Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1878-12-25
The Birth OF a Lake.


John Muir writes, In ScRnsHR FOR Janu'
sry, OF "The Mountain Lakes OF Califor'
MA" We quote
Tho MERGED river, ~ u whole, Is re-
markably ike an clm'tree, and u re-
quires but little effort on the part OF
the imagination TO picture It standing
upright, with oil It's lakes hanging up
on its spreading branches, the top
most eighty miles IN height Now
add all the other lake.bearing rivers OF
the Sierra. each in itS place, aud you
Sill have n truly glorious spectacle, -
an avenue the length and width OF the
range the long, slender, gray shafts,
the m,lky.way ofarching branches and
the moon.like lakes all clearly defined
and shining Oh the blue sky How
eYciledly such an addition to as'rono.
my would be gazed at! Yet these
lakeful rivers are still more excilingly
beautiful and impressive in their natur'
al positions to those who have the eye
to SEQ them as they lie imbedded in their
meadows and forests and glacier sculp.
tured rocks.
When . mountain'lale is born
when, like y young eye, it first opens
to the light tits an irregular, express
sionless crescent, inclosed in banks of
rock and ice,-bare, glaciated rock on
the lower side, the rugged snout Of a
glacier on the upper In this condi.
ton it remains for many year, until
at length, toward the end Of some aa'
sRGjyassU ss|ypsba tafe TpFsp mdFgyl a,laiAasr!
ing it open from shore to shore for the
first time thousands Of years after its
conception beneath the glacier that
scooped its basin. The landscape,
cold and bare, is reflected in its pure
depths the winds ruffle its glacy sur
face, and the sun fills it with throbbing
spangles, while its waves begin to lap
ard murmur around its leafess shores,
sun spaneles and stars its only flow
ers, the winds and the snow its only
visitors Meanwhile the glacier still
continues to recsde, and numerous rills
still younger than the lake itself bring
down glacier.mud, sand,grains and
pebbles, giving rise to margin rings
and plats ofsoil. To these fresh soil:
beds come many waiting plant.
First, hardy carex, with arching
leaves and spike of brown flowers /;
then as the soil grows warmer, and the
soil-beds deeper and wider, other
sedges take their appointed places,
and these are joined by blue gentians,
daisies, dodecatheons, violets, honey
worts and many lowly moss.
Shrubs also hasten in time TO the new
gardens,-klamia, with its glossy
leaves and purple flowers, the Attic
willow, making soft woven carpets, to.
getber with the healthy brysnthus and
cassiope--the tairest and dearest of
them all. Insects now enrich the air,
frogs pipe cheerily in the shallowa,
soon followed by the ouzel, which IS
the first bird to visit glacier lake, IS
the sedge is the first Of plants.
So the young lake grows in beauty,
becoming more and more bumanely
lovable from century to century.
Groves OF aspen spring up, and hardy
pines, and the Williamson spruce,
until richly overshadowed and embow
cred. But while its shores are being
enriched, the 'oil-bsds creep out with
incessant growth, contracting its area,
while the lighter mud particles depos-
tied on the bottom cause it to grow
shallower, until at length
The last remnant OF the lake vanishes,
CLOSED forever in ripe and natural
I'D age. And now its feeding stream
goes winding on through the new
gardens and groves that have taken
ts place without hating for a mo-
mont