The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-01
ONE DAY IN COLORADO.

is better than an alarm click A short &C
quaintance with the country has proved that the
morning is the time for all out-ofdoor pleasures.
The day begins bright and fair; about noon the
clouds hang over; the wind brings down the rain
or up the dust, and the latter part of the day is
uncertain.
Two familiar silhouettes well describe pic
mic. In the first, the party is starting out The
children are merry carrying easily the well
filed baskets, The old man walks erect The
dogs head is up and his tail in the air. In the
second picture the party is coming home. The
children find a burden in the empty lunch
baskets The old man leans on his cane. and
even the dog seems wilted
We were going to Palmer Lake, fifty miles
away, on the watershed Of the Platte and Ar
kansas basins, commonly called ''the divide"
Seated in the car, my neighbor said "The place
used to be called Loeb Katrine' don't know
why they changed the name"
What a pity it was! We wondered if a
rich man had given something to some
body that lake should be called
by his name, and beautiful "Loch
Katrine' be known among us no more forever
Full of interest is the line of travel Snow-cov.
foothills close at hand. The figures Of the
mountains are limited only by ones imagination.
It is easy to find. not simply the face of one
"Old Man. but prohles of many. On the top of
one green hill compact mass Of rock seems a
house half builded. On another castle is fall
ing into ruin.
Very beautiful are the flowers in the fields
patches of red, blue and yellow. We pass q lit
tie town named Larkspur- odd name, sug-
gestive of the old-fashioned flower growing SO
tall and so blue in the gardens of our grand
mothers. Extremes meet with the flower of the
East and this far Western town. But here, too,
is the flower; not quite so tall, with largest
blossoms in shady places. but growing every
where. We look euriously at the ranches-there
are no farms in Colorado. 1t is pleasant to see
the rude little house surrounded by trees. Think
ing of many prairie farms, where the only refuge
from the summer sun is the shadow of the
house, we are led to wonder if the ranchman
has greater care for the comfort of his family.
and we give him the benefit of the thought
Two ever-present features of the landscape are
the mounted cowboy and the grazing "burro. =
Mournful is the bray of the donkey and there is
something quite human in its closing sigh. A
belief in the transmigration of souls
would suggest an unhappy mortal, guilty of some
crime, whose imprisoned soul was doomed to this
painful path to freedom. And yet the seburro"
is most prosaic ANIMAL and his voice, like that
of the Scotch bag pipe, falls on the ear more
unsteady from lover the hills and far away
than directly under ones window.
We are little more than two hours in reach
ing the lake, the road being sup grade.n The
first object of interest is fountain throwing up
a stream of water 100 feet from theeenter of
the lake, not natural curiosity, but very pleas
ant to see. Everywhere are the rocks sugges-
tive of New England and ones childhood
Hurriedly we begin to climb but are soon re-
minded that we are 5000 feet above and not so
young as the children who shout and swing their
hats on the summit when we are half way up
Flowers are everywhere, choosing haunts and
companions as people do. Having discovered
the peighborhood one likes best you can always
find it again. The larkspur and another flower
with pea-Shaped blossoms in long spikes of yell
low seek the bushes The. sunny slopes are red
with the Indians painted cup Higher up
among the rocks grows the anernone with deli
cate lavender petals. Great is the variety Of the
fora Of the State. One who has travelled much
and with a love of these things
tells he has pressed 400 different specimens.
picture of a flower carries neither color
nor fragrance. Description is hardly worth
ones while, and yet we must linger over
the cactus 1t is very common. At night
you may see a bunch OF oval-shaped
leaves growing close to, the ground, COW
cred with a formidable array of thorns. In the
morning each leaf is crowned with a golden
wax-like cup. 1t is the plant Of glad surprise.
On discovering his first specimen, a little boy
new to the country said: "Some one has moved
away and left a plant from the greenhouse
Later he gathered the same flower by the bas5
ketful. The first attempt at picking resulted
disastrously. Now he grasps the petals firmly
with one hand and cuts below with knife
In our rambles we come upon a piece of
plowed ground. This is covered with wild
Strawberries white with blossoms No others
grow about the lake. 1t is one of the curious
instances where certain flowers and plants fol-
low the pillow in new field.
One man who lovesnature, perhaps, more than
he loves people, has made himself a home at
the dividen He shows us the natural beau
ties of the place with pride akin to that of
ownership. He leads US down among the rocks
where we can hardly see the sky through the
shade The ground is slippery with pine needles
and the wind signs through the branches
overhead. A spring of cold water satisfies our
thirst and goes trucking over the rocks and
through the grass. Two fawns, the pets of the
children come up and eat from our hands But
the day is nearly done. The whistle sounds, and
we are on our way home The unusual rains
have changed the character of the Colorado
spring In the land of the sage brush and the
cactus we open the morning paper and read that
the towns along the river banks are in danger of
overflow. That has natural sound, but does
not suggest this country.
Eternal 'hosingT has been said to be the
price of lawn and trees. It does not seem SO.
We stand on a height overlooking the Platte
river and the country is one great garden But
July is just before. No one can prophesy
what it is to do for us. There is much talk Of
living too long in a high altitude, with conse-
quent nervousness and loss of sleep There is q
surprising amount of fitting to tho East and to
the mountains We find the surroundings very
friendly, and for the present areweil contont to
stay. Mrs. MYRoN w. REED T
DENVER, Col, June %.
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