Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-11

which enjoys all the comforts and none oi
the discomforts OF out of doors. The tents
are stretched over raised plank floors, and
the doors have several steps leading up to
them. The ladies are extremely pictur-
esque and cool in calicoes and wide hats,
and it all looks quite Arcadian as viewed
from car window. Very near is quite q
large party, mostly of church people, but
they are very jolly, can assure you.
Turn few ministers and deacons loose
IN the woods and you will have what will
seem like crowd of mischievous boys
trooping along under the trees. Mrs.
Capt. Trask assumes the trying position of
"mother" to this party, and her chief
helper is Rev. Robert Mckenzie of the
Howard Presbyterian Church, his pulpit
during his absence being supplied by Rev.
DIR. Scudder. In the company are Mr..
and Mr.. Wales Palmer, Willie Palmer,
Miss Emma Palmer and Miss Sophie Pal
mer, Mrs. Mckenzie and three children,
Miss Mcleod, Miss Laura Whiting, Miss
Jennie Whiting, Miss Mamie Harmon,
Haywood and Capt. Trask. Little Jeanie
Mckenzie is a child, seven years old, who
has great admiration for her father. Her
school teacher is attendant at that church,
and one Monday the child asked her if
she went to church the day before, and on
being answered in the negative replied
quickly. " You missed two good sermons
then p Don't talk to me about Har-
per's Drawer and the fancy column in the
newspaper" said an elderly lady once,
"my children have said quaint and witty
things enough to fill them all" cannot
imagine how anyone could come into these
woods, yet not be filled with
NEW SPIRIT.
As walk among these great trees, in the
midst of silence broken only by the gen.
tie soughing of the wind in their tops and
the ripple of the river, l feel my old and
simple faith come back to me. l seem to
drift away from it unconsciously when
see nothing but the work of man. Here
the hand of man devastates and destroys
so ruthlessly, but nature makes even the
ruin beautiful. Every old log crumbling
into decay is made beautiful by the
green. sprays that stretch across
it and clasp hands, and stumps
are wreathed about with little running
tendrils, and ferns start from their roots,
and brake waves about them, and black
berry vines creep over them, and hun
dred sorts of pretty green growths help to
make a picture out of the thing man left
contemptuously to its ruin. Yesterday
while boating on the river l discovered
tall, charred trunk, without branch or leaf,
all black and mighty of itself, but bright
green vine had reached in a thick mat
three quarters of its hight, and SO
adorned it that the eye singled it from
its living companions. l heard OF a
strange thing once : There can be no
sound without an ear to hear it, since
sound is but air beating in waves against
an ear. So if there is no living thing near
it, the forest moves in silence, the river
rushes, but there is no noise; the
ocean breaks and breaks, but finds
no voice, for there is no tympan-
um to feel the vibrations in the air.
It makes all things seem more mysterious
still to listen to such a new thought.
Well, my days in Mendocino are num-
bered. / have gathered almost my last
of wild rose.pink, rhododendrons,
and azaleas, and taken farewell of
the ferns it was impossible to preserve.
And while the trip has put an ache into
my bones, it has made me young again.
One ten minutes out OF certain afternoon
hangs like a picture out of time upon the
wall of that shadowy chamber we call
memory. l stood in the depth of
the wood in so dense a shade that
twilight seemed to have fallen early.
A damp and earthly odor mixed with the
fragrance of redwood and azalea, and it
seemed to me 1 was just on the border
which fringes the beyond. On sudden,
1 turned my head and felt my breath stand
still, for l beheld the beyond. Through
an opening from somewhere burst oblique-
ly, a broad shaft of brilliant sunshine, like
a ray from the heart of golden glcry,
and lit up space of dazzling green
with such pouring yellow flood that the
spot basked like creature in the rich,
warm light. Every leaf lay in an ecstasy,
and the branches were outlined in gold.
I shall see the spot again, at times when l
am cross and tired, and that broad shalt
of sun will break away the dark when it
seems to brood its heaviest.
KATE HEATH.
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