The weekly Butte record., 1858-09-18
On Mount Shasta, Seen from Distance.
BY YELLOW BIRD.

BEHOLD the dread Mount Shasta, where Il stands
| Imperial midst the lesser lights, and, like
Some mighty, uninpassioned mind, companionless
And cold. The storms Of Heaven may beat in wrath
Against 1t, but it stands In unpoluted
Grandeur still and from the rolling nists upheaves
Its tower of pride cen purer than before.
The wintry showers and whitewinged tempests leave
Their frozen tributes on its brow, and it
Doth make of them an everlasting crown,
Thus doth it day by day, and age by age,
Defy each stroke of time-still rising higher
Into Heaven,
Aspiring to the eagles cloudess hight,
No human foot hath stained ts snowy side,
Nor human breath has dimmed the icy mirror
Which it holds unto the moon and stars and SOW re
Sun. We may not grow familiar with the secrets
OF its hoary top, whereon the Genius
Of that mountain builds his glorious throne.
Far-lifted in the boundless blue, he doth
Encircle, with his gaze supreme. the broad
Dominions of the West that lie beneath
His feet, in pictures of sublime repose
No artist ever drew. He sees the tall
Gigantic hills arise in silentness
And peace, and in the loag review of distance
Range themselves in order grand He sees the sun
light
Play upon the golden streams that through the val.
leys
Glide He hears the music of the great and solemn
Sea, and overlooks the huge old western WALL
To view the birthplace of undying melodyl
Itself all light save when some loftest cloud
II. 4 s..
Foim-that monarch-mountain castsits mighty
Shadow down upon the crownless peaks below,
That, like inferior minds to some great
Spirit stand in strong contrasted lttleness,
All through the long and summery months of our
Most tranquil year. it points its icy shaft
On higl, to catch the dazzling bea MS that fall
In showers of splendor round that crystal cone,
a nd roll, in floods of far magniicence,
Away from that lone vast Reflector in
The dome OF Heaven.
Still watchful of the fertile
Vale, and undulating plains below, the grass
Grows greener in its shade, and sweeter bloom
The flowers. Strong purifier. From its snowy
Side the breezes cool are waited to 'the peaceful
Homes of men, who sheltered at its feet, and love
To gaze upon its honored form, aye standing
There, the guarantee of health and happinessl
Well might it win communities SO blest
To loitier feelings and to nobler thoughts
The great material SYMBOL of eternal
Things, And well, | ween, in after years, how,
In the middle of his furrowed track, the plowman
In some sultry hour, will pause. and, wiping
From his brow the dusty sweat, with reverence
Gaze upon that hoary peak. The herdsman
Oftwi reign his charger in the plain, and drink
Into his inmost soul the calm sublmity;
And little children. playing on the green, shall
Cease their sport, and. turning to that mountain
| Old shall Of their mother ask, ''Who made it?''
And she shall answer, "GOd!'
And well this golden State shall thrive, if, like
Its own Mount Shasta, sovereign law shall lift
Itself n purer atmospheIe-so high
That human feeling. human passion at its base
Snail lie subdued; cen PHYS tears shall on
Its summit freeze; to warm it, cen the sunlight
of deep sympathy shall fail;-
| Its pure administration shall be like
The snow, immaculate upon that mountains brow'