Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1878-01-12

II tsseF- ~ser s9s q stxeHz crnf@.4 =
tAr ru.ks. S<&&sa<a hgsE1xfF ~ xa-@-
h~sd asa i.n4a=si "a Fueky l&P 90 t=--3
i. rux1y Erms. tina; sfreHxz - Ltse \ al
cot If's c0Gr-s &c s<vsFAl miB>= fron IL
bad l. Ovvr ssrarifcd rock, ard into tAis
il has worn q eh2spei that prcscnts must
striking and peculiar feafases- Nos .,
comes SILENTLY aloDg On the Top Of the
rock. spread out and flowing over thxi
thick, dark green NOES that Is found only
in the coolest streams; then drawn into
q naIrox canal only four or Eve feet aide,
through which it shoots black and rigid,
to be presently caught in . deep basin
with shelving, overhanging rocks, be-
meath which the Phoebe bird builds in SO.
curity and upon which the fisherman
stands and casts his twenty or thirty feet
Of line without fear of being thwarted
by the brush; then into black, well-like
pool, ten or fifteen feet deep, with
smooth, circular wall of rock on one side
worn by the water through long ages, or
else into deep, oblong pocket, into
which and out of which the water glides
without ripple.
The surface rock is coarse sandstone,
superintendent upon a lighter colored
conglomerate that looked like Shawan-
gunk grits, and when his latter is reached
by the water it seems to be rapidly disin-
tegrated by it, thus forming the deep ex-
cavations alluded to. .,-
My eyes had never before beheld such
beauty in mountain stream. The water
was almost as transparent as the air-was,
indeed, like liquid air; and as it lay in
these wells and pits enveloped in shadow,
or lit up by q chance ray of the vertical
sun, it was a perpetual feast to the eye
SO cool, so deep, SO pure; every reach and
pool like vast spring. You lay down
and drank or dipped the water up in your
cup and found it just the right degree of
refreshing GOODNESS. One is never pre-
pared for the clearness of the water in
these streams. 1t is always a surprise.
See them every year for dozen years,
and yet, when you first come upon one,
you will utter an exclamation; l saw
nothing like it in the Adirondack, nor
have any other part of the country
have ever visited. Absolutely without
stain OF hint of impurity, it seems to mag
nifty like tense, so that the bed of the
stream and the fish in it appear deceptive
ly near. 1t is rare to find even a trout
stream that is not little "off color" as
they say of diamonds, but the waters in
the section of which I am writing have
the genuine ray; it is the undimmed and
untarnished diamond.
If were trout, l should ascend every
stream till found the Roundout. It is
the ideal brook. What homes these fish
have, what retreats under the rocks, what
paved or tagged courts and areas, what
crystal depths where 40 net or snare can
reach them mo mud, no sediment but
here and there in the clefts and seams of
the rock patches Of whitegravel-spawn-
ing-beds ready made.
The finishing touch is given by the
moss with which the rock is everywhere
carpeted. Even in the narrow grooves or
channels where the water runs the swift
est, the green lining il unbroken. 1t
sweeps down under the stream and up
again on the other side, like some FIRMLY
woven texture. 1t softens every outline
and Cushions every stone. At Q certain
depth in the great basins and wells it Of
course ceases, and only the smooth, swept
tagging Of the place-rock IL visible
John BsrressAs. IN Seritnsr.
Ar an auction Of household articles
the suctioneer held up Q thermometer
and pleaded for bid. No enc seemed
10 sszt H. and he tarped % Q fssD<s-
aeokinx nxn ssd s.sa:
-rHss u. snAzalne il and give me .
41xrser fx H.