear. - - * * * * * - -As the day passes this color in the lake deepens and changes in -rhythmical cadences till twilight brings a deep green, through which -you see the inverted ravine below you more clearly than above. The one -clear note has swelled into a symphony of color through which floats -one entrancing tone, as sometimes lifts a clear soprano voice out of -the fine harmony of the chorus, the pink of sunset fleece of clouds a -mile above the head wall of the ravine. As the day fades, so does this -high, clear tone, and the advancing night deepens the green to a black -that is silence,--a silence that is velvety in body but scintillant -with the glint of stars. - -Through all this symphony of changing color a single hermit sang till -the blackness of night welled up to the spruce top in which he sat, -and as if to keep him company one or two wood warblers piped from the -very darkness beneath where it seemed too dark for full songs, and -they sang fragments only, too brief for me to identify the singers. -From the lake itself came the voices of the three green frogs, speaking -prophetically through the night with the single, authoritative words of -true prophets. Just for a moment at dusk, from the icy waters of the -stream above the lake, came a guttural chorus which I took to be that -of tree frogs, which croak in the woodland pools of Massachusetts in -March. - -In the clear waters that run from the perpetual winter of the snow arch -I had seen two of these frogs, of the regulation wood frog size and -shape but wonderfully changed in color. Instead of the usual brown, -here were frogs that were cream white throughout save for a black patch -from the muzzle across either eye extending in a faint line down the -side nearly to the hind leg. They seemed like spirit frogs with all -the dross in their epidermis washed out by the solvent purity of that -icy snow water in which they constantly dwell. In these same pools -of the icy stream were caddice-fly larvæ which had woven armor for -themselves with a warp of the usual spider-web threads and a filling of -tiny stones. But their stones were the scales of mica with which the -bottoms of the pools are paved, and as they slowly moved about they -were sheathed in rainbows of sky reflections in these tiny surfaces. -Such wonders of beauty has the heart of the high mountain for all that -dwell in the depths of its ravines. - -In the blackness of full night the song of the falling waters is the -only sound that one hears in the ravine. This is an ever-varying -multitone into which he who listens may read all the day sounds he has -ever heard. The still air takes up the mingled voices of tiny cataracts -and tosses them from one wall to another, and there are places along -the path where this sound is that of a big locomotive engine with steam -up, stopping at a station, the chu-chu of the air brakes coming to the -ear with a definiteness that is startling. In other spots the echo of -trampers' voices sound till one is sure that a belated party is on the -trail and will arrive later to share the hospitality of the camp. - -[Illustration: The Appalachian Mountain Club camp in Tuckerman's -Ravine] - -Through it all rings the gentle lullaby of the wilderness, the drone -of all the winds of a thousand years in the spruce tops and the crisp -tinkle of clashing crystals when an ice storm has bowed the white -birches till their limbs clash together in the xylophonic music of -winter. All these and more are in the song which lulled me to slumber -on the borders of Hermit Lake,--a slumber so deep and restful that I -did not know when the porcupines came and ate thirteen holes in the -rubber blanket in which I was wrapped to keep out the cold of the -snow arch which creeps down the ravine behind the shadow of the head -wall. Thirteen is an unlucky number when it represents holes in one's -blanket, and the chill of interstellar space wells deep in Tuckerman's -Ravine toward morning of a night in early July. - - * * * * * - -Twilight begins again by three o'clock. One may well wonder what time -the hermit thrush has to sleep, he sings so long into the night and -begins again before the dawn is much more than a dream of good to -come. As the light grows the castellated ridge of Boott's Spur shows -fantastic shapes against the sky, and the pinnacle of the Lion's Head -which looms so high above Hermit Lake glooms sternly with grotesque -rock faces which are carved like gargoyles along its ravineward margin. -Beauty wreathes the cliffs in this wildest of spots, but goblins grow -in the rock itself and peer from the wreaths to make their friendliness -more complete by gruesome contrast. One wakes shivering and longs for -the sun of midsummer to come out of the northeast over the slope of -Mount Moriah and warm him. Far below in Pinkham Notch the night mists -have collected in a white lake that heaves as if beneath its blanket -slept the giant who carved the stairs over beyond Montalban Ridge. But -the giant too is waiting for the sun, and though he stirs uneasily in -his waking he does not toss off the blanket till it shines well over -Carter Range and the day has fairly begun. The ravine gets the morning -early at Hermit Lake. The widening slopes lie open to the light, but -the Lion's Head jealously guards the snow arch and seems to withdraw -its long shadow with reluctance. By and by the sun shines full upon -the great white bank, and as at the pyramid of Memnon strikes music -from it with the increasing tinkle of falling water. - -By this time the stirring of the giant's blanket has tossed off -woolly fleeces from its upper side, and these climb toward the ravine -in wraiths of diaphanous mist that now dance rapidly along the tree -tops, now linger and shiver together as if fearful of the heights -which they essay. These follow me as I toil laboriously up the almost -perpendicular slope along the snow margin toward the head wall, and by -the time I have worked around the dangerous glacial mass and surmounted -the cliffs they are massed along the cold slope and seem to mingle with -the snow into an opaque, nebulous mystery. - -For a long time these do not get beyond the brow of the cliff. Now they -bed down together, as dense and as full of rainbow colors under the -sun as is mother-of-pearl, again little fluffs dare the climb toward -the summit, fluttering with fear as they proceed and fainting into -invisibility in the thin air that flows across the alpine garden. Tiny -streams from the base of the high cone slip down the rocks to them and -whisper in soft voices that they need have no fear, but whether it is -fright or the compelling power of the sun that now shouts mid morning -warmth over Carter Notch, these thin pioneers hesitate and vanish as -the main body sweeps up from the Crystal Cascade and Glen Ellis Falls -and fills all the lower ravines with that white blanket that began -to stir at daybreak so far below. The giant is awake, has tossed his -bed-clothes high in air, and is striding away along the Notch behind -their shielding fluff. - -I fancy him clumping up the Gulf of Slides and over to the ravines of -Rocky Branch on his way to see if those stairs he built are still in -order in spite of the disintegrating forces so steadily at work pulling -the mountains down. Listening on the top wall of Tuckerman's I can hear -these forces at work and do not wonder that he is uneasy. The steady -flow of white water in a million tiny cascades is filing the rocks away -all day long. But the water does far more than this. It seeps down into -the cracks in the great cliffs, swells there with the winter freezing, -and presses the walls apart. - -[Illustration: "The giant is awake, has tossed his bed-clothes high -in air, and is striding away along the notch behind their shielding -fluff"] - -It dissolves and excavates beneath hanging rocks and cunningly -undermines them till gravity pulls them from their perch and sends them -down to swell the great masses of débris all along the bottoms of the -ravine sides. Sitting on the head wall I hear one of them go every few -minutes. Often it is only the click and patter of a pebble obeying that -ever present force as it bounds from ledge to ledge down the wall. But -sometimes a larger fragment leaps out at the mysterious command and -crashes down, splintering itself or what it strikes on the way to the -bottom. My own climbing feet dislodged many that have caught on other -fragments, and in the steeper, more crumbled portions of the path each -climber does his share in producing miniature slides. Except on rare -occasions the fall of the mountains is slight, but it is continually -going on wherever peaks rise and cliffs overhang. - -Not till the mists out of the Great Gulf over on the other side of -the mountain had swept around the base of the summit cone and hung -trailing streamers down into Tuckerman's Ravine did the masses that -filled it with white opacity to the top of the snow arch scale the head -wall. Then they came grandly on and met and mingled with their kind -till Boott's Spur disappeared and all the long ranges of mountains to -southward were wiped out by an atmosphere that, with the sun lighting -it, was like the nebulous luminosity out of which the world was -originally made. Behind me they climbed the central cone, but slowly, -almost, as I did. My trouble was the Jacob's ladder of astoundingly -piled rocks of which the way is made. Theirs was a little cool wind -that came down from the very summit and which steadily checked them, -though they boiled and danced with bewildering turbulence against it. -They wiped out the solid mountain behind me as I went till the cone and -I seemed to be floating on a quivering cloud through the extreme limits -of space. - -Climbing this Tuckerman's Ravine path one gets no hint of the buildings -on the summit. With the clouds below me and the rocks above I was -isolated in space on a cone of jagged rock whose base was continually -removed from beneath me as I climbed. It seemed as if, when I did -reach that high pinnacle, the last rock might fade from beneath my -feet and leave me floating in the white void that came so majestically -on behind me. We reached the top together, but the crisis was not so -lonely as I had imagined. Instead, I found myself walled in by opaque -mists indeed, but still with much solid rock beneath my feet and a -friendly little village, a railroad track and station, a stage office -and stables, and an inn at hand, all with familiar human greetings -for the weary traveller. You may come to the summit by many paths, by -train, carriage or motor, but no trail has more of beauty, or indeed -more of weirdness if the fluff of the giant's blanket follows you to -the summit, than the three miles and a half of steady climbing by way -of Tuckerman's Ravine. - - - - - VIII - - ON MOUNT WASHINGTON - - _Sunny Days and Clear Nights on the Highest Summit_ - - -The dweller on the top of Mount Washington may have all kinds of -weather in the twenty-four hours of a July day, or he may have a -tremendous amount, all of one kind, extending through many days. It all -depends on what winds Father Æolus keeps chained, perhaps in the deep -caverns of the Great Gulf, or which ones he lets loose to rattle the -chains of the Tip Top House. My four days there were such as the fates -in kindly mood sometimes deal out to fortunate mortals. The land below -was in a swoon of awful heat. People died like flies in cities not far -to the southward. The summit had a temperature of June, and the wind -that drifted in from Canada made the nights cool enough for blankets; -all but one. The night before the Fourth we perspired, even in this -wind of Hudson Bay, and the habitués of the hilltop were properly -indignant. They had snowballed there for a brief hour on the July -Fourth of the year before and these sudden changes were disquieting. - -[Illustration: "It all depends on what winds Father Æolus keeps -chained, perhaps in the deep caverns of the Great Gulf, or which ones -he lets loose to rattle the chains of the Tip Top House"] - -Of these four gems of days the first was a pearl, two were amethystine, -and the last was of lapis lazuli. The morning of the pearl broke after -light rains in the valley below, the air so clear that the city of -Portland lifted its spires on the eastern horizon just before sunrise -and the blue water of Casco Bay flashed beyond it. Yet the nearer -valleys were shrouded in the white mists that were mother-of-pearl, -a matrix that gradually rose and blotted out the green and gray of -granite hilltops below till the summit was a great ship, rock-laden, -ploughing through a white tumultuous sea whose billows were fluffy -clouds like those on which Jupiter of old sat and dispensed judgment on -mankind. I know of nothing so much like this sea of white cloud surface -seen from above as is the sea of Arctic ice under a summer sun, its -white, sun-softened expanse crushed into flocculent pressure ridges -of frozen tumult stretching as far as the eye can reach. Yet this is -different in its strange beauty, for the Arctic ice changes its form -only slowly, while this fleecy sea, seemingly so stable to the fleeting -glance, changes shape before the next look can be given. No breath of -wind may fan your brow on the summit, but the clouds below you tread -a stately minuet, advancing, retreating, meeting and dividing, now a -white Arctic sea, again a swiftly dignified dance by ghostly castles in -Spain. - -Often the near mists close in upon the summit and make all opaque, and -the gray, shadowy hand of the cloud lies against your cheek and leaves -a smear of cool moisture when it is withdrawn. On that morning when -the summit and the day were bosomed together in a white pearl I saw -the wayward moods of an imperceptible wind ordering this dance of the -clouds. It passed down from the peak by the path that leads over the -range to Crawford Notch, waving one line of mists eastward from the -ridge until Boott's Spur and Tuckerman's Ravine stood clearly revealed, -while on the west an obedient white wall stood, wavering indeed, but -holding its ground from the margin of the path high into the sky toward -the zenith. For nearly half an hour any alpinist climbing over the head -wall of Tuckerman's in sunshine would have seen his way clearly to this -Crawford path, and, going westward, have stepped into the white mystery -of the mists on the farther verge. - - * * * * * - -Again the imperceptible winds beckoned and the clouds whirled up from -Pinkham Notch and blotted out the spur and the ravine, pirouetting up -to meet their partners while the latter retreated, fluttering lace -skirts behind, the high-walled chasm of clear space between them -passing over the ridge and swinging north until met by an eruption of -white dancers out of the Great Gulf and across the railroad track. Then -all whirled together up the rough rock tangle of the central cone and -blotted out the world in a pearly opacity. - -The clouds that morning were born in the lowlands and ascended to the -summit from all sides, out of Huntington and Tuckerman Ravines, out -of Oakes Gulf and Great Gulf and up from Fabyan's by way of the Base -Station and the Mount Washington Railroad, enfolding the summit only -after they had shown the marvels of their upper levels all about the -foundations of the central cone. Then, after the white opalescence of -the conquest of the peak the whirling dervishes above, for an hour -or two, now occluded, again revealed, what was below. For half an -hour they danced along the northern peaks, now hiding, now disclosing -portions of them, but always during that time showing the peak of -Adams, a clearly defined purple-black pyramid, framed in their fleece. -After that for a long time they lifted bodily for ten-minute spaces, -revealing another body of mists below, their upper surface far enough -down so that the castellated ridge of Boott's Spur, Mount Monroe, Mount -Clay and Nelson Crag stood out above them. - -Here were clouds above clouds, the upper levels whirling in wild -dances, fluttering together and again parting to let the sun in on -the summit and on the levels below whence rose fleecy cloud rocks -of white, tinged often with the rose of sunlight, mountain ranges of -semi-opaque mists that changed without seeming to move and showed -oftentimes a curious semblance in white vapor to the land formation as -it is revealed below on a clear day. Out of these lower clouds came -sometimes sudden jets of vapor, as if the winds below found fumaroles -whence they sent quick geysers of mists, vanishing fountains of a magic -garden of the gods. Old Merlin, long banished from Arthur's Court in -the high Welsh hills, may well have found a retreat in this new world -Cærleon, nor did ever knight of the Round Table see more potent display -of his powers of illusion and evasion than were here shown for any man -who had climbed the high peak on that day of pearl cloud magic. - - * * * * * - -Afterward came two days of fervent sun on clear peaks that stand -all about the horizon from Washington summit, half islanded in an -amethystine heat haze, as beautiful, seen from the wind-swept pinnacle, -as if old Merlin after a day of tricks with pearls had ground all the -gems of his magic storehouse to blue dust that filled the valleys of -all the mountain world. On those days few men climbed the peak, but -all the butterflies of the meadows and valleys far below danced up and -held revels in the scent of the alpine plants, then in the full joy -of their July blooming. The more distant valleys were deeply hazed -in this amethystine blue, but the nearer peaks and plateaus stood so -clear above them that it seemed as if one might leap to the lakes of -the clouds or step across the great gulf to Jefferson in one giant's -stride. I have heard a man on the rim of the Grand Cañon in Arizona -declaring that he could throw a stone across its thirteen miles. So -on those days in the high air miles seemed but yards, and only in the -actual test of travel did one realize how far the feet fall behind the -eye in the passage of distances. - -[Illustration: "The more distant valleys were deeply hazed in this -amethystine blue, but the nearer peaks and plateaus stood so clear -above them that it seemed as if one might leap to the Lakes of the -Clouds or step across the Great Gulf to Jefferson in one Giant's -stride."] - -At nightfall one realized how that heat haze not only possessed the -valleys but the air high above them, for the sun, descending, grew red -and dim and finally was swallowed up in the mists of his own creating -long before he had reached the actual horizon's rim. Under his passing -one lake after another to westward flashed his mirrored light back in -a dazzling gleam of silver, then faded again to become a part of the -blue dust of the distance. By their flashes they could be counted, -and it was as if each signalled good night to the summit as the day -went on. Eastward the purple shadow of the apex moved out across the -Alpine garden, joined that of the head wall of Huntington Ravine, and, -flanked by those of the Lion's Head and Nelson Crag, went on toward the -horizon. Clearly defined on the light-blue haze where the sun's rays -still touched, this deep pyramid of color moved majestically out of -the Notch and up the slope of Wildcat Mountain, leapt Carter Notch and -from the high dome of the farther summit put the Wild River valley in -shadow as it went on, up Baldface and on again across the nearer Maine -ranges, till it set its blunt point on the heat-haze clouds along the -far eastern horizon. Nothing could be more expressive of the majesty -of the mountain than to thus see its great shadow move over scores of -miles of earth and on and up into the very heavens. - - * * * * * - -It was as if God withdrew the mountain for the night into the sky, -leaving the watcher on that great ledge-laden ship which is the very -summit, plunging on over dark billows with the winds of space singing -wild songs in the rigging. Beneath is the blue-black sea of tumultuous -mountain waves that ride out from beneath the prow and on into the -weltering spindrift haze of distance where sea and sky are one. In -the full night the winds increase and find a harp-string or a throat -in every projection of the pinnacle ledges whence to voice their lone -chanteys of illimitable space. It is the same world-old song that finds -responsive echoes in man's very being but for which he can never find -words, the chantey of the night winds that every sailor has heard from -the fore-top as the ship plunges on in the darkness when only the dim -stars mark the compass points and the very ship itself is merged far -below in the murk of chaos returned. What the night may be during a -storm on this main-top of the great mountain ship only those who have -there endured it may tell; my nights there were like the days, fairy -gifts out of a Pandora's box that often holds far other things beneath -its lid. - -[Illustration: "Dawn on the mornings of those days was born out of the -sky above the summit, as if the fading stars left some of their shine -behind them"] - -Dawn on the mornings of those days was born out of the sky about the -summit as if the fading stars left some of their shine behind them, a -soft, unworldly light that touched the pinnacles first and anon lighted -the mountain waves that slid out from under the prow of the ship and -rode on into the flushing east. As the heat haze at night had absorbed -the red sun in the west, so now it let it gently grow into being again -from the east. In its crescent light he who watched to westward could -see the mountain come down again out of the sky into which it had been -withdrawn. Out of a broad, indistinct shadow that overlaid the world it -grew an outline that descended and increased in definiteness till the -apex was in a moment plainly marked on the massed vapors that obscured -the horizon line. Down these it marched grandly, touching indistinct -ranges far to westward, more clearly defined on the Cherry Mountains -and the southerly ridges of the Dartmouth range, and becoming the very -mountain itself as its point touched the valley whence flows Jefferson -Brook and the slender thread of the railway climbs daringly toward the -summit. - -Below in a thousand sheltered valleys the hermit thrushes sang -greetings to the day. Far up a thousand slopes the white-throated -sparrows joined with their thin, sweet whistle, and higher yet the -juncos warbled cheerily, but no voice of bird reaches the high summit. -The only song there is that of the wind chanting still the thrumming -runes of ancient times, sung first when rocks emerged out of chaos and -touched with rough fingers the harp strings of the air. To such music -the light of day descends from above, and the shadows of night withdraw -and hide in the caves and under the black growth in the bottoms of -ravines and gulfs. Rarely does one notice this music in the full day. -Then the rough cone even is a part of man's world, built on a sure -foundation of the familiar, friendly earth. It is only the darkness -of night that whirls it off into the void of space and sets the eerie -runes in vibration. Few nights of the year are so calm there that you -do not hear them, and even in their gentlest moods they come from -the voices of winds lost in the void, little winds, perhaps, rushing -shiveringly along to find their way home and whistling sorrowfully to -themselves to keep their courage up. - - * * * * * - -Man comes to the summit at all hours and by many paths. Often in -that darkest time which precedes the dawn one may see firefly lights -approaching from the northeast, bobbing along in curious zigzags. These -will-o'-the-wisps are pedestrians, climbing by the carriage road to -greet the first dawn on the summit and watch the sun rise, carrying -lanterns meanwhile lest they lose the broad, well-kept road and fall -from the Cape Horn bend into the solemn black silence of the Great -Gulf. The voices of these are an alarm clock to such as sleep on the -summit, calling them out betimes to view the wonders they seek. By day -men and women appear on foot from the most unexpected places. The -Crawford and Gulf Side trails, Tuckerman's and the carriage road bring -them up by accepted paths, but you may see them also clambering over -the head wall of Huntington's or the Gulf, precipitous spots that the -novice would think unsurmountable. - -These are the "trampers," as the habitués of the mountain summit call -them. But the carriage road brings many who ride luxuriously up for -four hours behind two, four or six horses, or flash up in less than an -hour to the honk of automobile horns and the steady chug of gasolene -engines. The old-time picturesque burros that patiently bore their -riders up the nine miles of the Crawford trail have gone, probably -never to return, and the horseback parties once so common are now -rare. But by far the greater numbers climb the mountain by steam. From -the northerly slope of Monroe, over beyond the Lakes of the Clouds, I -watched the trains come, clanking caterpillars that inch-worm along the -trestles of the cogged railroad, clinking like beetles and sputtering -smoke and steam as only goblin caterpillars might, finally becoming -motionless chrysalids on the very summit. From these burst forth -butterfly crowds that put to shame with their raiment the gauzy-winged -beauties that flutter up the ravines to enjoy the sweets of the Alpine -Garden. Then for a brief two hours on any bright day the bleak summit -becomes a picnic ground, bright with gay crowds that flutter from one -rock pinnacle to another and swirl into the ancient Tip Top house -to buy souvenirs and dinner, restless as are any lepidoptera and as -little mindful of the sanctity of this highest altar of the Appalachian -gods. Soon these have reassembled once more in their chrysalids that -presently retrovert to the caterpillar stage and crawl clanking and -hissing down the mountain, inching along the trestles and vanishing -anon into the very granite whence you hear them clanking and sputtering -on. Amid all the weird play of nature in lonely places the summit has -no stranger spectacle than this. - -The day of lapis lazuli began with a break in the intense heat, a day -on which cumulus clouds rolled up thousands of feet above the summit in -the thin air and cast their shadows before them, to race across the -soft amethyst of the miles below and deepen it with their rich blue out -of which golden sun-glints flashed still, racing shifting breaks in the -cloud masses above. The wind increased in velocity toward mid-afternoon -and cumulus massed in nimbus on the far horizon to the northwest out -of which the flick of red swords of lightning and the battle roar of -thunder sounded nearer and nearer. Mightily the black majesty of the -storm moved up to us, wiping out earth and sky in its progress, the -rolling edges of its topmost clouds still golden with the color of the -sun that sank behind them. Here was a glory such as day nor night, -sunrise nor sunset, had been able to show me. - -The pagan gods of the days long gone seemed to come forth out of the -summits far to the northwest and do battle, but half-concealed by their -clouds. Swords flashed high and javelins flew and the clash of shields -and the rumble of chariot wheels came to the ear in ever increasing -volume as the tide of battle swept on and over the summit. A moment -and we should see the very cohorts of Mars himself in all their -shining fury, but father Æolus let loose all the winds at once from his -caverns, Jupiter Pluvius opened wide the conduits of the clouds and the -world, even the very summit thereof, was drowned in the gray tumult of -the rain. - - - - - IX - - MOUNT WASHINGTON BUTTERFLIES - - _Filmy Beauties to be Found in Fair Weather on the Very Summit_ - - -The height of the butterfly season comes to the rich meadows about -the base of Mount Washington in mid-July. The white clover sends its -fragrance from the roadside and the red clover from the deep grass -for them, and all the meadow and woodland flowers of midsummer rush -into bloom for their enjoyment, while those of an earlier season seem -to linger and strive not to be outdone. The cool winds from the high -summits of the Presidential Range help them in this, and even in the -summer drought the snow-water from the cliffs and the night fogs of the -ravines keep them moist and fresh. No wonder that butterflies swarm in -these meadows and even climb toward the summits along the flowery paths -laid out for them up the beds of dwindling mountain torrents and under -the cool shadows of forests impenetrable to the sun. Butterflies come -to know woodland paths as well as man does and delight to follow them. - -[Illustration: Butterfly-time on Mount Washington, the summit seen over -the larger of the Lakes of the Clouds] - -Of a July day the butterflies and I journeyed together up the -flower-margined carriage road that leads to the summit of Mount -Washington. They may have been surprised at the pervasiveness of my -presence. I am sure I was at theirs, which lasted as long as the -marginal beds of wild flowers did. - -To climb this smooth road leisurely, on foot, is always to marvel at -the engineering skill which found so steadily easy a grade up such an -acclivity and so cunningly constructed it that it has been possible to -keep it in good condition all these years--it was finished in 1869--in -spite of summer cloudbursts and the gruelling torrents of melting -snow in early spring. One is well past the first mile post before he -realizes that he is going up much of a hill. The rise is that of an -easy country road and might be anywhere in the northern half of New -England from all outside appearances. - -The striped moosewood and the mountain moosewood growing by the -roadside under white and yellow birch and rock maple suggest the -latitude. The white admiral butterflies emphasize the suggestion. -Rarely have I found these plants or this insect south of the northern -boundary of Massachusetts. The white admirals flip their blue-black -wings with the broad white epaulettes up and down the road in numbers. -Butterflies of the shady spots, they find this highway where the -trees arch in and often meet above peculiarly to their taste. Yet the -meadow-loving fritillaries outnumber the admirals ten to one. Not -even among the richly scented clover of the flats below, not even in -the full roadside sun on the milkweed blooms which all butterflies -so love, are they so plentiful. I suspect them of having a strain of -adventurous blood in their veins, such as gets into us all when among -the mountains and sets us to climbing them, and later observations bear -out the suspicion. It was a day to lure butterflies to climb heights, -still, steeped in fervid sun heat, and redolent of the perfect bloom of -a hundred varieties of flowering plants. - -At first I thought these all specimens of the great spangled -fritillary, Argynnis cybele, but they gave me such friendly -opportunities for close examination that I soon knew better. The -greater number of these mountain climbing butterflies were a rather -smaller variety with a distinct black border along the wings, Argynnis -atlantis, the mountain fritillary. They swarmed along the narrow shady -road as plentiful as the blossoms of field daisies and blue brunella. -With playful necromancy they made the daisies change kaleidoscopically -from gold and white to gold and black, or they folded their wings and -set the flower stalks scintillant with silver moon spangles. So with -the blue brunella blooms. They flashed from close spikes of modest blue -flecks to great four-petalled flowers of gold and silver and black, a -blossom that would make the fortune of any gardener that could grow -it, and presto! the miracle of bloom rose lightly into the air on -fluttering wings and the stalk held only the shy blue of the brunella -after all. Such is the magic of the first mile of the ascent, which -might be any easy rise under the deciduous shade of most any little -New Hampshire hill, so far as appearances go. - -During the second mile spruces slip casually into the roadside. They -do it so unassumingly that you hardly know when, they and the firs. -But the swarms of butterflies go on up the grade and through the -dense foliage you still glimpse no mountain tops. With them shines -occasionally the pale yellow of Colias philodice, and little orange -skippers skip madly from bloom to bloom of the wayside flowers that -still fill the margins from woods to wheel tracks. Clearwing moths -buzz and poise like miniature humming birds, and with them in the -deeper shadow flits a small white moth so delicately transparent and so -ethereally pure in color that when he lights on a leaf the green of it -shines through his wings. - -These first two miles of the carriage road are amid scenes of such -sylvan innocence that a partridge with her half-grown brood hardly -feared me as their path crossed mine, and they flew only when I -approached very near them. Cotton-tailed rabbits hopped leisurely -across in front of me, in no wise excited by my approach, and though -the chipmunks whistled shrilly and dived into their holes before I -touched them, they waited almost long enough for me to do it. The -roadside flowers climbed bravely up the second mile among the wayside -grasses, white clover, blue-eyed grass and golden ragwort, with the -daisies, these not so plentiful as below, and the gentle brunella, -and out of the woods came as if to meet and fraternize with them the -rose-veined wood sorrel, its pure white petals seeming even more -diaphanous because of the rose-veining. The heart-shaped, trifoliate -leaves of this lovely little plant which climbs the great mountain on -all sides are not those of the veritable shamrock, perhaps, but they -are enough like them to prove to a willing mind that St. Patrick must -surely have climbed Mount Washington in his day, and that this gentle -insignia of his clan remained behind to prove it. It is a flower of -shaded mossy banks in deep evergreen woods, where its tender white -flowers, with their beautifully rose-shaded, translucent petals, -delight the eye along the lower and middle reaches of all paths that -lead to the summit. - -Toward the end of the second mile one realizes that he is climbing -high. Through the trees to westward flit glimpses of the deep valley of -the Peabody River, when he has risen, and beyond it the misty blue wall -of the Carter Range, rising ever higher behind him as he goes up. The -fritillaries come on, but the admirals drop behind to be seen no more, -their places taken by an occasional angle-wing, Grapta interrogationis -or Grapta comma. As the road rises the wayside flowers too fall behind, -leaving lonely places, though well up to the Halfway House, nearly four -miles up, white and pink yarrow is to be found, flanked by bunchberry -blooms and the lovely greenish yellow of the Clintonia. This has -half-ripened berries in the lowlands at the base, but toward the summit -of the mountain it blooms till well into the middle of July, perhaps -later. The butterflies fall behind as the roadside flowers do, yet -now and then a mountain fritillary goes by and almost at the Halfway -House I saw the most superb Compton tortoise, Vanessa j-album, that I -have met anywhere. Below the Halfway House young spruces have crowded -into the roadside to the very wheel tracks, and the last of the -lowland blooms has vanished. On the day that I came looking for them -the lowland butterflies had vanished too, and the road seemed bare and -desolate for two or three miles, indeed until the alpine plants of the -high plateau began to appear, and with them the Arctic butterfly that -makes this summit home, the curious little Oeneis semidea. - -I had thought to find this, "the White Mountain butterfly," the only -variety of the plateau and the summit cone, but in this the day and the -place had more than one surprise in store for me. There are many days -in summer when even the hardiest, strongest-flying lowland butterfly -would not be able to scale the summit because of wind and cold, but -this day had only a gentle air drifting in from the north, and the -heat, which was a killing one below, was there tempered to that of a -fine June day. The sudden bloom of the alpine plants had passed its -meridian, but many were still in good flower. All along on the head -wall of the Tuckerman Ravine and out upon the Alpine Garden were the -pink, laurel-like cups of the Lapland azalea. There was the Phyllodoce -cærulea with its urn-shaped corolla turning blue as it withers, the -three-toothed cinquefoil, Potentilla tridentata which looks to the -careless glance like a little running blackberry vine with its star of -white bloom, and everywhere low clumps of the lovely little mountain -sandwort, Arenaria grœnlandica, the only petal-bearing plant that dares -the very summit, where its white, cup-shaped blooms make the bleak -rocks glad. - - * * * * * - -On the Alpine Garden and at the ravine heads are lower level flowers -which come up and mingle with these. The buttercup-like blossoms of the -mountain avens flash their rich yellow. The Labrador tea puts out its -white umbels and sends spicy fragrance down the wind. The houstonia -grows bravely its little white, four-pointed stars with their yellowish -centre, and cornel and even Trientalis, the American star-flower, grow -from the tundra moss and make a brave show in that bleak spot. Boldest -of all is the great, rank-growing Indian poke, with its erect stem of -big green leaves and its topping spike of greenish bloom. High up to -the angles of the rock jumble of the cone, wherever the water comes -down into the Alpine Garden, this climbs with a bold assurance that no -other lowland plant equals. It is plentiful in the neighborhood of the -Lakes of the Clouds and high on the head wall of the Tuckerman Ravine -it sprouts under the receding snow, blanched like celery. - -[Illustration: The fantastic lion's head which, carved in stone, guards -the trail along Boott's Spur toward the summit cone of Washington] - - * * * * * - -All these and more were in bloom on the plateau that supports the high -cone of Washington summit on that day, and up to them had come the -lowland butterflies. Most plentiful were the mountain fritillaries, -but often a great spangled fritillary spread his wider wing above the -head wall of Huntington or Tuckerman and soared along the levels. With -these was an occasional angle-wing, Grapta interrogationis and Grapta -progne, feeding in the larval stage on the leaves of the prickly wild -gooseberry which is common well up to the base of the summit cone. -Strange to relate, the beautiful, hardy, and common mourning cloak was -not to be seen on the days in which I hunted butterflies about the -summit, but his near relative, the Compton tortoise, Vanessa j-album, -was there, and the smaller but lovely little Vanessa milberti, with -his wings so beautifully gold-banded, I saw frequently. Milbertis flew -up out of the Great Gulf toward the summit, and one afternoon I found -one of them carefully following the Crawford trail down, winding its -every turn a foot above the surface as if he knew that it was made to -show the way. To the very summit, circling the Tip Top House, came big, -red-winged, black-veined monarchs, and all the varieties I had seen -in the Alpine Garden came up there too, most numerous of all being -the mountain fritillaries. I take it that no one of these lowland -butterflies is bred at these high levels, but that all wander up when -the sun is bright and the wind still enough to permit the excursion. - -[Illustration: "Semidea persistently haunts the great gray rock-pile -which is the summit cone"] - -Most interesting of all to the lepidopterist is the one Arctic -butterfly of our New England fauna, Oeneis semidea, "The White Mountain -Butterfly," which might be perhaps better called in common parlance -"The Mount Washington Butterfly," as it is commonly believed to be -restricted in its habitat, so far as New England is concerned, to -the high summit cone of Mount Washington. Holland so states in his -excellent butterfly book. As a matter of fact the insect is plentiful -over a rather wider range. I found it along the Crawford trail out to -the Lakes of the Clouds and Mount Monroe, as well as along the lawns -and Alpine Garden and down the carriage road far below the summit cone. -It is also found at similar altitudes on Jefferson, Adams and Madison, -its habitat being rather the high peaks of the Presidential Range than -Mount Washington alone. - -But semidea persistently haunts the great gray rock pile which is the -summit cone. Wherever you climb, there it flutters from underfoot -like a two-inch fleck of gray-brown lichen that has suddenly become a -spirit. Alighting, it turns into the lichen again. In rough weather -the other butterflies go down hill into the shelter of the ravines, -but this one has learned to fight gales and midsummer snow storms -and hold patriotically to its native country. Even in still weather -when disturbed it skims the surface of the rock in flight, seeming -to half crawl, half fly, lest a gale catch it and whirl it beyond its -beloved peak. Its refuge is the little caverns among and beneath the -angled boulders, and when close pressed by a would-be captor it flies -or climbs down into these as a chipmunk would, and remains there till -the danger has passed. It seems to be born of the rocks and to flee to -its mother as children do when afraid of anything. It is our hardiest -mountaineer. Neither beast nor bird dares the winter on this high -summit. Yet here, winter and summer, is the home of this boreal insect -which in the egg or the chrysalid withstands cold that often goes to -fifty below Fahrenheit, and is backed by gales that blow a hundred -miles an hour. No wonder this little but mighty butterfly takes the -colors of the rocks that are its refuge. - -It is the only easily noticed form of animated wild life that one is -sure to find on the very summit, even in summer. Hedgehogs sometimes -come to the door of the Tip Top House in summer weather and have to -be shooed away, and gray squirrels have been seen there; but these, -like the tourists, are casual wanderers from the warmer regions below. -I believe the only bird that makes its summer home on the cone is the -junco, though I heard song-sparrows and white-throats sing down on -the levels of the plateau, at the Alpine Garden and about the Lakes -of the Clouds. The juncos breed about these next highest levels in -considerable numbers, and one pair at least bred this summer high up -on the summit cone, about a third of the way down from the top toward -the Alpine Garden. Like the Arctic butterflies, the refuge of this pair -was the interstices of the rocks themselves, the nest being actually a -hole in the ground, beneath an overhanging jut of ledge where the moss -from below crept perpendicularly up to it, but left a gap two inches -wide into which the mother bird could squeeze. It was almost as much of -a hole in the ground as that in which a bank swallow nests, absolutely -concealed, and protected from wind or down-rush of torrential rain. - - * * * * * - -Rare butterflies are not the only insects which tempt the entomologist -to the very summit of Mount Washington. On my butterfly day there -I found two members of the Cambridge Entomological Society dancing -eagerly about the trestle at the terminus of the Mount Washington -Railway, collecting beetles, of which they had hundreds stowed away in -their cyanide jars. I'll confess that all beetles look alike to me, but -these grave and learned gentlemen were ready to dance with joy at their -success of the afternoon before at the Lakes of the Clouds, where each -had captured one Elaphrus olivaceus. The name sounds like something -gigantic; as a matter of fact, olivaceus is a tiny, dark, oval-shaped -beetle, on which these enthusiasts saw beautiful striæ and olive-yellow -stripes. Having the eye of faith I saw them too, but only with that -eye. Together we went hunting the Alpine Garden for Elaphrus lævigatus, -another infinitesimal prodigy of great rarity and scientific interest, -but the omens were bad and lævigatus escaped. Such are some of the -magnets with which this mighty mountain top draws men and women from -all over the world, to spend perhaps a day, perhaps a summer, among its -clouds, its scintillant sunshine and its ozone-bearing breezes. - -Storm winds drive most of us below. When they blow, all the beautiful -lowland butterflies set their wings and volplane down to the shelter -of the valleys behind the jutting crags and the head walls. The chill -of descending night as well drives these light-winged creatures off -the hurricane deck of this great rock ship of the high clouds. But the -thousands of hardy Oeneis semidea simply fold their lichen gray wings -and creep into miniature caverns of the jumbled granite, waiting, warm -and secure, for the light of the next sunny day. - - - - - X - - MOUNTAIN PASTURES - - _Their Changing Beauty from Low Slopes to Presidential Plateaus_ - - -On the mountain farms the cultivated fields hold such levels as the -farmer is able to find. Often on the roughest mountain side he has -found them, treads on the stairways of the hills whose risers may be -perpendicular cliffs or slide-threatening declivities. These last are -for woodland in the farm scheme, if tremendously rough, or if they have -roothold for grass and foothold for cattle they are pastures. Thus it -is the pastures rather than the cultivated lands that aspire, and from -their heights one looks down upon the farm-house and the farmer and his -men at work in the hay fields. The stocky, square-headed, white-faced -cattle may well feel themselves superior to these beings far below -who groom and feed them, and from their wind-swept ridges I dare say -they have the Emersonian thought, even if they have never learned the -couplet: - - "Little recks yon lowland clown - Of me on the hilltop looking down." - -[Illustration: "The stocky, square-headed, white-faced cattle may well -feel themselves superior to these beings far below who groom and feed -them"] - -These mountain cattle are of many breeds, according to the fancy or -the fortune of their owner. Probably many of them are mongrels whose -ancestors it would be hard to determine, yet there seems to be a -strong resemblance in some to those cattle one sees on Scottish hills -and in the highlands of the English border, and one wonders if here -are not lineal descendants of the stock which came in with the early -English settlers. At least the white-faced ones have been settled on -the mountain pastures long enough to become part and parcel of them. -Except when in motion they so fit their rocky surroundings as to be -with difficulty picked out from them by the eye. One might say the -pasture holds so many hundred rocks and cattle, but which is which it -takes a nice discernment to decide. Especially is this true when the -herd stands motionless and regards the wandering stranger. Then the -red bodies are the very color shadows of the green pasture shrubs -and the white faces patches of weather-worn granite. Sometimes it is -disconcerting to tramp up to such a rock in such a shadow and have it -suddenly spring to its feet with an indignant "ba-a" and flee to the -forest with much clangor of a musical bell. - -Most of the mountain cattle wear this bell, which is but a hollow, -truncated, four-sided pyramid with a clapper hung within. It does -not tintinnabulate, but "tonks" with a tone that is low, but carries -far and seems always a part of the woodland whence it so often -sounds,--woodland in which pasture and cattle so continually merge. In -its mellow tones the clock of the pasture strikes, marking the lazy -hours for the loving listener. In the time when the slender thread of -the old moon disputes with the new dawn the honor of lighting the high -eastern ridges, I hear it chorusing in mellow merriment as the herd -winds up the lane from the big old barn. It briskly rings the changes -of the forenoon as the herd crops eagerly among the rocks, the slowing -of its tempo marking the appeasing of hunger. Through the long, torrid -hours of mid-day it sleeps in the deep shadow of the wood, toning only -occasionally as the drowsy bearer moves. Then with the coming of the -afternoon hunger I hear it again, moving down the mountain with the -day, to meet the twilight and the farmer at the pasture bars. - - * * * * * - -As these mountain cattle are curiously different in aspect and carriage -from those of our lowland pastures in eastern Massachusetts, so the -pastures themselves differ widely in more than location and level. -Here in part is the old world of bird and beast, herb, shrub and tree, -yet many an old friend is missing and many a new one is to be made. It -is difficult to believe that a pasture can be fascinating and lovable -without either red cedars or barberry bushes, yet here are neither, and -though the slim young spruces stand as prim and erect as the red cedars -of a hundred and fifty miles farther south, they do not quite take -their places, nor do they have the vivid personality of those trees. It -is the same with the barberry. There is an individuality, an aura of -personality about the shrub that forbids any other to take its place or -indeed to in any way resemble it. The mountain pastures are the worse -for that. - -For my part I miss the clethra more even than these. July is the time -for those misty white racemes to be coming into bloom and sending down -the wind that spicy, delectable fragrance that seems to tempt him who -breathes it to adventure forth in search of all woodland romance. But -the clethra is a lover of the sea rather than the mountains and it -has never voyaged far up stream. The waters of the mountain brooks -have lost their clearness long before they greet the clethra on -their banks. The striped moosewood and the mountain moosewood, both -pasture-bordering shrubs of the high pastures, are beautiful in their -way, but they cannot make up for this sweet-scented, brook-loving -beauty of the lowlands. - -There are two pasture people, however, who love the high slopes of -the White Mountain pastures as well as they do the sandy borders of -the Massachusetts salt marshes. These are the spiræas, latifolia and -tomentosa. The latter, the good old steeple bush or hardhack, moves -into some rocky, open slopes till it seems as if there was hardly room -for any other shrub or scarcely for grass to grow, and makes the whole -hillside rosy with its pink spires. It always seems to me as if the -hardhack should be hardier than its less sturdy-looking, more dainty -sister, the Spiræa latifolia or meadow-sweet. In most pastures of the -foothills, so to speak, I find them together, but as one goes on up -the slopes of the high ranges the hardhack vanishes from the wayside -leaving the meadow-sweet to climb Mount Washington itself and show the -delicate pink of its bloom over the head wall of the Tuckerman Ravine -and about the Lakes of the Clouds. Nor has it altogether escaped the -pasture there. The white-faced cattle remain behind with the hardhack, -but the deer come over the col from Oakes Gulf and browse on its -leaves and those of the Labrador tea and drink from the clear waters -of the high lakes. These herds of the highest pastures bear no bell -and fit into the color scheme of the landscape better even than the -white-faced cattle, and it is no wonder that they escape observation. -Yet I find their hoof marks at almost every drinking place of these -highest mountain moors. - -In these last days of July the most conspicuous bird of the pastures -is the indigo bunting. I say this advisedly and in the presence of -goldfinches, myrtle and magnolia warblers, purple finches and various -sparrows, including the white-throat, also some other birds who breed -and sing there. Yet of all these the indigo bunting seems by numbers -and pervasiveness to be most in the public eye; I being the public. -Early in the morning he sings. In the full warmth of noontide he -sings, and I hear him when the sun is low behind the Presidential -Range and the clouds are putting their gray nightcap on the summit of -Washington. Always it is the same song, which slight variations only -tend to emphasize without obscuring. "Dear, dear," he says, "Who-is-it, -who-is-it, who-is-it? dear, dear, dear." And sometimes he adds a little -whimsical, stuttering, "What-do-you-know-about-that?" He sits as he -sings on the penultimate twig of some pasture shrub or tree, and -as the sun shines on his indigo blue suit it flashes little coppery -reflections from it that might well make one think him the product of -some skilled jeweller's art rather than born of an egg in the bushes. - -With the self-consciousness of the average summer visitor, I at first -thought that this song of his referred to me. I fancied that he was -calling to his little brown wife at the nest in the nearby bushes, -exclaiming about this stranger who was tramping the pastures and -asking her about him. If you wish to know about new people in town -ask your wife. Any happily married indigo bunting will give you that -advice. But I know his theme better now. I have seen the wife slip -slyly out of the dense green of the thicket, and have most impolitely -invaded it, there to find the compact grass nest full of a new-born -bunting family. I know now that the father bunting sits in the tree -tip and exclaims all day long over the arrival of these. Seeing their -huddled, naked forms, their astounding mouths and unopened eyes, I -do not wonder that he exclaims in perplexity and indeed some dismay -over the new arrivals. "Dear, dear," he says, "Who-is-it, who-is-it? -What-do-you-know-about-that?" He will never get over his astonishment -at such tiny gorgons coming from those pale, pretty eggs that were -there but a few days ago. Nor do I blame him one bit. It does not -seem possible that these miracles of ugliness can ever grow up to be -such sleek, beautiful birds as this father of theirs that sits on the -treetop and all day long fills the pasture with echoes of his song -of wonder over them. No. His song had no reference to me, but was -strictly concerned with his own affairs. Like the other native-born -mountaineers, he does not take the summer visitors any too seriously. -It is interesting to go up the mountains from one pasture, scramble to -another and see what lowland folk fall behind and how the habits of -those that keep up the climb change as they progress into the higher -altitudes. The woodchuck is not missing here, but he is not the same. -He is the northern woodchuck, very like his Massachusetts cousin -in habits but grayer, leaner and rangier. At this time of year a -Massachusetts woodchuck is so fat that if you meet him he fairly rolls -to his hole. The northern woodchuck gets into his with a scrambling -bound that shows much less accumulation of adipose tissue. I fancy -this leanness and greater alertness is due to the greater numbers and -greater alertness of his woodland enemies. The pastures are full of -foxes, and when they get hungry they go down and dig out a woodchuck -for dinner. But even the northern woodchuck fails the pastures in their -higher portions. - - * * * * * - -One by one the lowland flowers fall back and the lowland trees and -shrubs, also, until high on the Presidential Range the pastures -themselves, in the common use of the word, have failed as well. Yet -I like to think the true use of the word includes that debateable -land at the tree limit as pasture land. In the economy of a farm it -would surely be of use for nothing else, and it would make excellent -pasturage in summer, were there farms near enough to use it. It always -seems homelike, this region of grass and browse, coming to it as one -does from the dark depths of fir woods and dwarfed deciduous trees. The -hemlocks, beeches, yellow birches and maples have stayed behind in the -region of cow pastures. Here where sometimes the deer come and where -mountain sheep ought to find pasturage, only the hardiest of pasture -people have dared to take their stand. The firs and spruces have come -up, growing stockier and more gnome-like at every hundred-foot rise, -until above the head walls of the ravines they shrink to low-growing -shrubs not knee high, except where they have cunningly taken advantage -of some hollow. Even there they rise no higher than the shelter that -fends them from the north wind. Above that they are trimmed down, often -into grotesque shapes like those that old-time gardeners affected, -shearing evergreens into strange caricatures of beasts or men. Often on -these Alpine pastures you find a boulder behind which on the south a -fir has taken refuge. Close up to the rock it mats, drifting away from -it, southerly, in much the same lines that a snowdrift would assume in -the same position. There is in this nothing of the spiring shape of the -same variety of spruce or fir in the valley pastures far below. Yet the -botanists accept this as an individual distortion due to environment -and do not class these firs or spruces of the mountain pastures as a -variety different from those that grow below. - -[Illustration: Mountain Sandwort in bloom on a little lawn near Mount -Pleasant on the last day in July] - -They think otherwise of other trees. - -The white birches come up in location and come down in size on these -mountain pastures very much as do the spruces and firs. We have the big -canoe birch of the lower slopes, often a splendid tree that matches any -in the forest in height. On higher ranges it shrinks and even undergoes -certain structural changes that have given excuse for the naming of -new varieties. Hence, beginning with Betula papyrifera in the valleys -we have a shrinkage to cordifolia, minor, and glandulosa with its -sub-variety rotundifolia, this last a veritable creeping birch which -sticks its branches but a little above the tundra moss in places where -the spruce and fir trees are not much different in character and the -willow becomes most truly an underground shrub with no bit of twig -showing above the surface and only the little round leaves cropping -out, making a growth that is more like that of a moss than that of a -tree. To such straits do wind and cold reduce the trees that defy them. - - * * * * * - -Yet in spite of the botanical classification which sets up these -dwarfed trees as different varieties from those of the lower slopes, -one cannot help wondering if the differentiation is justified. Suppose -the seeds of a big paper birch from the lower valley were planted -among the creeping willows of the Alpine Garden on Mount Washington. -Would they not grow a dwarfed and semi-creeping Betula glandulosa or -rotundifolia? Would not the seeds of glandulosa, if blown down into the -lower valley and growing in the soil among the paper birches produce -Betula papyrifera? It always seems to me that there is less difference -between the creeping birches of the high plateaus of the Presidential -Range and the paper birches of the lower slopes than there is between -the grotesquely dwarfed firs and spruces of the Alpine Garden, and the -big ones that grow in Pinkham Notch and in the rich bottom lands of the -lower part of the Great Gulf. - -The alders of these highest pastures are very dwarf, and because of the -puckered leaf margins have received the specific name of crispa, being -familiarly known as the mountain alder or green alder. Yet we have in -lower pastures the downy green alder, Alnus mollis, so much like its -higher-growing relative that even the authorities say it may be but -a variation. Here again one wonders if the difference is not that of -climate on the individual rather than one of species, and if the seeds -of Alnus mollis from the banks of the Ellis River if planted along the -head wall of the Tuckerman Ravine would not grow up to be Alnus crispa. -It seems as if there was a very good opportunity for experimentation -along some line between the Silver Cascades and the rough rocks at -the base of the summit cone of Washington. Down in the valleys the -juncos build their nests in low shrubbery or at least on the top of the -ground. Up on the side of the summit juncos build actually in holes -in the ground, and lay their eggs almost a month later than those -below. Here is a variation in habit, yet in each case the bird is Junco -hiemalis; perhaps when the scientists really get around to it we shall -have the cone builders classed as variety hole-iferus. - -But however we may differ as to the naming of the plants and birds that -frequent them, all who have climbed that far confess to the beauty of -these highest pastures of the New England world. To wander in them of -a sunny summer day for even a short time is to begin to be fond of -them, an affection which increases with each subsequent visit. There -soon gets to be a homey feeling about them that lasts at least while -the sunshine endures. With the passing of the sun comes a difference. -The chill of the high spaces of the air comes down then and the winds -complain about the cliffs below and above and prophecy disaster to him -who remains too long. It is well then to scramble downward and leave -the highest pasture lands to the deer, if they choose to climb out of -the sheltering black growth below, or to such spirits of lonely space -as may come at nightfall. Far below are the man-made pastures that are -friendly even at nightfall, and it is good to seek these. The tonk of -the cow-bells will lead you in lengthening shadows out of the afterglow -on the heights down into the trodden paths and beyond to the pasture -bars. - - - - - XI - - THE NORTHERN PEAKS - - _Some Fascinations of the Gulfside Trail in Stormy Weather_ - - -The summit of Mount Washington sits on so high buttresses of the lesser -spurs and cols of the Presidential Range that it is not always easy -to recognize its true height. From the south, east and west it is a -mountain sitting upon mountains, gaining in grandeur indeed thereby -but losing in individuality. To realize the mountain itself I like to -look at it from the summit of Madison, the northernmost of the northern -peaks. There you see the long, majestic upward sweep of the Chandler -Ridge, swelling to the rock-burst of the Nelson Crag, and beyond that, -higher yet and farther withdrawn, the very summit, immeasurably distant -and lofty, across the mighty depths of the Great Gulf. - -[Illustration: Clouds on the Northern Peaks, Mount Adams seen from -Mount Washington summit] - -Here is the real mountain and the whole of it laid out for the eye from -the beginnings in the low valley of the Peabody River to the corrugated -pinnacle which is the crest. It takes the gulf to make us realize -the mountain, and great as the gulf is it is forgotten in the mighty -creature that rears its head into the clouds beyond it. From Madison -the mountain has more than individuality. It has personality. It is -as if some great god of Chaos had crushed an image of immensity out -of new-formed stone. To look long at this from the northernmost peak -is to realize its personality more and more. If some day, sitting on -the pinnacled jumble of broken rock which is Madison summit, I see the -mighty one shiver and wake and hear him speak, I shall be terrified, -without doubt, but not surprised. - -When August comes to the Northern Peaks I like to come too, by way -of the Gulfside Trail which leaves the carriage road a little below -the summit of Washington and skirts the head wall of the Great Gulf. -Here in early August, just off the carriage road, I am sure to find -the mountain harebells nodding friendly to me in the breeze, their -wonderful violet-blue corollas flecking the bare slopes with a beauty -that is as dear as it is unassuming. It is easy to stride by these and -not see them, so much they seem but shadow flecks of the sky above, -yet once seen no one can go by without stopping for at least a time -to worship their brave loveliness. Flowers of intense individuality -are the harebells, with each group having, oftentimes, characteristics -peculiarly its own. It seems always to me that these of the high -summits of the Presidential Range are of a deeper, richer blue than any -others. This may be because of the atmosphere in which I see them. They -and the mountain goldenrod, the Spiræa latifolia and the little dwarf -rattlesnake-root with its nodding, yellowish, composite flowers, have -come in to take the places of the spring blooms that opened in these -high gardens with July. Down at the sea level the seasons have three -months each. Up here July is spring, August is summer, and the autumn -has flown from the hilltops before the last days of September have -passed. - - * * * * * - -Of the spring flowers that have lingered beyond the limits of their -season are the beautiful little mountain sandwort, whose clumps still -bloom white in favored spots, though most of the others hold seed pods -only, and the three-toothed cinquefoil with its blossoms so like those -of a small running blackberry that it is easy to mistake it for a stray -from the pastures far below. The mountain avens, too, has what seems -a belated crop of its yellow, buttercup-like blooms in a few places, -though over the most of its area brown seed heads only nod on the tall -blossom stalks. Such are the flowers of the Presidential Range high -plateaus in earliest August, and though the harebells are to me the -most beautiful and most striking, individually, the mountain goldenrod -outdoes all others in profusion of color, its golden sprays swarming -up from the Great Gulf to the trail about its head and garlanding the -rocks toward the summit with feathery bloom that lures the lowland -butterflies to climb trails of their own as far as it goes and to soar -over the very summit in search of more of it. As a background for these -flowers grows the mountain spear-grass, which is so much like the June -grass of our lowland fields, its feathery blooms making a soft purple -mist in many places. On the very summit of Washington this is abundant, -disputing the scant soil with the sandwort, the two the most Alpine -of all New England plants. Rapidly indeed do all these plant dwellers -in Alpine heights hasten through their love and labor of the summer -season, for with October comes the winter which will put them all to -sleep until the end of the following June. - -The human sojourner in this region needs as well to hasten wisely with -an eye on the weather. My early August trip began at the Halfway House -and strolled on up the mountain in very pleasant morning sunshine. On -the col between Washington and Clay the sun had hazed and the cool sea -odor of the southeast wind bade me cut short my worship of harebells -and mountain goldenrod. Yet so clear was the air that every detail of -the bottom of the Gulf stood out to the eye, and Spaulding Lake, a -quarter mile below me and a mile distant, looked so near that it seemed -as if with a jump and perhaps two flops of even clumsy wings I might -light in it. - -[Illustration: "Where the path swings round the east side of -Jefferson"] - -Where the path swings round the east side of Jefferson I began to get -glimpses of the mountains far to southeastward, and as I stood above -Dingmaul Rock and looked straight down Jefferson Ravine I could see the -haze behind the southeast wind shutting off these as well as the sun. -The great hills no longer sat solidly on the earth beneath. Instead a -soft blue dust of turquoise gems flowed up from the valleys and lifted -them from their foundations till they floated gently zenithward through -an increasing sea of this same semi-opaque blue. Always the distant -mountains are ethereal. Tramp them as much as you may, get the scars -of their granite ledges on yourself, as you surely will if you climb -them, get to know their every crag and ravine if you can; and when it -is all done and you look at the mountain only a few miles away, it -takes itself gently from the realm of facts and becomes to your eye -but the filmy substance of a dream, a picture painted on the sky and -thence hung on the walls of memory forever. So these mountains to the -southeast of Jefferson--Meader, Baldface and Eastman first, Imp and -Moriah, the Carters and even Wildcat--lifted and swam in this blue -sea of dreams that the southeast wind brought up with it, quivered -and vanished into forgetfulness, and beyond where their summits had -disappeared I saw the long blue-gray levels of stratus clouds standing -out against the lesser gray of the storm bank and rising slowly and -evenly toward the zenith. - - * * * * * - -Slowly, with majestic sureness a storm was marching up from the -south. No unconsidered assault of the heights was this, no raid by -the white cavalry of thunderstorm, but a forward march of a great -army of investment, bent on complete conquest of the range. So slow -was its coming and so sure its promise that no mountain climber need -rush to safety. Each could proceed with the same dignity as the storm, -having ample time to beat a safe retreat. By noon no animal life was -visible on the high levels. The juncos have nests innumerable in tiny, -sheltered caverns under overhanging rocks. The mother birds were -snuggled deep in these on the brown-spotted eggs. Butterflies and -bumblebees had been busy all the morning in the goldenrod, and a host -of other insects, coleoptera, diptera, hymenoptera, honey seekers and -pollen eaters. Now all had vanished save here and there a bumblebee -that still clung, drunk with nectar, in the yellow tangle of bloom. -The wind that had been so gentle blew cold on these and swished eerily -through the sedges on the borders of the little pool over on the side -of Sam Adams, known as Storm Lake. Very different was this swish of -the wind in the sedges from its soft song in the mists of the mountain -spear-grass. Very different was the feel of it as it blew out of the -smooth gray arch of sky where had been those level lines of stratus -clouds. It had blown these to the zenith and over, and the following -mists had shut off the Carter Range entirely, and even as I watched -from the Peabody spring on the southwest slope of Sam Adams they -shut off the farther ridge of the Great Gulf and came over the close -tangled tops of the dwarf spruces with the swish of rain. Even then as -I tramped along the northerly slopes of Adams and John Quincy Adams I -could see the fields of Randolph laid out in checker-board pattern and -the lower slopes of the Crescent Range farther to the north, but as I -came down the final pitch to the stone hut on Madison a gust growled -ominously over the Parapet and a rush of rain shut the visible world -within a narrow circle of which I was glad to make the cosy shelter of -the hut the centre. - -The Madison hut is built of stone, cemented together, and is tucked so -well into the hillside that one may step from the rocks in the rear to -the roof. Certainly its walls are storm proof, but for thirty hours the -wind did its best to tear the roof off it while the rain filled every -gully with a rushing torrent, and the caretaker and I did our best to -make merry within the safe shelter of the walls. The clouds that had -been so high came down with the rain and made the world an opaque mass -of solid white. It was not so much like a mist as like a cheese through -which the wind in some miraculous fashion blew at a tremendous rate. - -[Illustration: Cataract of clouds pouring over the Northern Peaks into -the Great Gulf, seen from the summit of Mount Washington] - -From mid-afternoon of one day until mid-forenoon of the next there was -no change in this white opacity which blocked the very door and hid -objects completely though only a few feet away, and through it the wind -roared in varying cadences and the drumming rain fell steadily. Then -came occasional tiny rifts in this white cheese in which the world was -smothered. It lifted a little from the mountain side beneath and left -fluffy streamers of mist trailing down. By noon it had shown the summit -of John Quincy once, then shut down as if it were a lid operated by a -stiff spring. Late in the afternoon, thirty hours after the murk had -immured us in the hut, the wind had lulled, swung to the west, and was -shredding the clouds to tatters, through which I climbed to the peak of -Madison. - - * * * * * - -Again the great gods of chaos were crushing an image of immensity -out of new formed stone. Out of the void of cloud I saw it come, -piece by piece, the artificers adding to and withdrawing from their -structure as the result pleased or displeased them. Once they swept the -mountain away entirely leaving only the formless gray of chaos, then -as if with a sudden access of skill and inspiration swept the whole -grandly into being, and the low sun shot his rays through the débris -of their previous failures and gilded the final structure. Through the -long miles below me came the voice of the Great Gulf. Down its sheer -declivities ten thousand streams were splashing to reach the swollen -flood in the channels of the west branch of the Peabody. Each lisped -its consonant or its vowel, and as they met and mingled in syllables -and sped on the river took them and built them into words and phrases, -an oration whose sonorous uproar came from the deep diaphragm of the -mighty space out of which, for all I know, the mountains themselves -were born. Down its distant, narrow ravine I could see the Chandler -River leap from its source high on the Nelson Crag, to its junction -with the west branch, a continuous line of white cataract, roaring full -from brink to brink. Few little rivers of any mountains fall so swiftly -through so deep and straight a ravine and few indeed have a mountain -top three miles away that gives an unobstructed view of their flood -fury from source to mouth. - -A little aftermath of the storm, blown back on the ever freshening -north wind, sent me down the cone again to further refuge in the hut, -and it was not until the next morning that I could retrace my steps -over the gulfside trail to Washington. Again I started with a clear -sky, but by the time I had made the miles to the east side of Jefferson -the high summits were altars whereon the little gods of storms were at -work. They caught the saturated air that rose from all ravines, laid it -across the upper slopes and, hammering it with the brisk north wind, -beat white puffs of mist out of it with every stroke. These streamed -from the peaks and were caught and tangled on them and in one another -till all distances vanished and I walked in a narrowing world where -mist creatures played and danced lightly to the tinkle of water that -still fell from all heights. More and more little clouds the little -gods hammered out on the slopes and ever fresher blew the north wind -that swirled them together after it had beaten them out. The vanishing -distance took with it the peaks above and the Gulf below, and the world -that had been so great became very small indeed, a half circle of -rocks but a few rods in circumference bisected by a trail and the whole -packed in cotton wool. - -In the lower parts of the trail between Jefferson and Clay this packing -was thinnest. Probably at yet lower levels it was clear and these -were clouds that floated above. But this thinness was not sufficient -to give the traveller any landmark. His only hold on the earth was -that tiny circle of rock that ever changed yet was ever the same as -he went on, and the trail itself. As this rose along the west slope -of Clay and swung along the levels toward the head wall of the Gulf -the packing became more dense, and I walked in Chaos itself, thankful -that the trail is here so well marked that one does not need to see -from monument to monument, but may follow the way foot by foot without -fear of wandering. A little lift came in this density just at the head -wall of the Gulf. To the south just for a moment loomed ghostly blobs -of deeper gray that I knew were the water tanks of the railroad, not -a stone's toss away. To the north was the ravine. On this spot I had -stood two mornings before and marvelled at the seeming nearness of the -little lake a mile away. The rim of the head wall showed ghostly gray, -but there was no Gulf. All the world, above, below and beyond, was but -a mass of cotton wool so solidly packed that it seemed as if I might -walk out onto that space where the Gulf should be and not fall through -it. - - * * * * * - -Further on the trail was harder to find and the little diminution -in the density ceased. The little gods of storms were doing well at -their practice. No drop of rain fell, but where the north wind blew -this white mass of mist against me it condensed within the pores of -all garments and filled them with moisture. The last landmarks of the -trail vanished and the white clouds blew in and tangled my feet like -a flapping garment as I stepped upon the carriage road and turned -mechanically to the right, hardly able to distinguish by sight the -roadside from the rocks that wall it in. Even the great barns where -they stable the stage horses were invisible as I walked between them, -but I found the plank staircase which leads up to the stage office and -found that and a good fire and a jolly crowd inside. My trip over the -northern peaks had been one of such varied adventure that it was to be -preferred to one made under fair skies and on a windless day. Yet this -tramp in the clouds was to be had that day on the high summits alone. -At the base of these and even up to the head walls of the ravines -during a good part of the time the air had been clear. It was just the -little weather gods making medicine with the saturated air from the -ravines and the cold steel hammer of the north wind. - - - - - XII - - THE LAKES OF THE CLOUDS - - _The Alpine Beauty of These Highest New England Lakes_ - - -At nightfall from the summit of Mount Washington the Lakes of the -Clouds look like two close-set, glassy eyes in the face of a giant, a -face that stares up at the sky far below and whose hooked nose is the -summit of Mount Monroe. As the light passes, the glassy stare fades -from these and they lie fathomless black orbs that gaze skyward a -little while, then close, and the giant, whose outstretched body is the -southern half of the Presidential Range, sleeps. In the full sunshine -of a pleasant forenoon one knows them for tiny, shallow lakes, and so -near do they look that it seems almost as if a good ball player might -cast a stone into them from the rim of the summit just behind the Tip -Top House. As a matter of fact, they are a little over two miles away -over declivities and ridges that lie above the tree line. For the most -part the trail to these lakes, whether one comes from Mount Washington -or along the Crawford bridle path, seems bare and desolate to the -overlooking glance. But when one gets down to it he finds it full of -beauty and interest. The southern part of the Presidential Range, -between Mount Washington and Mount Clinton, is a mighty ridge, out of -which topple the crests of Monroe, Franklin and Pleasant, a giant still -by day, but now a giant wave petrified. - -Coming up the land from the south I had thought that the lifting of -Mount Washington through the plastic earth had caused the waves of -land to radiate from it in all directions, but to stand on the highest -summit is to see that this is not so. The force that made the mountains -to the south and the mountains to the north is the same, and the -Presidential Range is a result, also, and not a cause. It is but the -seventh wave of those which ride in from the northwest, and the force -which made them all came over the land from countless leagues beyond. -The Presidential Range lifts out of the hollow of the wave, which is -the Ammonoosuc Valley, in a long clean sweep southeastward, exactly -as a mighty wave does at sea. It pinnacles into the various peaks -and it drops suddenly, almost sheer in places, into the next hollow -beyond. This hollow beyond the northern peaks is the Great Gulf, beyond -the southern peaks is Oakes Gulf, and beyond Mount Washington itself -begins with Huntington and Tuckerman ravines. Something drove mighty -waves through the land from the west, sent them pinnacling five and -six thousand feet above the sea level, and froze them there. The main -wave is the solid rock mass thirteen miles long and in the neighborhood -of five thousand feet in height above the sea level. The crests are -the summit cones, jumbled piles of great mica-schist rocks, varying -in size from a cook-stove to a city block, all seeming to have been -tossed together in a disorderly heap and to have settled down into such -regularity as gravity at the moment allowed. The central cores of these -may be solid. Certainly the outer part is but a jumble of loose rocks -that sometimes topple and grind down over one another at a touch and -that give air and water access to unknown depths. - - * * * * * - -Hence on the peak of Washington, for instance, or Adams, or Jefferson, -one may see the somewhat astonishing spectacle during a heavy downpour -of rain of a great rock pinnacle absorbing the water as fast as it -falls. One would expect miniature cataracts and a rush of a thousand -streams down such a summit at such a time. Yet the downpour gets -hardly beyond the spatter of the drops. The loose rocks absorb and -hide it. Hence after every rainfall welling springs on the summits, -and farther down the gurgle of waters running in unseen crevices one -never knows how far below the surface. Hence, also, lakes of the -clouds. After every rain there are well-filled springs on the very -top of Washington, and it is only after many days of dry weather that -these begin to dwindle. There are chunks of ledge up there so hollowed -out toward the sky that they hold the rain by the first intention, so -to speak, and every cloud that touches them oozes from its fold more -water for their sustenance. Often for weeks these pools reflect the -stars by night and evaporate under the shine of the sun by day. In one -of them in late June of this year I found a pair of water striders -skipping merrily about on the calm surface. Two weeks of drought -dried the pool up completely, and I thought these daring adventurers -on the ultimate heights dead, and indeed wondered much how they came -there at all. But later a good rain filled the pool again and my two -water striders appeared on its surface once more, merry as grigs. I am -divided in my mind as to what they did meanwhile. Perhaps they simply -survived the drought by main strength; perhaps they followed the dew -down into cracks between the rocks and there abided in at least some -moisture till the rain came. But I am more of the opinion that they -simply skipped down the caverns toward the interior and there found an -underground pool for a refuge until they could return to the sunlight. -I can think of no other excuse for water striders on the summit of -Mount Washington. - -This pool, of course, like a half score others that one can find on -the very top of the summit cone after rain, was a mere puddle. But the -Lakes of the Clouds are substantial bodies of water the summer through, -and in the winter substantial bodies of ice, for they freeze to the -bottom as soon as winter sets in. Water striders they have and larvæ -of caddis flies and water beetles of many varieties, but never a fish -swims in them, and I doubt if any other form of aquatic animal life -ever wanders to their shores. Clear as crystal, shallow, ever renewed, -they are but mirrors in which by day the peaks can see if their clouds -are on straight and through which by night fond stars may look into -the eyes of other stars near by without being noticed by envious third -parties. Their source is the clouds, yet their waters are if possible -clearer and even more sparkling than new fallen rain. Even the air -above the highest peaks has its dust and soot which the rain washes -out of it as it comes down. In the spring the snow at the head of the -Tuckerman Ravine was dazzling in its pure whiteness. Now the dwindling -arch is flecked with black; dust blown from the peaks above, soot -washed to its surface from the sky by the rain, and without doubt also -the cinders of burned-out stars that perpetually sift down to earth out -of the void of space. - - * * * * * - -All this the rain brings out of the sky when it comes in deluge from -the clouds to the peaks, but nothing of it does it take into the Lakes -of the Clouds. The crushed rock through which it must filter on its -way down the ledges takes out all impurities, and the mosses of the -lower slopes aid the process. But they do more than that. By mysterious -methods of their own the mountains aerate this rain water in its -passage till it finally reaches the lakes, as it reaches all mountain -springs, filled with a prismatic brilliancy that is all its own. -Whether we assume these lakes to be eyeglasses of the slumbering giant -which is the Range, or mirrors for the peaks and the stars, they are -crystalline lenses of no ordinary brilliancy and power of refraction. - -High as these tiny mirrors of the sky are, by actual measurement -5053 feet above the sea level, the highest lakes east of the Rocky -Mountains, the tree line creeps up to them, and firs, dwarfed but -beautiful in their courage, set spires along portions of their borders, -dark, straight lashes for clear blue eyes. In other spots along their -margin the ground is bluish early in the season with the leaves of the -dwarf bilberry, pink-sprayed with their tiny, cylindrical petals of -deciduous bloom, and, now that August is here, blue in very truth with -the berries themselves. These are not large, but they are firm-fleshed -and sweet as any lowland blueberry, and whether the flavor they have is -inherent in themselves or draws its subtlety from the surroundings I am -never sure, but as I sit among them and eat I know that it is worth the -climb to their Alpine altitudes. - -[Illustration: "Dwarfed firs, beautiful in their courage, set spires -along portions of their borders, dark, straight lashes for clear blue -eyes"] - -In the first part of the Alpine springtime, which comes to the Lakes of -the Clouds with the early days of July, the country round about them -was a veritable flower garden. The water in the lakes was ice water -then, though the ice had disappeared from their surfaces and lingered -only in the shadow of the low cliff which forms the southern boundary -of one. Often the nights brought frost, and sometimes with the rain -sleet sifted down as well. But little the dwellers in these Alpine -heights care for these things. If the sun but shines it warms the -tundra to their root tips and they push their blossoms forth to meet -it with all speed. The geum flecked everything with yellow gold. In -the crevices of the cliffs it clung where there was little but coarse -gravel for its roots, and its radiate-veined, kidney-shaped root leaves -flapped in the gales and were tattered in spite of their toughness. In -such soil as the rocks gave the sandwort put forth tiny innumerable -cups of white. Down in the tundra-clad slopes the geum throve as well, -but there the white of the sandwort was replaced by that of countless -stars of Houstonia. White and gold was everywhere in this flower-garden -of the clouds, subtended here and there by the lavender delicacy of -the Alpine violet, Viola palustris. Everywhere, too, was the honest, -plebeian white and green of the dwarf cornel, and the æsthetic, -green-yellow blooms of the Clintonia. It is strange that of two flowers -that touch leaf elbows all through the woods of this northern country, -high and low, one should be so hopelessly bourgeois as the Cornus -canadensis and the other so undeniably aristocratic from root to anther -as Clintonia borealis. - - * * * * * - -To tramp the slopes and hollows of this garden about the two lovely -lakes is to alternate the rasping surface of pitted and weather-worn -cliffs and scattered boulders of mica-schist with plunges half-knee -deep in a soft and close-knit tundra moss. Here are mosses and lichens -in close communion that ordinarily grow far apart. The sphagnums are to -be expected, and they are plentiful, but with them grows the hairy-cap -moss, sturdier and with larger caps than I often find it elsewhere. -With these also grows the gray-green cladonia, the reindeer lichen, -all massed in together in a springy sponge that holds water and plant -roots and continually builds peaty earth. Because of this building of -earth by the tundra mosses there are fewer Lakes of the Clouds than -there were once. In half a dozen levels above and below the present -lakes this constructive vegetation has built up a bog where once was -open water, and makes tiny meadows for the quick-blooming plants of the -mountain season. - -Meadows of this sort climb from the Lakes of the Clouds up the ridge -toward Boott's Spur, connected by underground rills and having little -springs scattered through them where even in dry weather the thirsty -may find good water. Up the side of the peak of Monroe they go as -well, and it is not difficult to trace the moisture they hold by a -glance from a distance, so green and pleasant does it make their -flower-spangled surfaces. In the lowlands meadows are level or they are -not meadows. On the mountains they sometimes run up at a pretty sharp -angle and are meadows still. - -In August the spring color scheme of white and gold stippled on the -tundra moss by the geums, the sandwort and the Houstonia becomes blue -and gold, built out of harebell blooms and those of the dwarf Alpine -goldenrod, Solidago cutleri. There is much more of the gold than in the -springtime and the blue of the harebells by no means is so prevalent as -the white of Houstonia and of Arenaria. But clumps of Spirea latifolia -put out their pale pink flowers in many nooks among the rocks and even -insert patches of color among the dark firs that under the high banks -of the lakes dare stand erect, though they are at the top of the tree -line. - -Most picturesque of all plants about the Lakes of the Clouds, in -midsummer as in early spring, is the Indian poke, Veratrum viride. Next -to the firs and spruces it spires highest, but unlike them it is of no -obviously tough and hardy fibre. On the contrary, here is an endogenous -plant, one of the lily family, that ought from its appearance to grow -in a Florida swamp rather than on the great ridges of the Presidential -Range, five thousand feet and more above sea level. Here is a place -for low-growing Alpine plants like the sandwort, the Alpine azalea, -the Lapland rose-bay, and the little moss-like Diapensis lapponica; -and they grow here. But in the boggiest part of the tundra grows also -this rank succulent herb, the Indian poke, spiring boldly with its -light green stem, bearing three feet in air its big pyramidal panicle -of yellowish green blossoms in early July, seed pods in middle August, -but yellowish green and pyramidal still. Beneath the pyramid on the -single stem stand the close-set, broadly oval, plaited and strongly -veined leaves, and there the whole will stand till the freezing cold of -October cuts down its succulent strength. The more I see of the Indian -poke on Alpine heights the more I admire it. It does not quite reach -the tip of the summit cone of Washington, but it climbs as near it as -many a seemingly tougher fibred plant and would, I believe, reach as -high as the sandwort could it have roothold in the necessary moisture. - - * * * * * - -Much has been written about the beauty of the Alpine Garden between the -base of the summit cone of Washington and the head wall of Huntington -Ravine. All that has been said of this and more is true of the rough -rocks, the slopes, and the meadows about the two little Lakes of the -Clouds. Traces of animal life indeed are rare on their borders. The -most that I have seen was a deer that came at dawn over the ridge from -Oakes Gulf, nibbled grass and moss in the meadows, drank from the -larger lake, and bounded off again, leaving the tundra moss punctured -by slender hoof marks. Birds are as numerous here as about those other -wooded lakes of the clouds that lie below in the ravines, Hermit Lake -in Tuckerman's and Spaulding at the head of the Great Gulf. I suspect -the Myrtle and Magnolia warblers of building their nests in the -dwarf firs not far from the shores, though I am unable to prove it. -White-throated sparrows sing among the evergreens, though in August, in -these altitudes, the white throats rarely give their full song. Often -it is but a note or two and pauses there as if the bird were in doubt -about the propriety of singing at this season. But the birds of the -place beyond all others are the juncos. They sit on the bare ledges and -sing, morning, noon and night, their gentle, melodious trill. It makes -the place home to the listener at once as it is to the singers whose -nests are tucked away in holes under many an overhanging stone along -the ledges. - -[Illustration: Spaulding Lake at the head of the Great Gulf, Mounts -Adams and Madison in the distance] - -"The wind that beats the mountain blows more gently round the open -wold" in which lie the two little Lakes of the Clouds. Into their tiny -hollows the August sunshine wells and seems to tip with gold the plumes -of the spinulose wood ferns which grow in the tundra moss and snuggle -up against the mica-schist ledges that make miniature cliffs along the -shores. Around the base of the mountain these ferns are everywhere, -taking the place in higher altitudes of the Osmunda claytonia, which -is the prevalent variety of lower lands. The progress of claytonia is -interrupted not far from the entrances to the Gulf and to Tuckerman -Ravine. Thence the Aspidium spinulosum goes on and is plentiful in many -places up to and on the Alpine Garden. It makes the neighborhood of -the Lakes of the Clouds beautiful with its feathery fronds and sends -out to the lingerer in this beauty spot its ancient woodsy fragrance -of the world before the coal age. Among all the beauties of the place -it is hard to tell what is dearest, but I think, after all, the -decision should be with the feathery, fragrant Aspidium spinulosum, the -spinulose wood fern. - -But for all their beauty by day and their cosy friendliness, the Lakes -of the Clouds are at their best after nightfall. As the sunshine -welled in them, so at dusk the purple shadows grow dense there and the -shallows disappear. A boy can throw a stone across these lakes. He can -wade them, but as the darkness falls upon them and the juncos pipe the -last notes of their evensongs the little lakes widen and grow vastly -deep. The farther shores slip away and become ports of dreams, and he -who stands on the margin looks down no longer at bare rocks through -transparent shallows, but into a universe of fathomless depth where -star smiles back at star through infinite distances of blue. Who shall -say it is not for this that the little lakes lie through the brief -summer, clear mirrors under the shadow of the peak of Monroe? - - - - - XIII - - CRAWFORD NOTCH - - _The Mighty Chasm in the Mountains and Its Perennial Charms_ - - -In the nick of the Notch--Crawford Notch--the narrow highway so -crowds the Saco River that, tiny as it is, it has to burrow to get -through, thereby meeting many adventures in a half mile. If Mount -Willard had flowed over to the north just a few rods farther, when it -was fluid, there would have been no Notch, but only a gulf like that -between Washington and the northern peaks, or like Oakes Gulf, barred -completely by the vast head wall of metamorphic rock. It came so near -that originally there was room only for the Saco to pass down, a -slender stream, new-born at the shallow lake on the plain just above. -Then the famous old "Tenth Turnpike" of New Hampshire came along and -by smashing away the rock and crowding the Saco men made a way through -for it. As for the railroad, its case was hopeless. It had to burrow -a nick of its own through the base of Mount Willard, and out of the -débris of this blasting the road makers built a series of fantastic -rock piles, monuments to the heathen deities of Helter-Skelter, which -serve to make the gateway in which these three jostle one another, -road, railroad and river, more weird even than it was before. - -But the gateway is as beautiful as it is fantastic. The road south to -it comes along a smiling plain and the mountains draw in to meet it, -indeed as if to bar it. On the left Mount Clinton sends down two long -ridges between which flows Gibb's Brook. On the right Mount Willard -shoulders its rough rock bulk boldly into the way, and down these the -spruces stride like tall plumed Indians come to bar the passage of the -white man. But the road winds on and just as it seems as if it must -stop it finds a way and, fairly burrowing as does the river, flows -down the Notch. With the rocks alone the gateway would be a forbidding -tangle of débris. Clothed in the hardwood growth, it would be but a -greenwood gap. But these pointed spruces and the firs that mingle with -them bring to it an architectural dignity of pillars and spires, a -jutting of Gothic pinnacles, a suggestion of Ionic columns, that makes -it the gateway of a vast woodland cathedral, a place through which one -passes to worship and be filled with awe and veneration of the mighty -forces that shaped it. - -[Illustration: "Profile of Webster," looking toward Crawford Notch from -the old Crawford farm-house site] - - * * * * * - -It is a cathedral that has its gargoyles, too; everywhere through -the spiring spruces and the softening outlines of deciduous trees -protrude the rocks in fantastic shapes that show strange creatures to -the imaginative onlooker. Just at the gateway, lumbering out from the -mountain, comes an elephant, head and trunk, little eye and flapping -ears plainly visible, poised in granite, but ready at any moment to -take the one step onward that will reveal the whole gigantic animal -standing in the roadway. Beyond, the whole left side of the Notch shows -a gigantic face, the mountain's brow itself a noble dome of thought, -the nose huge and Roman, and the whole weird and misshapen, but not -without a strange dignity of its own. And so it is with the whole -formation of the Notch. Its once molten rocks cooled or have been -water-worn into strange forms that greet the eye of the imagination at -every turn. It is well that the narrow turnpike flows so swiftly down -into the depths of the wood and hides the traveller from the sight of -too many portents. To get down the nick of the Notch just a little way -by road is to be shaded by the overhanging deciduous growth and to be -able to forget, as does the Saco, the crowding together of those weird -forms carved by the ages from enduring granite. - -The railroad hangs to its grade on the mountain side, but the road -descends rapidly, though not so rapidly as the river that, here a -little released from its pressure between the two, comes to sight again -and slips in purling shallows or babbles down miniature cascades, the -thinnest of slender streams, to the depths of a shaded cleft in the -cliffs known as "The Dismal Pool." Dismal this may be to look at from -the height of the train as it winds along the steep face of the Mount -Willard cliff. But it is not dismal when one gets down to it, in the -very bottom of the nick of the Notch. In places rough gray cliffs, -in others black spruces, climb one another's shoulders from this -little level of grass and placid water where flows the Saco. A pair of -spotted sand-pipers make this their home and they did not resent my -coming to join them. Instead they bobbed a greeting and then went on -industriously picking up dinner, wading leg deep in the shallows and -often putting their heads as well as their long bills under water in -search of food. Spotted sand-pipers nest in the summer from Florida to -Labrador, but I fancy no pair has a finer home than this little pool in -the very bottom of the vast cleft in the mountains which is Crawford -Notch. Its shores were netted with the tracks of their nimble feet. - -No other bird track was there, but the sand-pipers by no means -monopolize the borders of this shallow water. Here were the marks -of hedgehog claws, and there was a track which led me to pause in -astonishment. What plantigrade had set foot of such size on the soft -sand of the shore? I looked over my shoulder after the first glimpse, -half expecting to see an old bear, for here was what looked very like -the track of a young one. A second look told me better. This footmark, -not unlike that of a human baby, save for the claws, was no doubt that -of a raccoon, but certainly the biggest raccoon track I have seen yet. -It was perfectly fresh, and I dare say the owner, interrupted in his -frog hunt by the sound of my scrambling approach beneath the black -growth, had but then shambled to some den in the nearby cliffs and was -impatiently awaiting my departure. - -The flower of the place was the little, herbaceous St.-John's-wort, -Hypericum ellipticum, in whose linear petals such sunlight as reached -the bottom of the cleft seemed tangled. It grew everywhere on the -narrow margin between the black shade of the spruces and the clear, -shallow water, and its petals shone out of a soft mist of tiny -white aster blooms in many places. Farther up stream, and indeed -in most woodland shadow throughout the Notch, grows the Eupatorium -urticæfolium, which, though its common name is "white snake root," is -nevertheless the daintiest of the thoroughworts. Its flowers are a -finer, whiter fluff of mist than are those of the aster, so plentiful -on the shore of the not dismal pool and which I take to be aster -ericoides. In late August they seem to me quite the most beautiful -flowers of the Notch woodlands. In this I do not except the blue -harebells which grow so plentifully on the sandy flats down by the -Willey House site. Above the tree line the harebells are beautiful. -Here they are straggling and pale and are not to be compared with their -hardier, sturdier sisters. - - * * * * * - -As railroad, highway and river draw together and touch elbows in -passing through the gateway of the Notch, so do all other tides of -travel. Here in spring should be the finest place in the world to see -all migrant birds on their way farther north. The valley of the Saco -catches them as in the flare of a wide tunnel and gradually draws them -together here. At certain corners in London all the world is said, -sooner or later, to pass. So at the gateway of the Notch one should see -in May and June all north-bound varieties of birds. Even at this time -of year the wandering tribes concentrate at this spot and bird life -seems far more plentiful than at any other equal area in the mountains. -On the bare heights of the Presidential Range, which I had been -travelling for long, the juncos are one's only bird companions. Here in -deep forest glades variety after variety passed singing or twittering -by. Here were robins, song sparrows, chipping sparrows, white-throated -sparrows, chickadees in flocks. Red-eyed vireos preached in the tops -of yellow birches. A yellow-throated vireo twined and peered among the -twigs, gathering aphids. Here were myrtle and magnolia warblers and a -blackpoll, all residents in the neighborhood without doubt, but all on -their way, and seen in a brief time. - -[Illustration: "Where railroad, highway, and river draw together and -touch elbows in passing through the gateway of the Notch"] - -Most pleasing of all to me was a strange new chickadee voice which sang -something very like the ordinary black-capped chickadee song, but with -a slower and far different intonation. I followed the maker of this -old song with new words over some very rough country, from one side of -the Notch just below the nick to the other, for I was very eager to -see him. By and by I found him with others of his kind swinging head -down from twigs, climbing and flitting in a fashion that is that of -all chickadees, but had a quality of its own, nevertheless. Here was -a flock of chickadees, with less of nervousness in their manner and a -little more poise, if I may put it that way, than the blackcaps have, -chickadees with brown crowns instead of black, and, I thought, a little -more of buff in their under parts. All summer I had looked for the -Hudsonian chickadee on one mountain slope after another, and I had not -found him. But here in the nick of the Notch a flock had come to me and -I did my best to see and hear as much as possible of them. They, too, -were on their way, but were probably residents of the neighborhood, -for I took them to be one family, father, mother and five youngsters, -just learning to forage for themselves. This they did in true chickadee -fashion, swinging and singing, flitting and sitting, and always -following and swallowing food, to me invisible, with great gusto. - -The song was what pleased me most. One authority on birds has written -it down in a book that the song of the Hudsonian chickadee is not -distinguishable from that of the blackcap, though uttered more -incessantly. Another, equally reliable, says the notes are quite unlike -those of the blackcap. My Hudsonian chickadees sang the blackcap's -song, but they sang it a trifle more leisurely and with a bit of -a lisp. But that is not all. There is something in the quality of -the tone that reminded me at once of a comb concert. It was as if -these roguish youngsters had put paper about a comb and were lustily -singing the prescribed song through this buzzing medium. It may be -that other Hudsonian chickadees sing differently. Birds are intensely -individualistic, and it is hardly safe to generalize from one flock. -This may have been a troupe doing the mountain resorts with a comb -concert specialty and tuning up as they travelled, as many minstrels -do, but the results were certainly as I have described them. I am -curious to see more birds of this feather and see if they, too, -conform, but I fancy Crawford Notch is about the southern limit of the -variety in summer, and I may not hear another serenade in passing. -These certainly found me as interesting as I did them. They fearlessly -flew down on twigs very near me and looked me over with bright eyes, -the while talking through their combs about my characteristics and how -I differed from the Hudsonian variety of man. It was a genuine case of -mutual nature study. - - * * * * * - -Very cosy all these things made the nick of the Notch, but now and -then as I scrambled through its rough forest aisles the mountains -looked down on me through a gap in the trees, frowning so portentously -from such overhanging heights that I was minded to jump and flee from -the imminent annihilation. For, after all, the beauty of flowers and -the friendliness of birds, the architectural decorations of the firs -and spruces, even the monster semblances of the rock carvings that -overhang, are but the embroidery on the real impression of the Crawford -Notch. To get this it is well to go down the long slope of the highway, -ten miles and more, till you emerge below Sawyer's River where Hart's -Ledge frowns high above Cobb's Ferry. Thus you shall know something -of the length of this tremendous fold in the rock ribs of the earth. -Here is no work of erosion alone. The Notch was made primarily by the -bending of the granite of the mountains that rise in such tremendous -sweeps on either side to heights of thousands of feet. On most of their -swift-slanting sides some dirt and débris of rock has accumulated and -the forest has clothed them, but this clothing is thin and in many -places the slant is so swift and the surface so smooth that the rock -lies bare to the sun, and all streams have swept it clean. In August -little water comes down these, but there is the bare channel of brown -rock up which one may look from the highway, taking in the whole sweep -of a stream at a glance. At the bottom of these swift glissades the -tangled piles of smashed rocks show with what force the waters come -down when floods push them. - -[Illustration: "Just below the nick of the Notch you may see where the -Silver Cascade and the Flume Cascade hurry down from their birth on -Mount Jackson, and farther down the vast slope of Webster"] - -Thus just below the nick of the Notch you may see where the Silver -Cascade and the Flume Cascade hurry down from their birth on Mount -Jackson, and farther down the vast slope of Webster is swept clear -in great spaces where now only a little water comes moistening the -upper rim of rocks, spreads, and evaporates before it has passed over -the slanting, sun-heated surface. All the way down the glen, to the -Willey House, to Bemis, and on to Sawyer's River, one looks to the -right and left up to rock heights swimming more than a thousand feet in -air, bare, immanent, cleft and caverned, and often carved to strange -semblances of man or beast. Crawford Notch is a veritable museum of -gigantic fantasies. - -Most impressive of all it is to pause at the site of the Willey -House and look back toward the gateway of the Notch, through which -you have come. Here the mighty bulk of Mount Willard lifts sheer -from the tree-carpeted floor, six hundred and seventy feet in air, a -mountain that once in semi-molten form flowed into place across the -wide valley and blocked it with a solid rock, overhanging, seamed -and wrinkled, showing projecting buttresses and withdrawing caverns, -a rock so solidly knit and compact that the wear of the ages on it -has been infinitesimal. On the summit of this cliff are the hammer -marks of frost. These blows and the solvent seep of rain may take -from the mountain a sixteenth of an inch in a hundred years, but the -disintegrating power that splits ledges and hurls hundred-ton rock from -precipices seems never to have worked on this cliff, so perpendicularly -high and mighty does it stand. - - * * * * * - -First or last the visitor to the Notch will do well to climb Willard -and see it as a whole. An easy carriage road makes the ascent, stopping -well back from the brow of this tremendous cliff. Willard is hardly -a mountain. It is rather a spur, a projecting ledge of the Rosebrook -Range, whose peaks, Tom, Avalon and Field, tower far above it. But on -this great ledge of Willard one is swung high in air in the very middle -of the upper entrance to the Notch. Hundreds of feet of it are above -him still, but thousands are below, and he looks down the tremendous -valley as the soaring eagle might. Soothed by distance the rough valley -bottom seems as level as a floor, its forest growth but a green carpet -on which certain patterns stand out distinctly, the warp of green -deciduous growth being filled with a dainty woof of fir, spruce and -pine. To the left the bulk of Webster blocks the horizon. - -[Illustration: In the heart of Crawford Notch, the summit of Jackson on -the distant horizon] - -To the right the glance goes by Willey and on down to Bemis and Nancy, -and the blue peaks of other more distant mountains that peer over them. -From the head wall of the Great Gulf, looking down between Chandler -Ridge and the Northern Peaks of the Presidential Range, one gets a view -of a wonderful mountain gorge. The outlook from Mount Franklin, down -the mighty expanse of Oakes Gulf to its opening into the Crawford glen -below Frankenstein Cliff is, to me, more impressive still. But greatest -of all in its beauty of detail and its simplicity of might and grandeur -is this ever-narrowing, ten-mile chasm, this mighty, deep fold of rock -strata that begins below Sawyer's River and ends where the enormous -rock which is Mount Willard so pinches the gateway to the Notch that -the railroad burrows, the highway excavates and the tiny brook which -is the beginning of the Saco River dives out of sight between the two, -to reappear in that "dismal pool" which lies at the very bottom of the -nick of the Notch. - - - - - XIV - - UP MOUNT JACKSON - - _The Climb from Crawford's Through an Enchanting Forest_ - - -Off Mount Jackson runs a tiny brook. I do not know its name, but -because it is the very beginning of the Saco River and because it -empties into Saco Lake, I fancy it is Saco Brook. Whatever its name it -is fortunate above most White Mountain brooks in that the lumbermen -have kept away from it for half a century or so and the great growth -of an ancient forest shadows it. At the bottom of this it dances down -ledges and under prostrate trunks of trees that have stood their time -and been pushed over by the wind, and as it goes it splashes joyously -to itself in a liquid flow of language that has as many variations -of syllables and intonations as has human speech. On either side its -winding staircase in the forest old, old hemlocks rise in columnar -dignity and great yellow birches spread the climbing walls of its -passageway with a leafy tapestry of gold and green, their once crisp, -sun-imprisoning curls of yellow bark all gray with age and as shaggy as -those on a centenarian's head. Through such shady glens of cool delight -the little brook calls the path up Jackson from its beginnings at the -cellar-hole of the old Crawford homestead and the path responds gladly, -climbing within sound of this melodious monologue a pleasant part of -the way. - -Even after it turns, reluctantly one thinks, to breast the slope -southward and leave the friendly brook behind, the way leads still -through this fine old forest whose moist gloaming fosters the growth of -all mosses and through them in turn makes the forest tenure secure. Nor -does it pass into the full sun until its two and three-quarters miles -to the summit of Jackson are all but completed and it climbs steeply -out of dwarf firs and spruces to surmount the bare dome. How excellent -the moist moss which deeply clothes stumps, stones and all things else, -is for the growing of firs and hemlocks may be easily seen. Here no -seedling need fail to grow for lack of moisture, even if it fall on -the very top of a high rock. Here is a fir, for instance, beside the -path up by Bugle Cliff. Its first rootlets ran from the very top of a -boulder down each side of it through this soft, moist covering of moss -till they reached the ground beneath. There as the years have passed -they sunk deep and the fir has become a fine tree, though the base of -its trunk is five feet from the ground and its two big roots straddle -the rock on which they first found frail tenure in the thin covering -of moss. Once let the sun in on this to dry out the moisture and the -seedling would have evaporated with it. Thus the trees protect the moss -and the moss protects the trees. Remove either one and the other must -go. - - * * * * * - -This golden gloom and persistent moisture fosters other evergreen -growth than firs and mosses. Here thrives and grows beautiful the -spinulose wood fern, which seems peculiarly the fern of the high -mountain slopes. But more conspicuous along this path to the summit of -Jackson are the polypodys. The polypody stands drought or cold equally -well. In either it shrivels and seems to wither, but let the warmth or -moisture needed come back and the seemingly blighted fronds fill out -and are vigorously alive once more. I often find polypodys in summer -on exposed rocks seemingly crisp and dead with the drought. But when -the September rains have soaked them I come by again and find them -growing as huskily as before. Yet for all their persistence throughout -weather torment these ferns are most beautiful and luxuriant in spots -where moisture persists, and they have uninterrupted growth throughout -their summer season. Such a spot is the deep wood along this trail, and -there, on such rocks as they favor, the polypodys set close fronds of -a green that seems singularly bright and rich in shade. It may be that -the diffused gold of the sunlight in such places brings out greens at -their best, but surely nowhere else have I found these little ferns at -once so luxuriant in growth and so beautiful in color. - -For all that, not all rocks in this delectable woodland bear the -picturesque decoration of the polypody fronds. Up by Bugle Cliff are -two great cubical boulders. On the level top of one of these is a -splendid garden of the little ferns. They cover it with an even matted -growth that looks like a marvellously woven and decorated mat covering -a mighty footstool that might have been left behind by some recently -departing race of giants. Yet within a stone's throw of it is another -rock, quite like it in size and shape, on which one or two straggling -ferns are trying to get a foothold, but with very indifferent -success. So through this as other woodlands it seems to be with the -polypody, which is without doubt a fern of feminine nature in spite -of its sturdiness. With one rock Miss Polypody will dwell in woodland -seclusion most happily all her days; with another of similar shape and -size she will have no dallying. The cause is no doubt to be sought in -the character of the rock rather than in its figure or consistency. The -polypody has a predilection for lime, and it is probable that the rocks -which they decorate so faithfully have their characters sweetened by -this ingredient. - -But in these forest shades if every stone may not bear wilful Miss -Polypody upon its breast none goes without decoration of beauty. -Without the mosses and lichens the ferns would find little chance for -life in any forest, and here they cover all things with a beauty that -is as profuse as it is delicate. No rock nor stump nor growing trunk of -forest tree but has these, so wonderfully blended in their grays and -greens, their olives and browns, that the eye accepts them as a whole -and, in such perfect harmony is their adornment, half the time fails to -note that they are there at all. Yet one has but to pick out a definite -spot and examine it for a moment to be impressed with the prodigality -of beauty of the whole. Here, for instance, not far from the point -where the trail up Mount Webster diverges from that up Jackson, is a -pathside rock of rough, micaceous granite such as mosses love. Its -surface slopes like a lean-to roof toward the north and is but a foot -or two square. It is no more beautifully, no more diversely decorated -than ten thousand other rocks which one may see along the trail. Yet -here is a harmony of blending and contrasting colors and forms such -as the cleverest human artist with all the fabrics and all the dyes of -Christendom might labor in vain to produce. - -Tiny fern-like fronds of the dainty cedar moss weave across it a -tapestry of golden green, a feathery fabric such as only fairy workmen, -laboring patiently for long years, can produce. Yet it is a fabric -common to the whole wood, carpeting and upholstering its inequalities -for miles. Into this is sparingly wrought an over-pattern of deeper -green tufts of the hairy-cap moss, sending up slender stems headed with -fruitage and holding the pointed caps which are the fairy headgear. To -note these is to realize suddenly that the fairies are still at work -under the shadow of the warp and woof of the fabric, though they are -too nimble to be seen, however suddenly one may lift it. It is easy to -lift the hairy caps, but I refrain. To take even one away is to spoil -the perfect symmetry of this pattern which is so complete that every -detail, even the most minute, is needed for the harmony of the whole. -On one side an hepatic lichen spreads a rosette-like decoration of -purple-brown edged with silvery gray, a color that has its answering -glints all through the structure of the cedar moss and which joins the -brown hepatic in all its roughness to this dainty background. - -In another spot is the gray mist of a clump of reindeer lichen, a -fine, soft, green-gray mist, blowing across from the other lichen's -edge and clouding with its filmy fluff a tiny portion of the picture. -It is thus that summer clouds float over the green tops of the forest -trees on some days and shadow them with a gray mist for a moment. The -reindeer lichen is growing on the stone, but it has all the effect of -being blown across it, and I know well that if I look away for a moment -it will be gone when I look back. Diagonally across the rock runs a -bar dextra of Clintonia leaves, loosely laid in shining green, and in -certain groups are the trifoliate scallops of the wood-sorrel. The -whole is like a shield of one of the great knights of Arthur's court, -heraldic emblazonry thick upon it, hung here in the greenwood while its -bearer rests upon his arms or drinks perhaps from the waters of the -Silver Cascade brook which I hear swishing coolly down the glen not far -away. - -But all this decoration, so wonderfully harmonious, so minutely -complete in itself, is, on this particular rock, but a background -for a clump of pure white Indian pipe blooms, growing in its centre. -Ghostlily beautiful, their white glowing by contrast in the green gloom -of the place, these blossoms seem the plant embodiment of the cool echo -of falling waters that slips along the aisles of flickering, golden -light between the brown, straight columns of the firs and hemlocks. The -nodding, pallid flowers are as soothing to the sight as is this soft -whisper of descending streams to the ear. The forest writes the word -"hush" in letters of the Indian pipe blooms. - - * * * * * - -With eye and ear as well as muscles rested, I go on to the steeper -ascent which the path makes through a tangle of firs that diminish in -size but increase in numbers as the elevation increases. For long it -climbs within sound of Silver Cascade brook, but finally gets too high -for it and passes into a little section of silver forest, where for a -space all the firs are dead. Most of them still stand erect, the green -all gone out of them. Ghosts of the trees they once were, they stand -silvery gray in the midst of the green wood, as if a patch of moonlight -had forgotten to go when the day came. Into this sunlit place in the -surrounding shade of the forest the mountain goldenrod has come till -its flowers make all the space beneath the dead trees yellow, a very -lake of sunlight. Silver and gold the rocks of the White Mountains may -or may not have in their veins, but the White Mountain forests hold the -two precious metals in nuggets and pockets and veritable placers for -all who will seek. - -Not far from this silver forest the path crowds through a dense -tangle of dwarf firs and climbs out upon the rough rock dome of Mount -Jackson, 4112 feet above the sea level, just rising above the tree -line. Here, to be sure, are a few dwarf firs, not knee high, and here -climbs plentifully the resinous perfume of their taller brothers just -below, but the eye has an uninterrupted sweep of the horizon where few -ranges obstruct. Northward, fifteen miles or so across Oakes Gulf, -looms Mount Washington, 2181 feet higher still, and the long ridge of -the southern peaks descends from this to Clinton, a mighty wall of -perpendicular rock set against the sky. The vast basin of the gulf -is always a marvel, with its precipitous walls and its expanse of -forested floor, the forest so distant and so close set that it looks -like the cedar-moss tapestry on the way up; but nowhere is it more -impressive than from the summit of Jackson, with its mighty wall of -the Presidential Range for a background. Southeast Kearsarge lifts -its clean cone over the jumble of mountains that make the northward -walls of the Crawford Notch; southwesterly stands Carrigain, with the -pinnacles of the Sandwich Range far beyond; while westerly Lafayette -rises above Guyot and the Twins, far over Zealand Notch. Under one's -feet, almost, lies the green level of the Fabyan plateau with its huge -hotels giving almost the only human touch to the view. Out of this -depth of distance swings a flock of eaves-swallows, already, like the -occupants of the hotels very likely, planning their southern trip -and discussing accommodations and gastronomic possibilities. In the -upper woods of the trail I had passed through a considerable flock of -Hudsonian chickadees, but these had fallen behind and the only birds of -the summit were the swift passing swallows. Here again were the summit -herbs of the higher hills, the mountain sandwort, mountain cranberry, -creeping snowberry, Labrador tea, all springing from mosses in scant -soil which obtains in the almost level acre of rock which is the top of -the mountain. - - * * * * * - -It is a place on which to make rendezvous with the winds of the world -and be sure they will meet you there, yet, strange to relate, on my day -on the summit for a long time no winds blew and gauzy-winged insects -from the regions below fluttered lazily over the great rock dome. -Here were colias, hunter's, mourning cloak and mountain fritillary -butterflies, making the place gay with their bright colors. Here were a -score of varieties of diptera and hymenoptera, some of astonishing size -and peculiarities of wing and leg, some of amazing brilliancy of color, -till I wished for a convocation of the Cambridge Entomological Society -to name and describe them for me. None of these unexpected mountain -flyers was difficult to capture. Neither was I, and I was glad when a -sudden breeze from the west sent them all careering down into the Oakes -Gulf whence I dare say they came. - -Passing the silver forest on my way down I found my Hudsonian chickadee -friend in numbers in the firs once more. Much as I have been in the -woods about the Presidential Range it is only lately that I have met -these interesting birds, and now I seem to find them in increasing -numbers, at the head of the Notch, on the northerly slope of Mount -Pleasant, and here. I have sought them for long, and at last, as -Thoreau said of the wild geese, they fly over my meridian and I am -able to bag them by shooting up chimney. Perhaps a more reasonable -interpretation would be that now the nestlings are full fledged and -the increased flocks beginning to range far in search of food. August -passes and the wind out of the north has sometimes in it a zest that -collects flocks and sets the migratory instinct to throbbing in many a -bird's breast. - -No tang of the north wind could touch the heart of the deep woods -down the trail, but there, too, as I descended I found the promise of -autumn written in many colored characters in the enchanting gloom. -The Clintonias spelled it in the Prussian blue ink of their ripe -berries. The creeping snowberry had done it in white and the Mitchella, -Gaultheria, and Trillium in varying shades of red. Even the Indian -pipe which writes "hush" and "peace" all along the forest floor in -late summer seems in this way to tell of the season of rough winds, -migrating birds and falling scarlet leaves that is just ahead of us. -Its pallid attempt to hold the full glory of the ripened summer where -it is cannot succeed here on the high northern hills where the summer -is at best but a brief sojourner. Rather, for all its desires, it seems -but a pale flower of sleep, presaging that white forgetfulness of snow -that will presently descend through the whispering hemlock leaves and -blot out all this writing on the forest floor. - -Ah, these wise old hemlocks of the deep trails of the Northern woods! -These indeed of the forest primeval, - - "Bearded with moss, in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, - Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic, - Stand like harpers hoar with beards that rest on their bosoms." - -These are the wise old men of the woods. Erect and tall, of mighty -compactness of muscles and shaggy headed with deep green, conical capes -shielding crown and shoulders, they seem less trees than woodland -deities, and to stand among them is to be present at an assembly of -demigods of the forest. The wisdom of centuries, blown about the world -by the west winds, finds voice in their whispering leaves, and I, -listening in the cool twilight below, hear it told in forest runes. -Some day someone who loves the woods enough shall learn to translate -this runic rhyme of the harper hemlocks as their tops chant to the west -wind and send the music down the listening forest aisles where the -Indian pipes whitely whisper "hush" and "peace"--and the translator -will be very wise thereby. - -He who climbs Jackson shall see much beauty of wild gulfs and rugged -peaks, and this I saw. But more vividly in my memory of the trip -linger the sunny glade under the silver firs all yellow with its flood -of goldenrod, and the moss-clad rocks with their messages written in -white Indian pipe blooms. Most vivid of all is the personality of those -stately old-man hemlocks that stand with such dignity, making the deep -woods along the trail. - - - - - XV - - CARRIGAIN THE HERMIT - - _The Mountain and Its Overlook from the Very Heart of the Hills_ - - -On no peak of the White Mountains does one have so supreme a sense of -uplift as on Carrigain. Here is a mountain for you! No nubble on top of -a huge table-land is Carrigain but a peak that springs lightly into the -unfathomable blue from deep valleys of black forest. So high is this -summit that from it you look through the quivering miles of blue air -right down upon the mountains in the heart of whose ranges it stands -and see them reproduced in faithful miniature below, a relief map on -the scale of an inch to the mile. In the very middle of the mountain -world you see the mountains as the eagle sees them, and so isolated is -the peak that like the eagle you seem to swim in air as you watch. - -The black growth of spruce and fir climbs Carrigain from all -directions. Over from Hancock it swarms along the ridge from the -westward. From the Pemigewasset it sweeps upward, and from Carrigain -Notch it leaps twice, once to the round summit of Vose Spur, a clean -bound of almost two thousand feet, then on to another higher point, -and again to the mountain top. Up Signal Ridge from the east and south -it scales almost perpendicular heights for a mile, leaving only the -thin, dizzy edge of this spur bare and going on by the sides to the top -of the main mountain. The path to the summit makes its final assault -through this black growth to the knife edge of Signal Ridge by one of -the most desperately perpendicular climbs in the whole region. One or -two trails are steeper, a little, notably part of that from Crawford -Notch up Mount Willey, but none holds so grimly to its purpose of -uplifting the climber for so great a distance as does this. Four and a -half miles of pleasant journey in from the railroad station at Sawyer's -River, this mighty ascent begins a strong upward movement at the old -lumber camp known as "Camp 5." Thence for about two miles it goes up -in the air at a most prodigious angle, with no suggestion of let up -till the dismayed and gasping climber finally emerges on the knife edge -of the ridge summit and willingly forgives the mountain for all it has -done to him. If the climb had no more to give than just this outlook -from Signal Ridge it were worth all the heart failure and locomotor -ataxia it may have caused. - -Right under the onlooker's feet the north side of the ridge drops away -almost sheer to the deep gash in the mountain, which is Carrigain -Notch. Across the valley rises the sheer wall of Mount Lowell, with a -great, beetling cliff of red rock half way up intersected by a slide, -the whole looking as if giants had carved a huge, preposterous figure -of a flying bird there for a sign to all who pass. The summit of Lowell -is far below the observer's feet, and the whole mass is so small a -thing in the mighty outlook before him that it seems ridiculous to -call it a mountain. It is but an insignificant knob on the universe in -sight. - -[Illustration: "As if giants had carved a huge, preposterous figure of -a flying bird there for a sign to all who pass"] - -Over beyond its rounded summit rise others, little larger or more -significant, though each really a mountain of considerable size, each -part of the western wall of Crawford Notch, Anderson, Bemis and Nancy, -and beyond again the sight passes between Webster and Crawford, on and -up the broad expanse of Oakes Gulf to Washington itself. Here always is -bulk, magnificence and dignity, and between it and the nubbles which -mark the line of the southern peaks rises a glimpse of the northern, -Jefferson peering over Clay, but Adams and Madison withdrawn behind -the looming bulk of the summit cone of Washington. Between Washington -and Crawford runs the long Montalban Ridge with the Giant Stairs -conspicuous as always, but dwarfed to pigmy size in the great sweep of -the whole outlook. - -Easterly is a great jumble of the mountains south of Bartlett, Tremont -in the foreground and over that Bartlett-Haystack, Table with its flat -top, the peaked ridges of the Moats, and beyond them all the perfect -cone of Kearsarge on the eastern horizon. There is something of the -same feeling of supreme uplift to be felt on the summit of Kearsarge as -one gets on Carrigain, though in lesser degree. Kearsarge, too, is a -mountain that dwells somewhat apart from other mountains and gives the -climber the full benefit of this height and withdrawal. As the glance -swings to the southward again it stops in admiration on the blue wall -of the Sandwich Mountains, the great horn of Chocorua first arresting -the gaze. Here is a splendid outlook upon the full sweep of this great, -jagged range, Paugus, Passaconaway, Whiteface, Tripyramid and Sandwich -Dome, each rugged peak rising out of the blue mass of the whole, with -the green Albany intervales along the Swift River showing below their -foothills, and over it all, far to the south again, the low line which -is the smoke haze of cities, a brown brume behind the exquisite soft -blue of the uncorrupted mountain miles of air. - -At the bottom of a scintillant blue transparency of this air lies the -high valley between Signal Ridge and the Sandwich Range, a mountain -valley with no hint of green fields or farm steadings in it. Its green -is that of the rich full growth of leaves in deciduous treetops, -shadowed here and there by the point of a fir or a spruce, still -strangely standing, though the lumbermen have long since swept the -valley far and wide. Almost one may determine the exact height of spur -cliffs above the valley bottom by the line of black growth where it has -escaped the axe, not because axemen could not reach it, but because -horses could not be found to drag it to the valley after being cut. The -lumbermen put their horses in upon acclivities now that were thought to -be forever inaccessible twenty years ago, but there are still heights -they do not dare, and the lines beyond which they fail are marked -along all steep slopes by that dividing line between the green of -deciduous trees and the black of spruce. Seen from the great height of -this knife-edge ridge the valley is grotesque with its lifting crags -of rough cliff, so solidly built of rock that no green thing finds -a crevice in which to grow, or so steep as to defy any wind-borne -seed to find a lodging there. These rough rock cliffs have grotesque -resemblance to the shaggy heads of prehistoric animals of more than -gigantic size that seem to have been turned into stone where they lie, -their bodies half buried and concealed by the luxuriant growth of -forest that still surges round them. A lumber company is known by its -cut. The work done here seems to have been done with a certain feeling -of fair play to the forest, a desire to give it a chance to ultimately -recover. Westward, deeper into the heart of the wilderness, one sees -another record. - -To see the west one must climb beyond Signal Ridge. High as it is it -is but a spur of the main mountain that looms, spruce-clad, all along -the western sky, and the path rises steeply again through this spruce, -but not so steeply as it climbed the ridge. Midway of the half-mile -one finds the tiny log cabin of the fire warden of the mountain, -snuggled beneath the spruce behind the shoulder of the ultimate height. -Whatever this lone watcher on the mountain top is paid he earns, for -all furnishings for his tiny cabin, all supplies, even water, must be -packed on his back up the two miles of dizzy trail. - -On Carrigain's very top is a little bare spot surrounded by dwarf -spruce and fir over whose tops you may look upon the world around. The -dark tree walls of this roofless refuge ward off all winds, and the -full sunshine fills it to the top and seems to ooze thence through the -black growth and flow on down the mountain sides, which are so near -that a few steps in any direction takes you to a spruce-clad precipice. -Some mountain tops are broad and flat enough to form the foundation -for a farm, but not this one. It is a veritable peak. Signal Ridge is -a good deal of a knife edge. Here you have the edge prolonged into a -point. - -A step or two west out of this sun-filled spruce well of refuge on -the summit takes one to the finest view of all from this swimming -mountain top. Underfoot lies the broad wilderness valley of the -Pemigewasset, filled with what, from this point of view, are minor -nubbles, but which really are lesser mountains. Just to the right, far -below, is a whole string of three thousand-foot eminences, yet the -sight passes over them, almost without notice, to the magnificent gap -in rock walls, which is Zealand Notch. Almost due west is Owl's Head -and half-a-dozen lesser heights, but all these sink unnoticed below -the blue wall of solid mountain range which blocks the horizon above -them, the tremendous uplifted bulk of the Franconia Mountains. Not the -grandeur and dignity of Washington, lifting the sphinx's head from the -Presidential Range, not the jagged line of the Sandwich peaks cutting -with points of distance-blued steel the smoke opalescence of the far -southern sky, not the emerald marvels of all the low-lying ranges all -about, can compare in beauty or impressiveness with that mountain -mass of solid blue that walls the west across the rugged miles of the -Pemigewasset Valley. Its great mass of unblurred, undivided color holds -the eye for long and gives it rest again and again after wandering over -the thousand varied beauties of the surrounding landscape. Lafayette, -Lincoln, Haystack, Liberty are its famous peaks, which, however they -may seem upon nearer view, from the dizzy pinnacle of Carrigain, across -the broad wilderness of the Pemigewasset Valley, hardly notch the sky -that pales above that mighty wall of deep blue, that restful mass of -immensity, that unfathomable well of richest color that once looked -into holds the eye within its shadowy coolness for long and stays -forever in the memory. - -What a world of black-growth wilderness this vast Pemigewasset Valley -must once have been it is easy to see. What it will become in just a -few years more, alas! is too easy to be inferred. The modern lumberman -comes to his work equipped with all the vast resources of capital and -scientific machinery. In this region west of Carrigain, which still -holds a remnant of virgin growth of pine and spruce, where still -stand trees four or five feet in diameter at the butt, his logging -trains rumble down his railroad through the deep woods, summer as -well as winter. The sound of dynamite explosions scares bear and -deer as his road builders grade and level the roads down which his -armies of men and horses will haul the splendid timber as soon as -the snow flies. From Carrigain summit I see the long winding line of -his railroad, clear up to the western slopes of the mountains that -wall in Crawford's Notch. From the railroad to the right and the left -run the carefully graded logging roads, high up on the sides of the -surrounding mountains, branching, paralleling and giving the teams -every opportunity for careful, methodical work. - -Already over square miles of mountain sides you see the brown windrows -of slash left in the wake of his choppers, who have left literally -not one green thing. The black growth cut for the lumber and pulp -mills, the clothes-pin men and the makers of ribbon shoe pegs have -been in and taken the last standing scrub of hard wood. Mountain side -after mountain side in this region looks like a hayfield, the brown -stubble marked with those long, wavering windrows of slash. These -are the newly cut spaces. One winter's work took out of this region -over thirty million feet of pine and spruce alone. There is written -on the open book of the forest below Carrigain the story of the most -ruthless, clean-sweep lumbering that I have ever seen in any wood. You -may go down the Pemigewasset and see the slopes that have been cleaned -out thus over square mile after square mile of mountain side, four, -eight, twelve years ago, and, save for blueberries, blackberries and -wild cherry trees, they are as bare and desolate to-day as when first -logged. - -[Illustration: "Nor is this to be said in any scorn of the lumberman. -He bought the woods and is using them now for the purpose for which he -spent his money"] - -In a hundred years those slopes will not again bear forests; indeed, -I doubt if they ever will. Nor is this to be said in any scorn of the -lumberman. Pulp and lumber we must have. He bought the woods and is -using them now for the purpose for which he spent his money. The scorn -should rather be for a people who once knew no better and who, now that -their eyes are opened, still allow this priceless heritage of ancient -forest to be swept away forever. - -It is good to shift the eye and the thought from these bare patches to -the still remaining black growth. Fortunately some steeps still defy -the keenest logging-gang and some spruce will remain on these after -another ten years has swept the valley clean. On the high northern -slopes, well up toward the peaks, where the deer yard in winter, the -trees are too dwarf to tempt even the pulp men, who take timber that is -scorned by the sawmill folk. On the summit of Carrigain trees a hundred -years old and rapidly passing to death through the senile decay of -usnea moss and gray-green lichens are scarcely a dozen feet tall. Yet -as these pass the youngsters crowd thickly in to take their places -and grow cones and scatter seed, often when only a few feet high. In -these one sees a faint hope for the reforestation of the valley in the -distant future. There, after the clean sweep, we may allow fifty years -for blueberries and bird-cherries, a hundred more for beech, birch and -maple to grow and supply mould of the proper consistency from their -falling leaves in which spruce and fir seedlings will take root. After -that, if all works well, another hundred will see such a forest of -black growth as is going down the Pemigewasset daily now on the flat -cars of the logging railroad. - -Carrigain's peculiar birds seem to be the yellow-rumped warblers, at -least at this season of the year. They flitted continually through and -above the dwarf trees of the summits. There they had nested and brought -up their young, and now the whole families were coming together in -flocks and beginning to move about uneasily as the migration impulse -grows in them. All along the trail up Carrigain and back I found -this same spirit of movement in the birds. Two weeks ago they were -moulting and silent. Hardly a wing would be seen or a chirp heard in -the lonesome woods. Now all is motion in the bird world once more and -flashes of warbler colors light up the dark places with living light. -Among these black spruces the redstart seems to me loveliest of all. -No wonder the Cubans call him "candelita" when he comes to flit the -winter away beneath their palm trees. His black is so vivid that it -stands clearly defined in the deepest shadows and foiled upon it his -rich salmon-red flames like a wind-blown torch as he slips rapidly from -limb to limb, flaring his way through the densest and deepest wood. The -myrtle warblers were the birds of the summit, but the redstarts gave -sudden beauty to the slopes all along the lower portions of the trail. - -The sun was setting the deep turquoise blue of the Franconia Range in -flaming gold bands as I left the mountain top. The peak of Lafayette -was a point of fire. Garfield, just over the shoulder of Bond, was -another, and it seemed as if the two were heliographing one to another -from golden mirrors. But along the knife edge of Signal Ridge lay the -shadow of Carrigain summit and the dwarfed growth down the two miles -of steep descent was black indeed. Hardly could the sunlight touch me -again, for the trail lies in the eastward-cast shadow of Carrigain -all the way to Sawyer's River. The evening coolness brought out all -the rich scents of the forest, for here to the east of Carrigain the -deciduous growth makes forest still. From the heights the rich aroma of -the firs descended with me, picking up more subtle scents on the way. -Not far below the crest of Signal Ridge the mountain goldenrod begins -to glow beside the trail. Scattered with it is the lanceolate-leaved, -flutter-petalled Aster radula. These two lent to the aromatic air the -subtle, delicate pungency of the compositæ, and far below, in the -swampy spots at the foot of the declivity, the lovely, violet-purple -Aster novæ-angliæ added to it. Here in open spots beside the trail this -beautiful aster starred the gloom for rods, but yet it was not more -numerous than the rosy-tipped, white, podlike blooms of the turtle-head -that in the rich dusk glowed nebulously among them. Nowhere in the -world do I remember having seen so many turtle-head blooms at one time -as in the marshy spots along the trail leading toward Livermore and -Sawyer's River from the base of Signal Ridge. Their soft, delicate -perfume began to ride the fir aroma there, mingling curiously with the -scent of asters and goldenrod. Often I looked back for a glimpse of -the lofty peak I had left, but Carrigain is indeed a hermit mountain. -It had withdrawn into the heart of the hills which are its home, and -nothing westward showed save the rose-gold of the sunset sky which -hung from the zenith down into the gloom of the woods, a marvellous -background for the tracery of its topmost leaves. - - - - - XVI - - UP THE GIANT'S STAIRS - - _The Back Stairs Route up this Curious Mountain_ - - -My way to the Giant's Stairs lay over the high shoulder of Iron -Mountain, where the road shows you all the kingdoms of the mountain -world spread out below, bids you take them and worship it, which -perforce you do. Then it swings you down by a long drop curve into a -veritable forest of Arden, through which you tramp between great boles -of birch and beech for miles. Here long ago Orlando carved his initials -with those of Rosalind on the smooth bark of great beech trees and, I -doubt not, hung beside them love verses which made those pointed buds -open in spring before their time. Here came Rosalind to find and read -them, and carry them off treasured in her bodice, wherefore one finds -no traces of them at the present day. - -[Illustration: "My way to the Giant's Stairs lay over the high shoulder -of Iron Mountain, where the road shows you all the kingdoms of the -mountain world spread out below"] - -Yet the carven initials remain, as anyone who treads the road beneath -these ancient greenwood trees may see. Little underbrush is here and -no growth of spruce or fir, and one may look far down arcades of green -gloom where the flicker of sunlight through leaves may make him think -he sees glints of Rosalind's hair as she dances through the wood in -search of more poems. The long forest aisles bring snatches of joyous -song to the ear, nor may the listener say surely that this is Rosalind -and that a wood warbler, for both are in the forest, one as visible as -the other. The whole place glows with the golden glamour of romance, -and he who passes through it, bound for the Giant's Stairs, thrills -with the glow and knows that his path leads to a land of enchantments. - - * * * * * - -By and by the trail drops me down a sharp descent, and at the bottom I -find, close set with alders, a tiny clear stream which soon babbles out -from beneath the bushes into another of those forest aisles; and there -is a little house in the wood, so tiny and so picturesquely a part of -its surroundings that, though it purports to be a hunter's camp, I -know it at once for that little house which Peter Pan and the thrushes -built for Wendy. But the song of the brook, this Serpentine of the deep -woods, is a lonesome one, for the door of the little house is locked -and the shutters are up. If I remember rightly Wendy went away and -never came back, and Peter Pan is so rarely seen, now-a-days, that few -people really believe he is to be found at all. But at least here is -his house, on a tributary to Rocky Branch Creek, over northwest of Iron -Mountain. - -Out of the illusory gloom of the brook the path leaps with joy to the -clear sunlight of open fields and seems to stop at an old doorstone -behind which the ruins of a house still strive to shelter the cellar -over which they were built. Floors and sills are gone, boarding and -shingles and upright timbers have fallen, but still the oak pins hold -plates and rafters together, and the bare bones of a roof crouch above -the spot, so sturdy was the work of the pioneers that here hewed a home -out of the heart of a forest. Between this spot and civilization is now -only a logging road for miles, and the presence of these open, sunny -fields in the deep forest, and among rough hills, seems almost as much -an illusion as the echoes of the voice of Rosalind in the deep woodland -glades and the thrush-built house of Peter Pan by the brookside. But -here they stand in this cove of the mountains, field after field, still -holding out against the sweep of the forest that for half a century -has done its best to ride over them, still loyal to the dreams of -whose fabric they were once the very warp. The old highway, too, still -loiters from farm to farm, though the wood shades it and in places even -sends scouting parties of young trees out across it. The growing maples -push the top stones from the old stone walls, brambles hide the stone -heaps and fill cellar holes with living green. Yet still the apple -trees hold red-cheeked fruit to the sun from their thickets of unpruned -growth and scatter it in mellow circles on the ground for the deer -and the porcupine. The forest will in time make them its own. It will -shade out the European grasses that still grow knee deep and fill their -places with dainty cedar moss and the shy wild flowers of the deep -wood. Yet for all that the trail of the pioneers, the boundaries that -they set and the work of their hands will never be quite disestablished -on the spot. It will remain for long years to come a sunny footprint of -civilization, dented deep in the surrounding green of the wilderness. - - * * * * * - -Down one gladed terrace after another, from one farm to the next, -the old road goes, and the path, which seems to linger at the first -doorstone, slips finally away and follows between the ancient ruts. -Through gaps in the investing forest I look far down the Rocky Branch -Valley to the blue of Moat Mountain, a color so soft that it makes -the great mass but a haze of unreality to the perceiving senses. If a -wind from the west should come up and blow it away, or if some scene -shifter of the day should wind it up into the sky above, just a part of -a beautiful drop curtain, I should hardly be surprised. I do not care -to climb Moat, if indeed there be really such a mountain. All summer it -has hung thus, a soft haze of half reality, a mountain painted on some -portion of the view from whatever hill I climb, its contour changing so -little from whatever direction I view it that it seems what I prefer -always to keep it, the blue fabric of a half-wistful dream. So shall it -be more permanent and in time more real than many a higher summit, the -grind of whose granite has left its mark upon me. It is the unclimbed -peaks which are eternal. - -From the last terrace of the lowest farm the trail drops suddenly to -Rocky Branch, a tributary of the Saco which has its rise in a deep -angled ravine far up on the southerly slope of Mount Washington. Here -is a choice of ways, a good tote road, a logging railroad, and a broad, -graded logging road which the lumbermen are dynamiting through to the -last spruce of the valley, up at the headwaters of the branch. From -these highways broad logging roads give me a plain trail up the steep -Stairs Brook Valley to the bottom step in those mighty stairs. He who -would know what lumbermen can do in logging precipitous spots may well -look about him here. The ground rises at tremendous angles from the -ravine bottom to the foot of Stairs Mountain, and on, yet down these -precipices the woodsmen have brought their log-laden teams safely, -the sleds chained and the whole load lowered inch by inch by snubbing -lines. To note the spots into which men have worked is to have a vivid -impression of the value of spruce and the desperate lengths to which -men will go to get it now-a-days. - - * * * * * - -The Giant's Stairs are more in number than the two great ones that -appear to the eye from a long distance, either east or west. Northeast -of these a half mile or less is a side stair, as big and as steep as -the ones most commonly seen, and farther on around the mountain toward -the north are others. It was these back stairs that I climbed, all -because of a yellow-headed woodpecker that flew by the ruins of the -logging camp which are not far from the base of the side stair. I got -a glimpse of the yellow crown patch and of some white on the back or -wing bars, but whether it was the Arctic three-toed woodpecker or the -American I could not make out, and I followed his sharp cries and -jerky flight up the steep slope to the right of the side stairs. Here -was an astounding tangle of windrowed slash with many trees still -standing in it, and here for a long time I got near enough to my bird -to almost make sure which variety he was, but not quite. It is hard to -distinguish markings, even black and white, when a bird is high on a -limb against the vivid light of a mountain sky. It is easy to follow -along the parallel roads through which the logs have come down out -of the slash, but it is another matter to struggle from one road to -another across those mighty tangles, and thus my woodpecker led me. -Finally at the very top of the col between Stairs Mountain and its -outlying northeasterly spur he shrieked, quite like a soul in torment, -and flew away high over my head, straight toward the summit of Mount -Resolution, leaving me somewhat in doubt as to whether he was Picoides -Arcticus or Picoides Americanus, or a goblin scout sent out by the -giants to toll strangers away from the easier path up their mountain -and lose them in the wilderness tangle all about it. Whatever he was -he had led me some miles round the mountain to a point exactly opposite -to the good path up. - -The back stairs are formidable enough to dismay anyone with mere human -legs, and for some time I wandered in what the lumbermen have left of -a hackmatack swamp at their foot, looking for a way about the bottom -stair, for only Baron Munchausen's courier--he of the seven-league -boots--could have gone directly up it. It felt like being a mouse in -a mansion, and by and by I found a very mouse-like route up detached -boulders loosely held in place by spruce roots, scrambling up trunks -and clawing on with fingers and toes, in momentary fear of starting -an avalanche and becoming but a very small integral portion of it, -and I finally reached the top of the bottom back stair, which is by -all odds the highest, and sat down to get breath. At one scramble I -had left behind the woful tangle of slash and come into a country of -enchantment. Here a bear had passed the day before, leaving undeniable -signs. There was a deer path through the dense spruce showing recent -dents of their sharp, cloven hoofs, and all about and above was a -forest of black growth, in which it was easy to fancy no human foot -had ever trod, before I all-foured up into it, mouse fashion. Here -were trees not large enough to tempt the lumbermen, but old with moss -and gray-green lichens, casting so dense a shade that only mosses and -lichens could flourish beneath them. - - * * * * * - -Here was a soft carpet of dainty cedar moss, wonderfully fronded and -luxuriant, covering everything,--rocks, roots and the trunks of ancient -trees that had fallen one across another for unnumbered centuries. It -was like a miniature of the close-set tangle of downwood and growing -timber that one sees in the Puget Sound country. There for miles -one may make progress through the wood only by clambering along one -fallen trunk to the next, perhaps twenty feet in air. Here the fallen -trunks and growing trees were not one-tenth the size of the Pacific -coast giants, but the proportion and condition was the same. And so -up through this fairyland I scrambled and plunged, following a deer -path as best I might and longing for their sure-footed ability to leap -lightly over obstacles. I daresay my clattering plunges drove all -the deer off the mountain. At least I saw none, though their paths -intersected and their hoof-marks had dented them all recently. Stairs -Mountain is certainly the house of a thousand staircases. All through -my climb I found detached stairs scattered about, and the mountain -seems to be largely built of them, from a few feet to a few hundred -feet in height. - -And after all I came out, not at the top of the highest front stair, -but at the top of that side stair that looks directly down on the old -lumber camp. A half mile or less southeast of me were the front stairs, -and I had to go down an internal flight and climb again before reaching -their top, passing again through forest primeval criss-crossed by deer -paths. The yellow-headed woodpecker had given me a pretty scramble, but -I think it was worth it. - -[Illustration: "From the top tread of the Giant's Stairs one sees half -of the mountain world, the half to southward"] - -From a distance I had thought Stairs Mountain to be fractured slate. -Instead it is moulded granite. The edge of the tread on the topmost -stair is of a stone that seems as hard and dense as any that comes out -of the Quincy quarries. Yet still clinging to it in places are remnants -of a crumbly granite that seems once to have been poured over it and -cooled there in a friable mass. You may kick this overlying granite to -pieces with your hob-nailed mountain shoe, and I fancy once it filled -the gap between the topmost tread and the summit of Mount Resolution, -just to the south, and has been frost riddled and water worn away -leaving the solid granite of the stairs behind. - - * * * * * - -From the topmost of the Giant's Stairs one sees but half the mountain -world,--the half to southward. All the north is cut off by the -spruce-covered round of the summit behind him. Eastward was the great -bulk of Iron Mountain, over which I had come, its round top so far -below me that I could see the whole of the perfect cone of Kearsarge -over it. Directly south was the half bald dome of Resolution, and -just over it the equilateral pyramid of Chocorua dented the sky. -Wonderfully blue and far away it looked, and to its right was stretched -the varied sky-line of the whole Sandwich Range. To the right again was -a mighty wilderness of mountains, cones and billows and ranges massed -in together in almost inextricable confusion, though out of this rose -certain peaks one could not fail to recognize,--Carrigain, stately -and a bit apart in dignified reserve, and the great blue wall of the -Franconia Range, diminished by distance but beautiful and impressive -still. Almost at my feet, down the Crawford Notch, crept a train along -the thin, straight line of the railroad. A puff of white steam shot -upward from the engine whistling for the Frankenstein trestle, but it -was long before the shrill sound rose to my ears. Nothing could so well -emphasize the immensity of the prospect before me. I realized that the -brakeman was walking through the observation car shouting, "Giant's -Stairs! Giant's Stairs now on your left!" and that the mighty cliff on -whose verge I was perched seemed no more than a letter on the printed -page to the onlooking crowd. - -The way home lies down the west side of the mountain, the steep but -good Davis trail to and along the bottom of the lower stair, thence -to the west side of the ridge between Stairs Mountain and Mount -Resolution. Then a trail east, very slender but distinguishable, -goes to the broad highway of a logging road, and thence the descent, -though precipitous, is easy. The Stairs Mountain is so different -from anything else that one can find in this region that it has an -eerie individuality all its own. To look back as I went on down the -logging road was to see the stairs standing out against the glow of -the lowering sun, less like steps than gigantic rock faces. The lower -one particularly looked as if a giant himself, wild-eyed and bristly -haired, was lying behind the forest with his great head leaned against -the mighty granite cliff that towered above. And so I left him, waiting -doubtless to devour the next lone climber who, if he goes up the -front stairs, must pass directly in front of his jaws. For all that I -hesitate to advise the back stairs route to which the yellow-headed -woodpecker led me. It is rough--and chancey. - - - - - XVII - - ON MOUNT LAFAYETTE - - _Glimpses of Coming Autumn from Franconia's Highest Peak_ - - -Upon the highest mountain tops the winds of winter make their first -assaults upon the summer, driving it southward, peak by peak. In -September the skirmishes begin, and by the end of October the conquest -of the high peaks is complete, but meanwhile the outcome of the contest -is by no means sure, and day by day, sometimes hour by hour, the -redoubts are won and lost again. Mid-September sees the approaches to -the peaks fluttering gayly the banners of both chieftains, summer's -blue and gold in the asters and goldenrod, winter's crimson and gold -in the flare of maple and the glow of yellow birch. Thus I saw them -from the summit of Lafayette on a day when the forces of the north -met those of the south there and the long ridge was now in the hands -of one army, now of the other. Nor was it difficult to prophesy what -would be the outcome of the conflict. It seemed as if moment by moment -the yellow banners of winter, planted almost on the very summit in the -leaves of the dwarf birches, increased in number and crowded farther -down the slope and into the forests of the outlying spurs. Now and -then, too, the eye noted where a shell had exploded in a goldenrod -bloom, or so it seemed, and blown its summer banner out of existence in -a white puff of pappus smoke. So the wind out of the north drives the -summer away, though it rallies again and again and comes stealing up -the southerly valleys and along the sunny slopes to the very summits. - - * * * * * - -Near the high summits the birches show autumn tints first. These are of -the round-leafed variety of Betula glandulosa, which is peculiar to the -high peaks of the White Mountains. Very dwarf at best, on the highest -peaks they win as near the top as do the dwarf firs, yet at humiliating -expense of stature, becoming scarcely more than creeping vines at the -greatest heights, sending up doubtful branches out of the protection -of soft tundra moss. Up the higher slopes of Lafayette they thus grow, -crowding together in dense masses that now spread a velvety golden -carpet to the eye that looks upon them from the summit. Amidst the gray -and brown of ledges and the green of spruce and fir, which is so deep -that it is black, they glow by contrast and put the goldenrod of the -lower glades to shame with their color. No other deciduous trees reach -this height, and in looking at them in the early weeks in September -it is easy to believe that autumn comes down from the sky and first, -like jocund day, stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. On Lafayette -the color was richest near the top and paled into green as the glance -slipped farther and farther down toward the Pemigewasset Valley. - -Even by the middle of September the birches of the valleys show little -of the marvellous yellow that seems suddenly to come upon them a little -later. From the mountain-top they still hold the full green of summer -to the first glance, and only by looking again and more carefully can -one see that they have changed. Then, indeed, little cirrus clouds of -yellow mist them in places, rounding the low hilltops a little more -definitely against the more distant wood. To look again is to see -here and there the undeniable flaunt of a yellow banner, but from the -hilltops, that is all. To tramp the levels along the water-courses or -climb the lower slopes beneath deciduous trees is to see more, and to -learn that the autumn tints come by other routes than a descent upon -the summits. For weeks in the cool seclusion of the forest aisles the -ways have been lighted by yellow flares of birch or elm leaves and red -flashes of the swamp maple. Day by day now these increase in number, -and once in a mile the whole tree seems to have caught all the sunshine -of the summer in itself and to begin to let it glow forth in the -half-dusk of the woodland shadows. - - * * * * * - -In places it is as if autumn had set candles along these dusky -cloisters to light pilgrims to some shrine, and in many a hollow glade -one may think he has found the shrine itself,--an altar perhaps of -gray rock covered with a wonderful altar cloth of dainty cedar moss -all patterned with polypody ferns, and with a great birch candelabra -stretching protecting arms above it, all alight with a thousand candles -of yellow leaves. The heat of the September sun above, ray-filtered -by the feathery firs, is caught in these yellow leaves that hold back -the last of its fire and set the place about with a cool, holy glow, -an illumination that is like a presence before which one must bow down -in reverent adoration. After all it is not a defeat that has come to -the fiery forces of summer that have so well held the hills; it is a -conversion. - -[Illustration: "On the way the gray brow of Mount Cannon looks in -through the gaps in the foliage"] - -In the cloistered seclusion of the woods one knows this, and that -seclusion obtains for much of the four-mile climb to the summit of -Lafayette. Once or twice on the way the gray brow of Mount Cannon looks -in through gaps in the foliage, from its great height, seeming to lean -across the Notch and peer solemnly down from directly over head, so -narrow is this deep defile between two mighty mountains. A mile up and -the trail leans to a brief level, where it bridges the chasm between -the spur of the mountain which is Eagle Cliff and the main mass. Here -at a glimpse comes an idea of what happened when the mountains were -made. The whole Franconia Range, one thinks, must have come up out -of the hard-pressed levels of the earth in one great rock mass, from -which the foundations settled and let portions lean away and split off. -Here in the Eagle Cliff Notch is a great gap of the splitting, now -more than half filled with fragments of the rock which fell away in -enormous chunks when the action took place. Rocks the size of a city -block lie here roughly placed one upon another with caverns of unknown -depth made by the openings between them. Out of these caverns wells up -on the hottest days a cold that undoubtedly comes from ice that forms -in depths to which no man's eye has penetrated, and that remains the -year through. The clinging of gray lichens upon these rocks has made -roothold for the dainty cedar moss which makes them green and holds -moisture in turn for the roots of firs that grow from the very rocks -and fill their gaps with forest. Here where once was titanic motion is -now titanic rest, and out of summer sun from above and winter coolness -from below wild flowers build tender petals and distil perfumes the -brief season through, asters and goldenrod lingering still in the -crannied wall, the cool airs that made them late in blooming equally -delaying their passing. In this green gap in the gray granite summer's -conversion is long delayed, though winter waits just below her flowers -the whole season through. - - * * * * * - -More than a mile the path again climbs steeply through closely set -evergreens, in whose perpetual shade the moist mosses are knee deep -above all rocks and fallen timber. Nowhere can one see better the value -of spruce and fir growth on mountain sides in the preservation of the -mountains themselves. Beneath this everlasting cushion of wet moss, -re-enforced by roots, each rock lies in place and nothing short of an -avalanche can stir it. Where the path has let in the sunlight on the -moss the torrents have stripped it clean from the surface and frost -and storm year by year gully the opening deeper. It is astounding, -this sponge of moss that climbs to the top with the path, sphagnums -and dainty cedar moss predominating, but seemingly all other varieties -intermingled as well. - -And at the top one finds how persistent in its withdrawal the summit -of a great mountain like Lafayette can be. This is only the top of a -westerly spur, a far greater chunk than Eagle Cliff, but only a chunk -of the main mountain, that also broke off when the foundations of the -range settled. Strange to relate, the ravine that lies between is -choked, not with mighty rocks, but with a level that has for a surface -at least a boggy space in which lie two sheets of water,--the Eagle -Lakes, 4146 feet in elevation. This is no summit; rather it is another -notch, and the peak of Lafayette lies more than a thousand feet farther -on into the blue. - -A little above this point the firs cease and the moss with them. The -rest of the way lies over broken stone that has crumbled from rough -ledges unrestricted by any mossy protection. In the gravel ground from -it grow some stunted firs, some very dwarf birches and scattered wild -flowers, but the way to the summit lies for all that through a desert. -From its jagged agglomeration of rocks, scattered on ledges that -still hold to the main mass of rock which is the mountain, one looks -north or south along a great rocky ridge which is the crest of the -Franconia Range. North lie the great outlying spurs and buttresses of -Lafayette, leading across a high col to Garfield, which sticks a bare -rock pinnacle skyward. Southward a well-worn path lies along the ridge -to Lincoln, Haystack, Liberty and Flume, each just a rise in the crest -which lies along the ponderous bulk of really one mountain. Garfield -is in a certain measure off by itself, but these others are all merely -pinnacles of one great structure, Lafayette being the highest. Here -as on the Presidential Range one finds Alpine plants, conspicuously -the tiny mountain sandwort, so constant a bloomer as to show its white -flowers still in mid-September. With this, but no others in bloom, were -the three-toothed cinquefoil, the mountain avens, mountain cranberry, -mountain goldenrod, bilberry and Labrador tea, all to be seen on the -final crest which is Lafayette's summit. - -A north wind out of a clear sky had blown at the start of my trip, but -as if to prove that its day was not yet over, the wind out of the south -came over the long barren ridge, bringing butterflies in its train. -For a time the two winds seemed to meet at the very mountain top, -and a yellow Colias, that was the first to come, caught between the -two, coasted upward and disappeared toward the zenith as if even the -summit of Lafayette were not high enough for him. Later, when the south -wind had fairly driven that from the north back toward the Canadian -boundary, I saw several of these, which I took to be Colias philodice, -the common sulphur, flitting about the summit, their yellow pale and -clear compared with that of the autumn-tinted birches just down the -slope. Two mourning cloaks, a Compton tortoise and a Grapta progne, -made up the list of other butterflies seen. Summer was doing well to -be able to show even these so late in September on so high a summit -as Lafayette. I looked curiously for the little gray Oeneis semidea, -the White Mountain butterfly which is so common in earlier summer on -the Presidential Range and said to be confined to it, but I did not -see it. Perhaps this variety is not to be found on Lafayette, though -the altitude is sufficient, the food plants are there, and the same -geological conditions which left this variety "islanded" on Washington -no doubt apply. - - * * * * * - -The south wind which brought up the butterflies and which pushed the -north wind back brought up also a gray haze which swept in like a sea -turn. It blotted out the Ossipee Mountains and the little Squam Range. -For a time the Sandwich peaks stood out, deep blue against its pale -blue blur, then they melted into it and were gone. It came on and took -Tecumseh, Osceola and Kancamagus. Kineo, Cushman and Moosilauke were -drowned in it one after another, but still to the eastward Carrigain -and Hancock showed, and below them the broad Pemigewasset Valley was -spread out like a map. Almost at my feet was the broad swath of ruin -which past years of lumbering have cut in this once beautiful valley -of primeval forest. For miles down the western slope of the Franconia -Range and beyond all valleys are bare and all slopes that the utmost -daring can climb are denuded. On mile after mile, save for, in spots, -a pale undergrowth of blueberry and wild cherry, only dead birches -stand, stretching bare white bones to the sky in ghostly appeal. -Islanded in it here and there are peaks and ridges still beautiful in -deep-green evergreens, with just a misty touch of the tender yellow of -autumn-tinted birches, wood too small or too dangerously set to tempt -the axe. The rest is desert; dignified, haughty even in the mighty -uplift of its long slopes and bare gray crags, but desert for all that. - -It is a relief to turn the eye from this to the rich green of the -unscathed slopes of the Notch itself. A thin blue line of air between -Eagle Cliff and Mount Cannon shows the narrow passage where the -mountains split apart, perhaps to let man and the streams go through. -Over the way lies Moran Lake, a blue gem among the green ridges of -Cannon. At my feet, so near it seems, is the round eye of Echo Lake, -which is at the bottom of the Notch, but seems almost as near as the -larger Eagle Lake, which is but a thousand feet below, far up on the -side of the mountain. All about are bold, bare cliffs showing through -the green, but their bareness is that of nature, and the deep green -around them grows, forgetful of the axe, which for many long years has -not been laid at their roots, perhaps never will be again. Southerly -the Pemigewasset Valley opened far to the villages of Woodstock and on -to Plymouth, but even as I looked the pale blue haze blotted them out -and swept on up the valley. The south wind was getting into a passion, -bringing clouds behind and above the haze, putting out the sun and -growling in gray gusts about the summit. It shouted threats in my ears -and shook me as I went down the zig-zag trail to the shelter of the -firs about the nearer Eagle Lake. Then it lulled and dropped a tear or -two of warm rain as if ashamed of itself. - -[Illustration: Profile Lake, Franconia Notch, and Mount Lafayette from -Bald Mountain] - -Star Lake, on Mount Madison, is but a puddle among the bare, -slatey-coherent rocks of the Northern Peaks. The Lakes of the Clouds -are real lakes, beautifully set, but barren in themselves, their -shallow rocky bottoms allowing no growth of water-plants. Spaulding -Lake at the head of the Great Gulf on Washington and Hermit Lake at -the bottom of the Tuckerman Ravine are singularly alike, shallow, -transparent, barren and beautifully set among spiring firs and spruces, -each in the heart of a mighty gorge. But here, way up on the high -shoulder of Lafayette, where one would think no lake could possibly -be, is a little one in a brown bog,--a bog in which the mountain -cranberry sets its deep red fruit to the sun and the snowberry scatters -its pearls all over the maroon carpet of the sphagnum. Curiously -beautiful fruit, that of the creeping snowberry. Here is a cranberry -vine grown slender and with tiny leaves fringing it most delicately. -Here at its tip is an elongated checkerberry, waxy, almost transparent -white, with an odor of checkerberry, a pleasantly acid pulp that -reminds one of cranberry and an after-flavor of checkerberry also. If -there were prehistoric wizards in plant-breeding in these mountains, -surely one must have cross-fertilized the cranberry with the pollen -of the checkerberry to the producing of this shy, delicate, hardy -and altogether lovely fruit. To this antediluvian Burbank it may be -that the Old Man of the Mountain is a statue, erected by a grateful -posterity in the Notch below. - - * * * * * - -In the lake itself grows the tape grass, stretching its straw-yellow -ribbons along the surface and curiously ripening its knobby fruit -under water. With it in scattered groups was the yellow pond-lily, -its broad, ovate leaves floating and turning up their edges to the -gusts of the south wind that swung in over the corner of the mountain. -Strange indeed these familiar water plants looked in this little tarn -swung more than four thousand feet in air on the shoulder of so mighty -a mountain. All other mountain lakes at such heights had seemed weird -to me in the crystalline barrenness of their purity. This one with its -boggy shore, its mud and its homely water weeds was so friendlily -familiar that I lingered long on its banks. The southerly wind had -massed its clouds high above the Notch, and in their shadow the dusk of -early nightfall was on the path and deep in the woods on my way down. -Yet in the bottom of the deep defile between Lafayette and Cannon I -saw the north wind again pressing on to victory, scattering the clouds -above Mount Cannon and letting the sunset light through far over its -northerly slopes. The nimbus broke into cumulus clouds, and these to -fluffs of cirrus that showed at first an angry red. Then this softened -to pink and finally dimpled into miles of gold between which the depths -of the sky showed a pure blue of forgiveness such as can be found in -heaven only when one looks up into it from the bottom of a deep like -that of Profile Notch. Not in flowers or gems or in the pure eyes of -children can be found such a blue as the Franconia sky showed, out of -which night and deep peace settled like a benediction on the mountains. - - - - - XVIII - - A MOUNTAIN FARM - - _One on Wildcat Mountain the Highest Ever Cleared in New England_ - - -Last night the north wind died of its own cold among the high peaks and -black frost bit deep down in the valley meadows, killing all tender -herbage. Then morning broke in a sky of crystal clarity, of a blue as -pure and cool as the hope of Heaven in the heart of a Puritan, through -miles of which all objects showed as if through a lens. From the ledges -of Wildcat Mountain I looked over to the summit of Mount Washington, -whose details were so plain that the five trains that came up were -visible to the naked eye, and with glass I could see the people flow -from them in a slow black stream, its tide flecked with the flotsam of -fall millinery. So still was the air upon the summit that from each -engine as it came in sight over the ridge stood high and straight a -cloudy pillar of mingled smoke and steam. The Israelites who of old -were thus led through the wilderness to the promised land could have -had no more visible guide. Slowly to the mountain rim sank the frosted -fragment of the once round and yellow moon, a wan, gray ghost seeking -obliteration in the grayer ledges of the summit cone. - -On these gray ledges of the cone the scant herbage of the summer clung -in flowing, warm, tan-brown streaks drifting down as snow does from -the summit, but coloring only perhaps a twentieth part of the surface. -All else was the gray of the rock, softened by distance into a cool -delight to the eye. Lower the Alpine Garden slants toward the ravines, -black in patches with dwarf firs, soft green in others where in moist -hollows the grasses and moss still grow, but for the most part showing -the olive yellow of autumn-tinted tundra. Only below this, where the -garden drops off steeply to the slope between Tuckerman and Huntington -ravines, was the rich yellow of the dwarf birches to be seen, here a -clear sweep of color, lower still mottled with the black growth of -spruce and fir. - -There was never a flame of rock maple in sight on all the visible slope -of the big mountain, but below, in the middle distance of a slope up -to Slide Peak, below the boulder and from there down into Pinkham -Notch, they flared, one after another, ending in a blazing group whose -conflagration was stabbed by the points of the firs on the near slope -of Wildcat. - - * * * * * - -Such beauties as these the mountains set daily before the eyes of the -man who hewed out the highest farm in New England, a century or less -ago, on the high shoulder of a westerly spur of Wildcat Mountain. Few -New Englanders are farmers now. In the eighteenth century most of them -were, and the tide of young men who had the courage and the brawn to -build farms in the wilderness rose high in the New Hampshire hills. -The river-bottom lands were taken up, then the lower valleys, then -the higher slopes, and finally, as the nineteenth century grew, the -ultimate pioneers landed on the very shoulders of the White Mountains. -Up the valley of the Wildcat River climbed the Fernalds, the Hayeses, -the Wilsons, the Meserves, Wentworths, Johnsons and half a dozen other -pioneer families, each hewing out of the terrific timber and grubbing -out of the grim rocks with infinite labor the fields that to this day -smile up to the sun. - -[Illustration: "Such beauties as these the mountains set daily before -the eyes of the man who hewed out the highest farm in New England on -the high shoulder of a westerly spur of Wildcat Mountain"] - -Hall, the traditions have it, was the name of the highest-minded -pioneer, who set his farm on a spur of Wildcat, 2500 feet above the -sea level. He is said to have been an educated man, born far down -the State and educated in college. Tradition has it, too, that he -was a poor farmer, which is what tradition always says of college -men who farm. However that may be, he certainly was a worker. On his -farm acre after acre of mighty trees crashed to the ground in the -wine-sweet mountain air and went up again in the pungent smoke of the -"burns," whereby the first settlers cleared their ground and made -ready for their primitive first plantings. Gray ledges and black soil -inextricably intermingled drop down his farm from terrace to terrace -toward the Wildcat River, and on the highest of these stood his house. -Its foundations only remain to-day, showing the vast square occupied -by the central chimney. Around the foundations of this the cellar -lingers, narrow and apologetic. The rooms above even must have been -rather crowded by this leviathan chimney, four-squared to the world and -with a big fireplace on each side. We are apt to think of the houses of -the early mountaineers as being cold in winter, but this one need never -have been. That great bulk of enclosed chimney once warmed through -would hold the heat in its stone heart for hours, and the wood for its -reheating was so plentiful as to be in the way. - -From his door sill to the south the pioneer's family looked forth upon -the sweet curves of the Wildcat River valley at their very feet. From -the shoaling green of the sea of air beneath them it deepens into a -richer and softer blue as mile runs beyond mile to the spot where Thorn -and Iron mountains slope toward one another to a broad notch through -which the glance runs on down the Saco to the horizon line where the -Ossipee Mountains melt and mingle with the blue of the sky. Thorn -Mountain blocks the lower end of the Wildcat Valley, in which the -pioneer saw from his doorstone more farms than I see to-day. Down the -slope of Wildcat beneath him a half-dozen since his time have passed -to the slumber of pasture or on to the complete oblivion of returning -forest. Over on Black Mountain now unoccupied were as many more. But -the view in the main is the same as he saw on clear September days, nor -need one think he or any other mountain farmer was or is insensible to -the beauty of it. You rarely get one to talk much about it--they all -know how poor things words are--but they feel the joy of it for all -that. - - * * * * * - -From the northern edge of Hall's topmost terrace I look forth across a -wide gulf of crystalline air to the rough slopes and ridges of Wildcat -and Carter mountains. The middle of September is past and autumn is -setting the seal of her colors deeper and deeper on the high hills. -Both mountains have a saddle blanket, so to speak, of green-black dwarf -firs, but each of these is decorated with a misty featherstitching of -yellow birch leaves. Below each blanket is a ridge up and down which -fire swept some years ago. On these ridges great birches, all dead, -stand so close together that their trunks line it with perpendicular, -parallel scratches of gray, all cross-hatched with a netting of limbs -that soften the whole into a wonderful warm tone. In the greatest -distance these scratches blend into a fur that is softer and more -beautiful than any ever brought into the markets of civilization by the -Hudson Bay Company. Other winter pelts that the mountains wear may be -warmer, but none can vie with this in the delight of its coloration. - -Down the ridge again the birches thin out and, all among them and -below, the bird cherry trees paint the slope a soft cerise, a color -that in the distance is but a neutral one, a background for the rich -hues of the rock maples that climb into it from the ravines. Not all -these have felt the flare of autumn in their blood. Many seem to ride -toward the summit in Lincoln green. The outcry of beagles should be -just ahead of them. But more have added a scarlet facing to their -hunting coats, and some others are fairly aflame with the richest tint -that any autumn leaf can get, the flaming crimson of the rock-maple -foliage ripened under a full sun where mountain brooks soak a primal -vigor from the granite and send it upward into white cambium layers -all summer long. The twenty-fifth of September finds the hillsides -displaying the autumn hunting colors for all who follow the hounds. The -very sight of them sets the blood a-gallop and brings the view-halloo -to the lips of the most sedate. - -All along the horizon to the east of this highest farm stretches the -green wall of Black Mountain. In the pioneer's day no doubt it deserved -its descriptive title for the spruce growth which clothed it, but on -the easy slopes this did not last so long as the pioneer, and the green -of deciduous trees which has replaced it belies the mountain's name. -So high is this wall of green hill that only Doublehead peers over it, -and that by way of a gap in the ridge, a little of the purple haze -of distance setting it apart lest one take it for a part of the same -mountain. But I fancy the gaze of the pioneer passing oftenest a little -to the west of south, passing the smiling beauty of the valley and the -stately cone of Kearsarge, to the summit of Iron Mountain, where to -this day one may see the broad cultivated fields of what I believe -to be the next highest farm in New England, and one still occupied by -descendants of the pioneers that hewed it out on a broad terrace not -far below the summit. This is the Hayes farm, and it is a singular fact -that while, according to the surveys, the Hayes farm is many hundred -feet below this site of the ancient Hall homestead, and looks it, on -the contrary one looking across from the Hayes farm thinks himself -several hundred feet above it. In the same way Hall could look across -to the Gerrish farm on Thorn Mountain and would surely know that it -was far below him. Yet on the Gerrish place, looking across to Hall's -fields, I always feel sure that the Gerrish place is much the higher. -As a matter of fact, a contour map places Hall's house six hundred feet -higher in the air than that of Hayes and eight hundred higher than -Gerrish. In so much at least was the college-bred farmer superior to -his good neighbors of other mountain tops. - - * * * * * - -Farther westward the highest farmer looked in his day as one does now -upon an unbroken wilderness where the Giant Stairs break the long -levels of the Montalban Range and stand blue-black against the gold of -the sunset. Only on the north and northwest was his view broken by the -highest points of Wildcat Mountain, which sheltered him completely from -the sweep of the winter winds. It is now, as it was then, a wood-lot, -and from it the forest steadily moves down into the open spaces of this -highest New England farm. The firs and spruces sit about in it now -in groups, reminding one of dark-plumed aborigines that seem to have -come back and to be holding councils once more in this clearing of the -pale-face. The unmown grass stands deep all about these encroaching -forest trees and, lacking the care of the farmer, has cured itself -and waits in vain to be harvested, while all through it the sunlight -silvers the dry white panicles of the everlasting, the only flower -of the season on these terraced fields which so steadily and surely -drift back to be again the forest from which the college-bred pioneer -with such labor reclaimed them. There is a pungent aroma of old herb -gardens about this silvery everlasting, though it is essentially a -wild flower, that seems to bear dreams of the pioneer grandmothers of -the lovely Wildcat Valley. It is as if in the bright September sun they -came back with silvery hair and white kerchiefs and caps, for one more -stroll in the pleasant fields and one more look at the beautiful valley -below, a landscape than which none in New England is more beautiful. - -The nasal twittering of red-breasted nuthatches led me up the hill -above the highest cleared terrace into the forest that from its -multiplicity of fascinating wood roads gives evidence of having always -been the farm wood-lot. The pioneer should certainly have loved this -hill. It sheltered him on all parts of his farm from the bite of winter -winds out of the northwest. Out of its deep heart it gave him water -that he had but to allow to run to his buildings, and from its top the -wood which he cut would coast down grade to his fireplace. An hour -before it had been a silent forest filled with a yellow underglow of -sunlight, doubly distilled from the ripening leaves of white and yellow -birch. Now, in a moment it was filled with quaint twittering and -snatches of eerie song. With the nuthatches came chickadees, and the -red-breasted ones sang in part their song, at least an eerie imitation -of it such as only nuthatches could make. The nuthatches are the goblin -acrobats of the deep wood. Gravity may exist where they perform, but -it does not trouble them. They walk with utter disregard to it, and in -their evolutions I expect any day to see one fly upside down, and, if -I were mean enough to shoot one, I would as soon expect him to fall -up into the sky as to fall down to the ground. Nor would I be much -surprised if he hung like Mahomet's coffin, suspended between heaven -and earth. If brownies ever try to blow the notes of the chickadee's -song on tiny tin trumpets, ranged in Palmer Cox rows on mossy tree -trunks, they no doubt get the same result that the red-breasted -nuthatches did that day in the wood-lot of the highest farm in New -England. - - * * * * * - -Beside this they sang little twittering ditties that were quite musical -and altogether uncanny as well, and seemed to fill the golden woodland -aisles with all sorts of suggestions of goblin adventures to be found -there. Between me and the deep heart of the Carter-Moriah range was -unbroken wilderness out of which might well come any of the phantoms -the Pequawkets were wont to declare they saw there. Climbing steadily -toward the top of the long ridge which swings round from the old farm -to the summit of Wildcat I thought I heard the footsteps of that great -white moose that breathed fire from his nostrils and turned back all -arrows before they reached him. Nearing the top I knew I heard him--or -something just as good--an irregular stamping which I stealthily -approached from behind the screen of gray tree trunks and golden forest -leaves. - -Almost at the top I could see the shaking of boughs from which the -creature was browsing, and to me, approaching from below and with the -elfin incantations of the nuthatches still in my ears, these seemed -very high in air. Some creature of prodigious size was just beyond -and in a moment more a turn of a rock corner revealed part of him. A -long, lean, white neck I saw, and a head stretching high up to a maple -limb whence prehensile lips plucked pink-cheeked leaves. Its mouth -full the creature turned a long face toward me and neighed, and the -forest aisles echoed the spluttering whinny in tones full as uncanny -in their laughter as had been those of the nuthatches; also vastly -louder. Somebody's old white horse looked at me with a mild curiosity -as I tramped up to him on this ridge of the Wildcat wilderness, and at -sight of him the spectral moose vanished into the past century, there -to remain with the Indians who claimed to have seen him. - -Spectral enough the old horse looked here in the deep shadows of the -wood. He had "yarded" on the hilltop much as deer do in winter. I found -well-worn trails of his, leading hither and thither on the ridge, but -none going away from it, and, under the shade of a beech, in what had -tried to be a thick bed of spinulose wood ferns, was evidently his -nightly bed. He had worn the earth bare in his clumsy getting up and -lying down. Far down the terraces of the old farm in sunny glades were -pastured other horses and cattle. There they stayed, for the feed was -good and water near, and they loved the sight of the lower pasture -bars that will later let them out to the road to stalls of which they -dream. But here was a finer soul than these, a hermit that preferred -the cool fragrance of wood fern and the unmolested quiet of his wooded -hilltop, from the loopholes of whose retreat he might look upon the -world. I fancy him the best horse of the herd. - - * * * * * - -Now and then you find a man like that, and I dare say such an one was -the maker of the old farm. As I came down again into his highest field -the sun was sinking behind Boott's Spur and cool blue shadows stretched -out across the low, sweet curves of the Wildcat River valley. Against -them the pale smoke of supper fires rose lazily and far over from the -gorge below Carter Notch floated the hush of falling waters. The blue -of the mountains to southward deepened and only on their summits sat -the rose of sunset fire. Behind me in the wood was now no sound of -nuthatches, but a single robin sat in a treetop and sang softly, as -if to himself. On such a scene of peace and unsurpassed beauty it is -easy to fancy the college-bred pioneer looking at nightfall and finding -it good. If his descendants descended through the pasture bars to be -stall-fed in cities, so much the worse for them. - - - - - XIX - - SUMMER'S FAREWELL - - _The Blaze of Its Adieu to Mount Washington_ - - -Summer lingers yet just south of Mount Washington and, though often -frowned away, as often returns to say good-bye, "parting is such sweet -sorrow." Already there have been days when the frown was deep, when -the hoar frost on the summit clung as white as snow in the sun and -refused to melt even on the southerly slopes, when at night the cold of -winter bit deep and the Lakes of the Clouds shone wan in the morning -light under a coating of new, black ice. Then summer has come back, -dissolving the repentant frost into tears at a touch of warm lips, -bending and quivering over the great gray dome of the summit until, -approaching from peaks to the southward, I have seen her presence -surround all in a shimmering enfolding of loving radiance. - -From the high ridge of Boott's Spur I saw it thus, slipping back -myself to say good-bye, of a day in late September. From no point in -the mountains does one get a finer impression of the massive dignity of -Washington summit than from this. The Spur is itself no mean mountain, -rising with precipitous abruptness from between Tuckerman Ravine -and the Gulf of Slides, bounding in rounding, thousand-foot ledges -from Pinkham Notch to a height of more than 5500 feet; it lifts the -persistent climber to a veritable mizzen-top whence he looks still -upward to the main truck of the summit, with the wonderful rock rift of -Tuckerman Ravine between, dropping out of sight behind sheer cliffs at -his feet. On such an autumn day there is a mighty exhilaration in thus -floating in blue sky on such a pinnacle. The body is conscious that the -spirit within it steps forth from peak to peak into limitless space -and is ready to shout with the joy of it. Indian summer, which does -not come down to the sea-coast levels for another month, touches the -high ranges now, and under its magic they remember spring. It paints -the brown grasses, the sedges and the leaves of the three-toothed -cinquefoil which scantily streak the cone of Washington, with a purple -tint, and the gray rocks themselves ripen like grapes with a soft blue -bloom in all shadows. - -To me the finest of the four trails which lead to the summit of Boott's -Spur is that which comes up from Pinkham Notch by way of the Glen -boulder. Its start is through a forest primeval. The lumbermen have -taken the spruce, to be sure, but here are birches along the footpath -that may have been growing when Darby Field first came this way to -the summit of Washington with his two Indians. It may be not. Birches -are quick-growing trees, yet here are some that are almost three feet -in diameter, having the great solid trunks and shaggy, scant heads -of foliage which are characteristic of trees that reach maturity in -a forest before it knows the axe. Whatever the trials of the trail -it is worth while to climb among such trees as these. It is a steep -trail, in ledgy spots, and it soon leads to slopes where the axe has -not followed the spruce, on to a growth which the axe scorns, and on -again to a dwarf tangle of firs that are hardly to be passed without -the cutting of a canyon. Not in the mangroves of Gulf swamps nor in -the rhododendron "slicks" of the southern Appalachians can a traveller -find a more determinedly dense impediment to his passage than in these -mountain firs where they dwindle to chin height and interlace their -century-old stubs of branches. Farther up they shorten into a knee-deep -carpet which hardly delays the passage, and from these emerges the -great cliff on whose verge hangs "the boulder." - - * * * * * - -He who does not believe that "there were giants in those days," that -they fought on the Presidential Range, and that the head of one, cut -off and petrified with fear, rolled down to this spot where it quite -miraculously stopped, has probably never seen the boulder from the -ledge about north of its point of poise. There it looks all these -things. It has a George Washington nose, a Booker Washington chin, and -the low forehead of the cave man. It has even an ear, plugged with a -bluish, slaty rock quite different from the brown sandstone of which -the whole is composed, as this is quite different from the various -rocks of the ledges round about. Motorists driving up the Glen road -can see the boulder ahead of them outlined against the sky. It looks -from that point as if it might roll down and stop the car at any time. -But if it looks insecure in its position to motorists in the highway, -to the Alpinist who stands beside it this appearance of instability is -startling. Jocund day never poised more on tiptoe on the misty mountain -top than does this big rock head on the verge of the cliff. I, for one, -dislike to go directly below it. Some day it is going to roll on down -the mountain and that might be the day. - -In the clearness of the autumn air all the forest of Pinkham Notch and -its approaches lay far below my feet. The world below was a Scotch -plaid of equally proportioned crimson and green with a finer stripe -of rich yellow. Every maple is at the height of its flame, but the -birches of the valley still hold much of their green, at least from -above. Below them in the forest one walks as if at the bottom of a sea -of golden light in which flecks of other color fall or spring into view -at each new turn of the path. The hay-scented ferns are almost as white -as the bark of the canoe birches. The brakes are a golden brown, and -all the under-forest world is yellow with the leaves of all varieties -of birch. Only the withe-rod sets splotches of maroon in its great -oval leaves, and shows among them its deep blue of clustered berries. -But none of this reaches my eye as I sit high in air above it. Thence -the world below is a Scotch plaid, out of which the roar of Glen Ellis -Falls rises, the falls themselves completely hidden within the plaid. - -[Illustration: "The Glen Boulder has a George Washington nose, a Booker -Washington chin, and the low forehead of the cave man"] - - * * * * * - -More and more of the under-world of birch yellow comes to the surface -as the trees climb the hill till at the last they spread a golden mist -of color wonderful to behold. At certain portions of the slope the -firs begin again and go on up the hill with the birches, slender and -beautiful, aspiring and inspiring, and even along among the bleak rocks -they creep, soft green mats of spreading limbs, flecked here and there -with the yellow of creeping birches and the maroon of low blueberries, -all this patterned among the exquisite lichen-grays of the rocks. All -the southerly ridge beyond the boulder is a rolling smoke of these -golden birch tops pricked through with the green-black spires of spruce -and fir, nor has any slope on any mountain more beauty to offer to the -eye on this day in late September when the air is like a crystal lens -through which one looks into unmeasured distances and sees clearly. - -Behind the boulder, terrace by terrace, the mountain rises to the top -of Slide Peak, whence one may see the magic of the air lenses change -this mingling of vivid colors to a blend which is a rich violet and -loses its red as the distance grows greater till it ends on the far -horizon in a pure blue that seems born of the very sky itself, and to -sleep in its arms. With it the eye floats over the ranges that rim -the horizon half around, touching and soaring from Wildcat and Black -on to Baldface and on again to be lost in the maze of hills that ride -eastward into the dim distance of the State of Maine. More to the -southward Doublehead lifts his twin peaks in massive dignity and over -Thorn is Kearsarge, almost airy in the contrast of its perfect cone. On -again southeast and south flash lakes, Silver and Conway and Ossipee, -Lovell's Pond and in the far distance Sebago, lighting the softest -blue toward a haze that one suspects is the sea. Due south between -peak after peak, between Paugus and Chocorua and through a gap in the -Ossipee Range lie the waters of Winnipesaukee, shining beneath the -noonday sun. - - * * * * * - -The Gulf of Slides beneath my feet was a vast bowl of russet gold -decorated with Chinese patterns of deep green. In its very bottom I saw -a black stream rounding the edge of a level open meadow where the deep -grass had been trodden into paths by the passing deer. All round about -it the spruce and firs set a bristling wall of pointed tops, and the -quivering air that filled the bowl to the brim was obviously a liquid. -I could see it flow up and over the ridge toward the summit of Boott's -Spur, and as if to prove that it did so a red-tailed hawk flapped up -from the firs that surround the little meadow, caught the updrift of -this southerly breeze and soared on it in easy spirals to a point just -above the ridge. Here he caught another current that came up the Rocky -Branch Valley, a breeze resinous with the last big area of spruce in -sight from the summits near Mount Washington, pungent with the smoke of -the great woodcutter camps in its midst, and soared on up Boott's Spur. -And as he did so the sun flashed back in white fire from a point in a -ledge of the Spur overhanging the Gulf of Slides. - -Somewhere in the highest hills hung once the great carbuncle whose -fame led many early settlers to dare disaster in mountain searches -for precious gems. Tradition has it that the great gem vanished from -its matrix long ago. Perhaps it did. But something flashes white fire -from a high cliff on the Spur to the eye of him who gets the sun at -just the right angle from Slide Peak. The carbuncle may be there yet. -Certainly the ridge that leads up from the boulder is rich in matrices -for gems. Out through its granite burst veins of sparkling quartz, -dazzling white, pink and green. Imbedded in this quartz are great -crystals of silvery mica and smaller ones of black tourmaline. There -are spots along the trail that glitter like a Bowery jeweller's window. -This profusion of gemlike stones is to be found all along the way to -the high ridge of Boott's Spur and make it doubly fascinating. If the -great carbuncle ever really hung high in the mountains I fancy it is -still not far from this neighborhood. Very likely it broke from its -cliff and lies now buried in the débris of slides at the bottom of the -great precipice which springs from the Gulf up to the top of the Spur, -leaving only a fragment to dazzle my eyes from the top of Slide Peak. -Perhaps the real thing is there yet, and I recommend the Glen Boulder -trail to present-day gem hunters. - - * * * * * - -But from the mountain tops on the last days of September all the world -is one of gems. From Washington the range and the Southern peaks which -rise from it showed ruby fires of sunlight transmitted by the colored -leaves of creeping blueberries and the three-toothed cinquefoil. Lower, -emerald and bloodstone glinted among the dwarf firs, and lower yet -were zones of gold for the setting of as many gems as the forest could -furnish. All the blue stones of the lapidary showed their colors in -the distance while the woods of the lower slopes were chrysoprase, -garnets, topaz and all other stones which hold red, yellow or green -glints in their hearts. Looking westward only the centre of the Fabyan -plateau lacked this plaiding of interwoven gem colors. Instead it was a -level oasis of tender green around which sat the great hotels in solemn -sanctity. - -The perfect clearness of this still mountain air was not only for -the sight but for the hearing. One's ear seemed to become a wireless -telephone receiver and sounds from great distances were plainly -audible. Voices of other climbers, I do not know how far away, seemed -to come out of the ledges of the high ridge of Boott's Spur as I sat -among them and looked toward the great gray summit of Washington. Among -the Derryveagh Mountains in the northwest of Ireland I have heard -voices of children at play a mile away come out of a fairy rath, or -seem to come out of it, and here at far higher levels was a similar -spell at work. Finally I located other voices, seeing people on the -summit of Monroe and others down at the refuge hut near the Lake of the -Clouds, talking to one another. That one party could hear the other at -that distance was strange enough, but that I, a mile farther away than -the people at the hut, could hear those on top of Monroe was a still -greater proof of the wonderful clearness of the air at that time. - -[Illustration: The Crawford trail along Franklin, Mount Pleasant in the -distance] - -Such a condition presages storm, and before night, from the summit -of Washington, I watched it materialize from thin air. In the sunlit -stillness a thin, long line of cumulo-stratus clouds appeared circling -the southern horizon from west to east. The line was broken in many -places and it was lower than the summit, for I could see clear sky and -land through the breaks. It did not seem possible that such a line of -disconnected clouds could bring storm. But they joined and thickened -while I watched, and by and by, as if at a word of command, far to the -south light scuds were detached from them and came scurrying in from -beyond Chocorua, blotting out Tremont and Haystack, Bear and Moat, -swallowing the Montalban Range and Rocky Branch ridge in their floating -fluff, coasting up and over Boott's Spur and blotting out Tuckerman's -Ravine. They whirled in upon us, palpable, cotton-batting clouds with a -chill in their touch, and wrapped all the summit in gray obscurity. - - * * * * * - -Again and again they broke and let me see all about, and each time I -saw that the ring of cumulo-stratus clouds was denser at the bottom, -and had moved in towards us from all the southern half of the horizon. -The sun set, but we did not see it. The world was blotted out in a gray -mass of scudding vapor that gradually became black night, out of which -by and by rain came hissing on a wind that shook the buildings of the -tiny summit village beneath their clanking chains. Morning came, and -noon of the next day. The wind had changed from south to northwest, -the sky in all valleys was clear, but still the dense clouds swirled -about the cone of Washington and swathed the high ridge of the whole -Presidential Range in masses of fleeting mist. No rain fell from this, -but to stand in it was to gather and condense it in the pores of one's -garments and become wringing wet. - -[Illustration: "The world was blotted out in a gray mass of scudding -vapor that gradually became black night out of which by and by rain -came hissing"] - -Feeling my way through this opaque blindness down the painted trail to -Tuckerman Ravine, I was well down to the verge of the head wall before -I could see below it. There the wind seems to make a funnel between the -Lion's Head and Boott's Spur and draw the clouds through it so rapidly -as to thin them. With the Fall of a Thousand Streams splashing all -about me, I saw the gray masses lift and through them the sun pouring -its autumn gold upon the plaid of Pinkham Notch. The ravine below me -was in shadow, but the fairy gold of that light seemed to flood back -into it and infuse all its dripping firs and wet rocks with rainbow -colors. It decked this mighty chasm in the mightiest mountain as if for -a bridal, and all along the downward trail by the rushing Cutler River -the firs shed diamonds and rubies with each touch of the wind, and the -birches, yellow and black and white, held their autumn gold encrusted -with precious stones. - -In such guise was the mountain decked for my farewell to it, and though -the slanting sun shone warm on the Glen road when I reached it I was -wet with the parting tears into which all this finery dissolved as I -passed. The summit is lone now. The last train has taken the villagers -to the base and the village is boarded up. The hoar frost whitens it -as I write and the film of ice dulls the clear eyes of the Lakes of -the Clouds. Soon the snow will begin again to blow over the head wall -into Tuckerman Ravine and mass at the bottom into the glacier which -will once more stretch broad across the ravine next spring. Already the -crimson of the rock maples which flames the woodland begins to sift -down and leave the topmost twigs bare. Summer has said good-bye to the -summit, and though she looks often fondly back she is well on her way -south through the valleys. - - - - -INDEX - - - A - - Aaron's rod, 7 - Adams, 116, 139, 167, 168, 178, 225 - ---- John Quincy, 167, 169 - ---- Sam, 167 - Admirals, white, 42, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 130, 134 - Æolus, Father, 112, 127 - Albany intervales, 226 - Alder, 21, 40, 57, 99, 100, 157 - ---- downy green, 157 - ---- green, 157 - ---- mountain, 157 - Alnus crispa, 157 - ---- mollis, 157 - Alpine gardens, 98, 100, 119, 125, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 141, 158, - 187, 189, 269 - ---- pastures, 154 - Amazon, 18 - Ambergris, 22 - A. M. C. camp, 91 - ---- guide, 50 - ---- signs, 97 - ---- trail, 86 - Ammonoosuc Valley, 177 - Anderson, 225 - Anglewing, 134, 137 - Aphids, 198 - Apollo, 78 - Appalachian Mts., 14 - ---- Club, 87 - ---- gods, 125 - Apple trees, 19, 25 - Arctic butterfly, 135, 141 - ---- ice, 114 - Arctic sea, 114 - Arden, Forest of, 238 - Arenaria grœnlandica, 136, 186 - Argynnis atlantis, 131 - ---- cybele, 131 - Arizona, 81, 118 - Arthur's Court, 117, 213 - Ash, mountain, 92 - Aspidium spinulosum, 189 - Aster, 197, 237, 252 - ---- ericoides, 197 - ---- novæ angliæ, 236 - ---- radula, 236 - ---- white, 196, 237, 252 - Avalon, 204 - Avens, mountain, 100, 136, 163, 260 - Azalea, Alpine, 186 - ---- Lapland, 135 - - B - - Baldface, 119, 165, 290 - Barberry, 147 - Baron Munchausen's courier, 246 - Bartlett, Mt., 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 61, 86, 225 - ---- Lower, 48 - Base station, 116 - Bay, Casco, 57, 59, 113 - Bear, 52, 53, 54, 90, 246 - Bear Camp, 6 - Bear Mountain, 295 - Bee, bumble, 22, 41, 167 - ---- wild, 85, 92 - Beech, 4, 5, 25, 67, 154, 234, 238, 281 - Beetles, 142 - Bellwort, 4, 40 - Bemis, 203, 204, 205, 225 - Berry bushes, 25 - Betula cordifolia, 155 - ---- glandulosa, 155, 156, 253 - ---- minor, 155 - ---- papyrifera, 155, 156 - ---- rotundifolia, 155, 156 - Bilberry, 182, 261 - Birch, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 37, 40, 41, 80, 92, 93, 234, 238, 255, 256, 261, - 263, 273, 286, 289 - ---- black, 297 - ---- canoe, 289 - ---- creeping, 155 - ---- dwarf, 253, 260, 269 - ---- paper, 156 - ---- white, 25, 98, 105, 130, 155, 274, 288, 297 - ---- yellow, 25, 130, 154, 198, 206, 252, 273, 278, 297 - Birds - Blackpoll, 198 - Bobolinks, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 30, 31 - Bunting, indigo, 51, 150, 151 - Canary, 37 - "Candelita," 235 - Chickadees, 198, 199, 279 - ---- black-capped, 198, 199, 200 - ---- Hudsonian, 199, 200, 217, 218 - Finch, gold, 37, 150 - ---- purple, 150 - Hawk, broad-winged, 10 - ---- pigeon, 15 - ---- red-tailed, 291 - Junco, 6, 15, 28, 37, 122, 141, 157, 166, 190, 198 - ---- hiemalis, 158 - Loon, 73 - Maryland yellow-throats, 28 - Nuthatch, red-breasted, 278, 279 - Phœbe, 24 - Picoides arcticus, 245 - ---- Americanus, 245 - Redstart, 235 - Robin, 198, 282 - Sand-pipers, 73 - ---- spotted, 73 - Sap-suckers, yellow-bellied, 5 - Sparrow, 150 - ---- chipping, 198 - ---- field, 85 - ---- song, 141, 198 - ---- white-throated, 3, 122, 141, 150, 198 - Swallow, 217 - ---- bank, 141 - ---- barn, 24 - ---- eave, 74 - Swift, chimney, 24 - Thrush, 32, 37, 59, 240 - ---- Bicknell's, 61 - ---- hermit, 32, 33, 102, 105, 122 - ---- water, 21, 28 - ---- wood, 16, 21, 32, 33 - Veery, 32, 61 - Vireo, red-eyed, 198 - ---- yellow-throated, 198 - Warblers, 37 - ---- Blackburnian, 27, 37 - ---- black-throated green, 28 - ---- Canadian, 37 - ---- Connecticut, 28 - ---- Magnolia, 28, 37, 150, 188, 198 - ---- mourning, 28, 37 - ---- myrtle, 6, 15, 37, 150, 188, 198, 235 - ---- Wilson's, 37 - ---- wood, 102, 239 - ---- yellow, 36 - ---- yellow-rumped, 234 - Woodpecker, American three-toed, 244 - ---- Arctic three-toed, 244 - ---- yellow-headed, 244, 248, 251 - Blackberry, 136, 163, 232 - Black Mountain, 34, 86, 272, 273, 290 - Blackpoll, 198 - Bloodstone, 293 - Blueberries, 232, 234, 263 - ---- creeping, 293 - ---- dwarf, 40, 41 - ---- low, 289 - ---- lowland, 182 - ---- mountain, 7, 22 - Bobolinks, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 30, 31 - ---- meadows, 20 - Boott's Spur, 97, 105, 110, 114, 116, 185, 282, 284, 286, 291, 292, - 293, 294, 296, 297 - Boulder, Glen, 286 - "Boulder, The," 287, 288 - Brakes, 289 - Bretton Woods, 66 - Brook, Saco, 206 - ---- Gibbs', 192 - Brunella, 31, 133 - Buck, 101 - Bugle Cliff, 208, 210 - Bunchberry, 134 - Bunting, indigo, 51, 151 - Burbank, antediluvian, 266 - Buttercups, 19, 35, 36, 80 - Butterflies - Admiral, white, 42, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 130, 134 - Anglewing, 134 - Arctic, 135, 141 - Argynnis, atlantis, 131 - ---- cybele, 131 - ---- yellow, 261 - Blue, little spring, 9 - Colias, philodice, 132, 261 - Compton, tortoise, 9, 134, 138, 261 - Dusky-wings, 59 - Fritillary, great spangled, 131, 137 - ---- mountain, 131, 134, 137, 138, 217 - ----, spangled, 82, 83, 84, 130, 134 - Grapta comma, 134 - ---- interrogationis, 134, 137 - ---- progne, 137, 261 - Hunters', 217 - Monarch, 138 - Mourning cloak, 9, 10, 58, 137, 217, 261 - "Mt. Washington," 138 - Oeneis semidea, 135, 138, 139, 143, 262 - Painted Lady, 58 - Papilio asterias, 41 - ---- turnus, 39 - Skipper, 41, 58, 59 - ---- orange, 132 - Sulphur, common, 261 - Swallowtail, eastern, 41 - ---- tiger, 38, 41, 58 - Vanessa j-album, 134, 138 - ---- milberti, 138 - "White Mt.," 135, 138, 262 - - C - - Caddice-fly larvæ, 103, 180 - Cæerleon, 117 - "Camp 5," 223 - Canada, 23, 112 - Canary, 37 - "Candelita," 235 - Cannon, 256, 263, 264, 267 - Cape Horn Bend, 123 - Carbuncle, 82, 292 - Carrigain, Mt., 12, 65, 216, 222, 225, 228, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, - 235, 236, 237, 250, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296 - ---- Notch, 223, 224 - ---- Cliffs, 90 - Carter, Dome, 65 - Carter-Moriah Range, 25, 280 - ---- Mt., 89, 156, 273 - Carter, Notch, 25, 83, 85, 87, 108, 119, 282 - Cascade, crystal, 97, 98, 108 - ---- Flume, 202 - ---- Silver, 157, 202, 214 - ---- ---- Brook, 214 - Cattle, "white-faced," square-headed, 144, 150 - ---- mountain, 145, 147 - Cedar, red, 147 - Celery, 137 - Chandler River, 170 - ---- Ridge, 160, 205 - Checkerberry, 4, 265, 266 - Cherry bird, 9, 40, 234, 274 - ---- Mts., 122 - ---- wild, 25, 232, 263 - Chickadee, 198, 279 - ---- black-capped, 198, 199, 200 - ---- Hudsonian, 199, 200, 217, 218 - Chipmunk, 133, 140 - Chocorua Brook, 3 - ---- Lake, 1, 3, 5, 11, 16 - ---- Mountain, 1, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 226, 249, 291 - ---- Summit, 11, 13, 14, 15 - ---- town, 16 - Chrysoprase, 294 - Cinquefoil, three-toothed, 136, 163, 260, 285, 293 - Clay, 116, 164, 172, 225 - Clethra, 148 - Cliff Eagle, 257, 259, 263 - Clinton, 176, 192, 216 - Clintonia, 35, 134, 183, 213, 219 - ---- borealis, 184 - Clover, 82 - ---- red, 128 - ---- white, 128, 133 - Colias, 217, 261 - ---- philodice, 132, 261 - Colonies, Massachusetts Bay, 82 - Company, Hudson Bay, 274 - Compton tortoise, 9, 134, 138, 261 - Conway Meadows, 49, 66 - Conway, North, 61, 63 - Cornel, 136 - ---- dwarf, 54, 183 - Cornus canadensis, 184 - Corot, 5 - Cox, Palmer, 279 - Cranberry Mountain, 55, 217, 260, 265 - ---- tree, 22 - Crawford Glen, 205 - ---- homestead, 207 - ---- Mountain, 225 - ---- Notch, 3, 46, 60, 114, 115, 191, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, - 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 216, 218, 223, 225, 231, 250, 256, 264, 266 - Crescent Range, 168 - Crispa, 157 - Cushman, 262 - Cutler River, 97, 297 - - D - - Daisy field, 132 - Dandelions, 19, 36, 37 - Dartmouth Range, 122 - Deer, 52, 158, 187, 241, 246, 248, 281, 291 - Demoiselles, 73 - Derryveagh, 294 - Diamonds, 82, 297 - Diapensis lapponica, 186 - Dingmaul Rock, 165 - Doublehead, 34, 56, 275, 290 - Dryads, 67 - Dusky-wings, 59 - - E - - Eagle, 204 - ---- Cliff Notch, 257 - ---- Mountain, 25, 34, 86 - Eastman, 165 - Elaphrus olivaceus, 142 - ---- lævigatus, 142 - Ellis River, 20, 22, 25, 29, 45, 48, 49, 60, 73, 98, 157 - Elm, 66, 67, 68, 225 - ---- meadow, 67, 68 - Emerald, 293 - Emerson, 23 - English borders, 145 - Eupatorium urticæfolium, 196 - Everlasting, 277 - - F - - Fabyan's, 116 - ---- Plateau, 216, 294 - Falls, Glen Ellis, 108, 209 - ---- Jackson, 21, 23, 24, 28, 30, 31, 82 - ---- "No-go," 62 - ---- of a Thousand Streams, 297 - Ferns - Aspidium spinulosum, 189 - Brake, 289 - Hay-scented, 289 - Osmunda claytonia, 189 - Polypody, 208, 209, 210, 211, 256 - Spinulose wood, 189, 208, 281 - Wood, 282 - Fernalds, 270 - Ferry, Cobb's, 200 - Field, 204 - ---- Darby, 286 - Finch, gold, 37, 150 - ---- purple, 150 - Fir, 4, 6, 25, 67, 70, 74, 132, 154, 155, 186, 193, 200, 204, 208, - 214, 215, 218, 220, 222, 226, 228, 234, 236, 237, 239, 254, 256, - 257, 258, 265, 277, 286, 290, 291, 297 - ---- dwarfed, 156, 182, 188, 207, 253, 269 - Firefly, 95, 123 - Florida, 18, 195 - ---- swamp, 186 - Flume, 260 - Fly, blue bottle, 42 - ---- dragon, 75 - ---- white-bodied, 74 - Franconia, 267 - ---- Mountain, 230 - ---- Range, 235, 250, 257, 260, 263 - Frankenstein Cliff, 205 - ---- Trestle, 250 - Franklin, 176 - Fritillaries, mountain, 131, 134, 137, 138, 217 - ---- great spangled, 131, 137 - ---- spangled, 82, 83, 84, 130 - Frog, green, 101, 103 - ---- tree, 103 - ---- wood, 103 - - G - - Garfield, 235, 260 - Garnet, 294 - Gaultheria, 219 - Gemini, 34 - Gerrish, 28 - ---- farm, 24, 28, 29, 276 - Geum, 185, 193 - Giant Stairs, 28, 225, 238, 239, 244, 249, 250, 277 - Gibbs' Brook, 192 - Ginseng, 39 - Glen Ellis Valley, 72 - Glen Road, 28, 297 - Goldenrod, 252, 254 - ---- Alpine, 185 - ---- mountain, 162, 164, 167, 215, 220, 236, 260 - Gooseberry, wild, 137 - Gorham, 97 - Grand Cañon, 118 - Granite, 13, 14, 15, 22, 23, 43, 52, 57, 69, 146, 249, 292 - ---- ledges, 21, 68 - Grapta comma, 134 - ---- interrogationis, 134, 137 - ---- progne, 137, 261 - Grass, blue-eyed, 133 - ---- June, 163 - ---- spear, 163, 167 - ---- tape, 266 - Gulf, Great, 109, 112, 115, 116, 123, 124, 138, 157, 160, 161, 163, - 167, 170, 172, 173, 177, 188, 205, 265 - ---- Oakes, 116, 149, 177, 187, 191, 205, 216, 218, 225 - ---- of slides, 108, 285, 291, 292 - Gulf Stream, 42 - Guyot, 216 - - H - - Hackmatack Swamp, 246 - Hæmorrhagia diffinis, 41 - Halfway House, 134, 164 - Hall, 271, 273 - ---- farm, 276 - Hancock, 223, 262 - Hardhack, 149 - Harebell, blue, 197 - ---- mountain, 161, 162, 163, 164, 185 - Hawk, broad-winged, 10 - ---- pigeon, 15 - ---- red-tailed, 291 - Hayeses, 270 - ---- farm, 276 - ---- farm-house, 34 - Haystack, 225, 230, 260, 295 - Hedgehog, 140, 195 - Hemlock, 4, 154, 206, 207, 214, 220, 221 - Hills, New Hampshire, 17, 270 - ---- Scottish, 145 - ---- Welsh, 117 - Holland, 139 - Horse, 281 - Houstonia, 19, 100, 136, 182, 185, 186 - Humming bird, 132 - Hunters' butterfly, 217 - Hypericum Ellipticum, 196 - - I - - Imp, 165 - India, 46 - Indian, 281, 286 - ---- pipe, 214, 219 - ---- poke, 136, 186, 187, 220, 221 - ---- summer, 285 - Intervale, 61, 66 - Iron Mountain, 25, 32, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 45, 238, 240, 249, 272, 275 - Israelites, 269 - - J - - Jackson, 18, 20, 21, 25, 34, 74, 86, 97, 202, 206, 208, 215 - ---- Meadows, 92 - ---- Mountain, 28, 32, 202, 206, 207, 208, 211, 215, 221 - Jacob's Ladder, 110 - Jefferson, 118, 139, 165, 171, 172, 178 - ---- Brook, 122 - Johnsons, 271 - Juncos, 6, 15, 37, 122, 141, 157, 166, 188, 198 - ---- hiemalis, 158 - Jupiter, 113 - ---- Pluvius, 127 - - K - - Kancamagus, 262 - Katahdin, 56 - Kearsarge, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 60, 86, 225, 249, 275, 290 - ---- S. E., 216 - ---- Village, 61 - Kineo, 262 - - L - - Labrador tea, 92, 136, 149, 195, 217, 261 - Lafayette, 65, 216, 230, 235, 252, 254, 256, 259, 260, 261, 262, 265, - 266, 267 - Lakes - Chocorua, 1, 3, 5, 11, 16 - Conway, 291 - Eagle, 259, 264 - "Echo," 70 - Echo, 264 - Hermit, 101, 105, 106, 188, 265 - Lonely, 11 - Mirror, 70, 73 - Moran, 263 - Of Clouds, 124, 137, 139, 141, 142, 149, 175, 180, 181, 182, 184, 185, - 186, 187, 189, 265, 284, 295, 298 - Ossipee, 11, 291 - Saco, 206 - Sebago, 57, 59 - Silver, 291 - Spaulding, 164, 188, 265 - Star, 264 - Storm, 167 - Laurel, sheep, 7 - Ledge, Hartt's, 200 - Liberty, 230, 260 - Lichen, gray, 257 - ---- gray-green, 234, 247 - ---- hepatic, 212, 213 - ---- reindeer, 184, 213 - Lily, yellow pond, 266 - Lincoln, 230, 260 - Linnæa, 89 - Lion's Head, 106 - Livermore, 237 - London, 197 - Loon, 73 - Lowell Mountain, 224 - - M - - Madison, 139, 160, 161, 168, 225, 264 - ---- hut, 168 - Mahomet's coffin, 279 - Mangroves, 287 - Maples, 4, 25, 67, 98, 154, 234, 241, 252, 280, 288 - ---- fruit, 5 - ---- rock, 51, 130, 270, 274, 298 - ---- swamp, 255 - Mars, 127 - Maryland yellow-throats, 28 - Meader, 165 - Meadow-sweet, 22, 149 - Memnon, pyramid of, 107 - Merlin, Old, 117 - Meserves, 271 - Mica, 81, 104, 292 - ---- schist, 177, 184, 189 - Milkweed, 130 - Mitchella, 219 - Moat, 86, 242, 295 - Moats, The, 225 - Moccasin flowers, 54, 57, 61 - Monarch butterfly, 138 - Monroe, 116, 124, 139, 175, 176, 185, 190, 294, 295 - Montalban Range, 28, 42, 106, 225, 277, 295 - ---- Ridge, 225 - Moose, 280 - Moosewood, mountain, 53, 61, 92, 129, 148 - ---- striped, 28, 129, 148 - Moosilauke, 262 - Moriah, 106, 165 - Moss, cladonia, gray-green, 184 - ---- dainty cedar, 212, 216, 241, 247, 256, 257, 259 - ---- hairy cap, 184, 212 - Moth, clear wing, 41, 132 - ---- Hæmorrhagia diffinis, 41 - ---- small white, 132 - ---- snowberry, 41 - Mountains - Adams, 116, 139, 167, 168, 178, 225 - ---- John Quincy, 167, 169 - ---- Sam, 167 - Anderson, 225 - Avalon, 204 - Baldface, 119, 165, 290 - Bartlett, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 61, 86, 225 - ---- Lower, 48 - Bear, 295 - ---- Camp, 6 - Bemis, 203, 204, 205, 225 - Black, 34, 86, 272, 273, 290 - Boott's Spur, 97, 105, 110, 114, 116, 185, 282, 284, 286, 291, 292, - 293, 294, 296, 297 - Cannon, 256, 263, 264, 267 - Carrigain, 12, 65, 216, 222, 225, 228, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, - 236, 237, 250, 292, 293, 294, 295, 296 - Carter, 89, 165, 273 - ---- Cliffs, 90 - ---- Dome, 65 - Cherry, 122 - Chocorua, 1, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 226, 249, 291 - Clay, 116, 164, 172, 225 - Clinton, 176, 192, 216 - Crawford, 225 - Cushman, 262 - Derryveagh, 294 - Doublehead, 34, 56, 275, 290 - Eagle, 25, 34, 86 - Eastman, 165 - Field, 204 - Flume, 260 - Franconia, 230 - Frankenstein Cliff, 205 - Franklin, 176 - Garfield, 235, 260 - Gemini, 34 - Giant Stairs, 28, 225, 238, 239, 244, 249, 250, 277 - Guyot, 216 - Hancock, 223, 262 - Haystack, 225, 230, 260, 295 - Iron, 25, 32, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 45, 238, 240, 249, 272, 275 - Jackson, 28, 32, 202, 206, 207, 208, 211, 215, 221 - Jefferson, 118, 139, 165, 171, 172, 178 - Kancamagus, 262 - Katahdin, 56 - Kearsarge, 45, 46, 48, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 60, 86, 225, 249, 275, 290 - ---- S. E., 216 - Kineo, 262 - Lafayette, 65, 216, 230, 235, 252, 254, 256, 259, 260, 261, 262, 265, - 266, 267 - Liberty, 230, 260 - Lincoln, 230, 260 - Lion's Head, 106, 119, 297 - Lowell, 224 - Madison, 139, 160, 161, 168, 225, 264 - Meader, 165 - Moat, 86, 242, 295 - Moats, The, 225 - Monroe, 116, 124, 139, 175, 176, 185, 190, 294, 295 - Moosilauke, 262 - Moriah, 106, 165 - Nancy, 205, 225 - Nelson Crag, 116, 119, 160, 170 - Northern Peaks, 161, 174, 191, 205, 265 - Olympus, 56, 65 - Osceola, 262 - Ossipees, 1, 6, 86, 262, 272, 291 - Owl's Head, 229 - Parker, 28 - Passaconaway, 11, 226 - Paugus, 11, 15, 226, 291 - Pleasant, 61, 176, 218 - Range - ---- Carter-Moriah, 35, 280 - ---- Crescent, 168 - ---- Dartmouth, 122 - ---- Franconia, 235, 250, 257, 260, 263 - ---- Montalban, 28, 42, 106, 225, 277, 295 - ---- Ossipee, 86 - ---- Presidential, 12, 25, 42, 43, 46, 60, 72, 128, 139, 153, 156, - 160, 162, 163, 173, 176, 186, 198, 205, 216, 218, 230, 260, 262, - 284, 286, 287 - ---- Rosebrook, 204 - ---- Sandwich, 6, 86, 216, 226, 250 - ---- Squam, 262 - Resolution, 28, 249, 251 - Ridge, Chandler, 160, 205 - ---- Montalban, 225 - ---- Rocky Branch, 25, 28, 108, 295 - ---- Signal, 223, 224, 226, 228, 229, 236, 237 - Rocky, 181 - Sandwich Dome, 226 - ---- Peaks, 230 - Shaw, 34 - Sloop, 34 - Spruce, 25 - Stairs, 244, 245, 251 - Table, 225 - Tecumseh, 262 - Thorn, 17, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 34, 86, 272, 290 - Tin, 24, 34, 86 - Tom, 204 - Tremont, 225, 295 - Tripyramid, 12 - Twins, The, 216 - Vose Spur, 223 - Washington, 12, 25, 29, 43, 56, 65, 79, 84, 97, 98, 112, 117, 128, - 129, 133, 137, 139, 142, 149, 150, 156, 157, 160, 161, 164, 171, - 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 191, 216, 225, 230, 243, 265, 268, 292, - 293, 294, 295, 296 - Webster, 11, 28, 202, 205, 211, 225 - White, 253, 270 - White Face, 12, 226 - Whittier, 6 - Wildcat, 25, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 93, 94, 95, 119, 165, 268, 270, 271, - 272, 273, 277, 280, 290 - Willard, 191, 192, 194, 203, 204, 205 - Willey, 205, 223 - Mourning-cloak, 9, 10, 58, 137, 217, 261 - Mouse, 246 - - N - - Nancy, 205, 225 - Nelson Crag, 116, 119, 160, 170 - Northern Peaks, 161, 174, 191, 205, 206 - Notch, Carrigain, 223, 224 - ---- Carter, 25, 83, 85, 87, 108, 119, 282 - ---- Crawford, 3, 46, 60, 114, 115, 191, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, - 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 216, 218, 223, 225, 231, 250, 256, 264, 266 - ---- Eagle Cliff, 257 - ---- Pinkham, 25, 49, 98, 106, 115, 157, 270, 285, 286, 288 - ---- Profile, 267 - ---- Zealand, 216, 229 - Nuthatch, 280, 281 - ---- red-breasted, 278, 279 - - O - - Oeneis semidea, 135, 138, 143, 262 - Old Man of the Mountain, 266 - Olympus, 56, 65 - Orlando, 238 - Osceola, 262 - Osmunda claytonia, 189 - Ossipee, Lake, 11, 291 - ---- Mountains, 1, 6, 86, 262, 272, 291 - ---- Range, 86 - ---- Valley, 42 - Owl's Head, 229 - - P - - Pandora's Box, 121 - Papilio asterias, 41 - ---- turnus, 39 - Parker Mountain, 28 - Partridge, 132 - ---- berry, 4 - Passaconaway, 11, 226 - Paugus, 11, 15, 226 - Peabody River, 134, 161, 170 - Peak, Northern, 161, 174, 191, 205, 265 - ---- Slide, 270, 290, 293 - ---- Southern, 293 - Pemigewasset River, 223 - ---- Valley, 229, 230, 231, 232, 254, 262, 264 - Pequawkets, 280 - Peter Pan, 240, 241 - Phœbe, 24 - Phyllodoce cærulea, 136 - Picoides Americanus, 245 - ---- Arcticus, 245 - Pine, 4, 205, 231, 232 - Pinkham Notch, 25, 49, 98, 106, 115, 157, 270, 285, 286, 288 - Pipsissewa, 4 - Pleasant Mountain, 61, 176, 218 - Plymouth, 264 - Polypody, 208, 209, 210, 211, 256 - Pond, Lovell's, 59 - "Pool, The Dismal," 194 - Poplar, 7, 40, 41, 81 - Porcupine, 53, 87, 88, 90, 94, 105, 241 - Portland, 113 - Potentilla tridentata, 136 - Presidential Range, 12, 25, 42, 43, 46, 60, 72, 128, 139, 153, 156, - 160, 162, 163, 173, 176, 186, 198, 205, 216, 218, 230, 260, 262, - 284, 286, 287 - Profile Notch, 267 - Puget Sound, 77 - - Q - - Quartz, 292 - ---- quarries, 249 - ---- vein, 98 - - R - - Rabbit, cotton-tail, 132 - Raccoon, 196 - Ragwort, golden, 132 - Randolph, 168 - Raphael, 18 - Rattlesnake root, 162 - Ravines - Huntington, 115, 119, 124, 137, 177, 187, 269 - Jefferson, 165 - Tuckerman's, 96, 97, 99, 105, 108, 109, 110, 111, 114, 115, 135, 137, - 149, 157, 177, 180, 188, 189, 265, 269, 285, 296, 297, 298 - Redstart, 235 - Resolution Mountain, 28, 249, 251 - Rhododendron "slicks," 287 - Rhodora, 22, 57 - River, Chandler, 170 - ---- Cutler, 97, 297 - ---- Ellis, 20, 22, 25, 29, 45, 48, 49, 60, 73, 98, 157 - ---- Peabody, 134, 161, 170 - ---- Pemigewasset, 223 - ---- Saco, 22, 45, 48, 49, 60, 191, 194, 195, 197, 205, 206, 243, 272 - ---- Sawyer's, 200, 203, 205, 223, 236, 237 - ---- Swift, 226 - ---- Wild, 119 - ---- Wildcat, 20, 82, 83, 85, 86, 91, 94, 270, 271 - Robertson's, Mark, rustic bridge, 2 - Robin, 198 - Roc, 46 - Rocky Branch Valley, 240, 242, 243, 292 - ---- Mountains, 181 - ---- Ridge, 25, 28, 108, 295 - Rosalind, 238, 239, 241 - Rose-bay, Lapland, 186 - Rosebrook Range, 204 - Round Table, 117 - Rubens, 18 - Ruby, 297 - - S - - Saco River, 22, 45, 48, 49, 60, 191, 194, 195, 197, 205, 206, 243, 272 - ---- Valley, 61 - Samite, 44 - Sand-pipers, 73 - ---- spotted, 73, 195 - Sandstone, brown, 287 - Sandwich Dome, 226 - ---- Peaks, 230 - ---- Range, 6, 86, 216, 226, 250 - Sandwort, mountain, 136, 163, 164, 183, 185, 187, 217, 260 - Sap-suckers, yellow-bellied, 5 - Sawyer's River, 200, 203, 205, 223, 236, 237 - Scudder farm-house, 2 - Sea, Caribbean, 18 - Semidea, 139 - Shamrock, 133 - Shaw, 34 - Signal Ridge, 223, 224, 226, 228, 229, 236, 237 - Sinbad, 46 - Skipper butterfly, 58 - ---- orange, 132 - Sloop, 34 - Smilacina, 4 - Snake, garter, 85, 87 - "Snake-root, white," 196 - Snow arch, 96, 97, 99, 101, 103, 106, 109 - Snowberry, creeping, 217, 265, 266 - Society, Cambridge Entomological, 142, 218 - Solidago cutleri, 185 - Solomon's seal, 4, 40 - Sorrel, wood, 133, 213 - Sparrow, chipping, 198 - ---- field, 85 - ---- song, 141, 198 - ---- white-throated, 3, 122, 150 - Spiræa latifolia, 149, 162 - ---- tomentosa, 149 - Spring, Peabody, 167 - ---- Poland, 66 - Spruce, 4, 6, 7, 15, 25, 26, 30, 31, 37, 40, 41, 67, 72, 105, 132, 134, - 141, 147, 154, 155, 186, 188, 192, 193, 196, 198, 200, 205, 222, - 226, 228, 229, 231, 232, 234, 235, 239, 243, 246, 254, 258, 265, 269, - 277, 290, 291, 292 - ---- black, 26, 71, 195, 235 - ---- dwarf, 8, 9, 93, 156, 167, 207 - ----, mountain, 25 - ---- tops, 50 - Squam Range, 262 - Squirrel, gray, 140 - Stairs, Brook Valley, 243 - Stairs, Mountain, 244, 245, 251 - Star-flower, American, 136 - Steeple bush, 149 - St.-John's-wort, 196 - St. Patrick, 133 - Strawberries, wild, 81, 92 - Striders, water, 179, 180 - Sumac, 40 - Swallow, 217 - ---- bank, 141 - ---- barn, 24 - ---- eave, 74 - Swallowtails, eastern, 41 - ---- tiger, 38, 41, 58 - Swift, 226 - - T - - Table Mountain, 225 - Tecumseh, 262 - "Tenth Turnpike," 191 - Thor, 13 - Thoreau, 218 - Thorn Mountain, 17, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 34, 86, 272, 290 - Thoroughworts, 196 - Thrush, 32, 37, 59, 240 - ---- Bicknell's, 61 - ---- hermit, 32, 33, 102, 105, 122 - ---- water, 21, 28 - ---- wood, 16, 21, 32, 33 - Tin Mountain, 24, 34, 86 - Toad, great gray, 89, 91, 94 - Tom, 204 - Topaz, 294 - Tourmaline, black, 292 - Trails - A. M. C. to Carter Notch, 86 - Carriage road, 124, 129, 161 - Crawford, 124, 138, 139 - ---- bridle path, 176 - Davis, 251 - Glen Boulder, 293 - Gulf Side, 124, 169, 171 - Hammond, 3, 16 - Tuckerman's, 124 - Tremont Mountain, 225, 295 - Trientalis, 136 - Trillium, 219 - ---- painted, 4 - ---- purple, 4 - Tripyramid, 12 - Turtle, box, 57 - Turtle-head, 237 - Twins, The, 216 - - U - - Ursus Major, 88 - - V - - Valley, Ammonoosuc, 177 - ---- Glen Ellis, 72 - ---- Ossipee, 42 - ---- Pemigewasset, 229, 230, 231, 232, 254, 262, 264 - ---- Rocky Branch, 240, 242, 243, 292 - ---- Saco, 61 - ---- Stairs' Brook, 293 - ---- Wildcat, 25, 272, 278, 282 - Vanessa j-album, 134, 138 - ---- milberti, 138 - Veery, 32, 61 - Venus, 27 - Veratrum viride, 186 - Viburnums, 21 - Viola cucullata, 23 - ---- palustris, 183 - Violets, blue, 23, 31, 35 - Violets, lilac alpine, 100, 183 - ---- meadow, 19 - Vireo, 198 - ---- red-eyed, 198 - ---- yellow-throated, 198 - Vose Spur, 223 - Vulcan, 78 - - W - - Warbler, 37 - ---- Blackburnian, 27, 37 - ---- black-throated, green, 28 - ---- Canadian, 37 - ---- Connecticut, 28 - ---- Magnolia, 28, 37, 150, 188, 198 - ---- mourning, 28, 37 - ---- myrtle, 6, 15, 37, 150, 188, 198, 235 - ---- Wilson's, 37 - ---- wood, 102, 239 - ---- yellow, 36 - ---- yellow-rumped, 234 - Washington, Booker, 287 - ---- carriage road, 124, 129, 161 - ---- George, 287 - ---- Mount, 12, 25, 29, 43, 56, 65, 79, 84, 97, 98, 112, 117, 128, 129, - 133, 137, 139, 142, 149, 150, 156, 157, 160, 161, 164, 171, 175, - 176, 177, 178, 179, 191, 216, 225, 230, 243, 265, 268, 292, 293, - 294, 295, 296 - ---- railroad, 116, 142 - Webster, Mt., 11, 28, 202, 205, 211, 225 - Wendy, 240 - Wentworths, 271 - White Face, 12, 226 - White Mountain butterfly, 138, 261 - White Mountains, 253, 270 - Whittier, Mt., 6 - Wild River, 119 - Wildcat Mountain, 25, 86, 87, 88, 89, 91, 93, 94, 95, 119, 165, 268, - 270, 271, 272, 273, 277, 280, 290 - ---- meadows, 84 - ---- River, 20, 82, 83, 85, 86, 91, 94, 270, 271 - ---- Valley, 25, 272, 278, 282 - Willard, 191, 192, 194, 203, 204, 205 - Willey House, 197, 203 - Willey Mountain, 205, 223 - Willow, 7, 155 - ---- creeping, 156 - Wilsons, 271 - Withe-rod, 289 - Woodchuck, 153 - Woodpecker, American three-toed, 244 - ---- Arctic three-toed, 244 - ---- yellow-headed, 244, 248, 251 - Woodstock, 264 - - Y - - Yarrow, pink, 134 - ---- white, 134 - - Z - - Zealand Notch, 216, 229 - Zeus, 78 - - - * * * * * - - -Transcriber Note - -On pages 136 and 307, Phyllodoce cærulea was corrected. 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