The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-09-30
Above the Clouds.

One mountain | particularly desired
to climb. 1t is a splendid mass of rock,
treeless, high and promising an outlook
of 80, 900 or 40, 900 miles from its sun
NIT. Viewed from u camp, it doesn't
look so bad. With me, to wish is to
will, and to will is to do some easy
things. 1 wished to climb the noun
tain and 1 ciumb it. / don't know how
to spell it, but l did it. Asmooth look
ing mountain, with terraces of low
green bushes and easy lodges of rock
looks we'll enough to a blind man across
the lake, but when you essay to slide it
under your feet, it becomes rougher
than a pigs back. l stepped on firm
looking logs that were rotten as a
politicians promises. Twas precipitat-
ed down great pits so deep that l could
look up and see the stars, just after
reaching bottom. l got lost in briar
patches that shred my raiment from me
in great shreds from Shredville, and
lacerated my inmost feelings. l lost
my hat. l dropped my alpenstock
down a hole that extended 400 feet up
inside a mountain in China. l broke
my knife cutting another stick. l took
off my coat and laid it on the inaccess-
ible top of an unapproachable rock, in
tending to get it as l came down, and
now, the entire United States Geo
grahphical Commission couldn't find
that rock in a million years. l pulled
the sole off one boot and tore the up
per off the other. l ate a handful of
strange red berries before learning that
they were poison. 1 stirred up a nest
of hornets in the dead thicket of a fall
len pine tree, and heaven and earth
came together in six or seven places at
the same time before [ could climb a
perpendicular cliff eighty feet high to
get away from them. But l did it.
When | saw the boss hornet disappear
within his workshop a minute and then
come out with an arm full of scythe
stones. which he began distributing to
the strikers, l could have climbed the
north pole.
l got along a little faster after this
interview with the hornets. The view
from the mountain top repaid me.
Thirteenth Pond was a gem, a dainty
sea of crystal, laughing in its setting of
mountain, woodland, cliff and meadow.
Benefits farm and the Van Dusen
place were emerald stretches of fertili-
ty and Reeds Maple Cottage and out
tents glittered like snow drifts in the
meadows. 1t was all so beautiful l
stayed upon the mountain top to see
the SUI set. 1t set on time, as usual.
with a fine display of meteorological
scenic effects. Then it occurred to me
that l had to 90 down that mountain
in the deepening shadows of the gloam-
ing. ,I'emitted one of the groans for
which I'M justly famous-you must
have heard that groan in Brooklyn
and prepared to descend. AS | slid
down the first incline, a little rush of
200 feet over an abrading surface of
garnet rock, 1 brought up against a
fine old stump. about half petrified,
and noticed a bear, full weight, all
wool, sound in wind, limb and condition.
walk around the stump and look at
me. My heart bounded with a joyous
sense of great relief. s'Major Ursus?"
1 said, and the bear bowed. ':Major,"
[ said, Il am glad to meet you. Ihave
been up in the mountain to see the sun
set, although 1 could see 1t set from the
meadow. l am now going down. l
don't know just where, but 1 have a
presentment that l I'M going down. If
you hive not yet been to tea, would
you be kind enough to eat me?' 'No."
sad the bear, coldly, 81 never eat
If There's anything 1 do hate, it's a
bear. Well, come up, before the sunset
season is over. It's just the kind of a
place you'd like, and you are just as
safe in the woods as you are at home.
l was going to tell about a big trout I
caught but [ see | haven't time.-Bur-
dette, IN Brooklyn Eagle.