Mexico weekly ledger., 1892-06-16

like giant ravens, chase each other
over gorge and vale.
aDriver, win that storm come
here?p aNo need Of that. Look
therein Out west across the undu-
lating park-South Park--all pearly
with q mist that lifts It's farther rim
into q range, a bit Of watery cloud
midway between the heaven and
earth-is rocking in the wind like a
falling autumn leaf. Fine flmy ten
taeles are curling in and out on ey-
cry edge al though they felt for food
or writhed in serpentine distress, till
one must think of old Medusa's
head. Why, how it growsl How fast
it comes! Would you have thought
so small a thing could harbor sucha
fash ~ that2 On it comes, and
the little cheesy masses higher up
drop floating down like. yultures TO
their prey, and join the yeasty mass.
On it comesi Whewi How the wind
whistles among the w~heel-spokes and
drone upon the drivers inesi How
m~ajestically the cloud grows and
marches, absorbing into its misty
NAV every bit of vapor within its
reach! On it comesi Like a homing
dove it rides the gale, every edge de-
fined, the clean perspective streaks
of moundy earth beneath-the clear
blue stretch of steely sky abovel
Look! Sister storms are forming ev-
erywhere all headed toward the peak
as though it were a common foe
and this a day of siege! Why, here
are clouds above that came from out
ofspace, we know not how and there
are drops Of rain upon the harness,
and icy pellets bounding back from
the bold peaks stony base. Pull
down the curtains, pull up the robes
and let the tempest howl in thunder
clap and windy gust and sleety rat
tie on the carriage roof, while light
ming CLINT and nimbus film seem
things you might put forth your
hand and touch.
Anon the peak-the proper peak
sweeps up into the seething mass
and hides its head in the great grey
beyond. The drivers whoop, the
whips faint crack in the light at
mosphere, the jolt upon the stony
way, the strain of muscle and the
creak of hame are all the narrow Wis
ia out the carriage front can give,
save that the shotty sleet has chang
ed into the crystal snow that falls in
eddying gusts. And now appear the
dim outlines of stony hut-a circling
row of smoking teams, a shivering,
disappointed crowd, all querulous at
its luck; for the gaze toward any
point is limited to a dozen rods, and
the whirling SNOWFALL goes out of
sight into the storm.
Let's walk out toward the north
and east-it seems a trife clearer
there; a little rift is forming. Why,
there is a gorge! Look down and
shudder; and there is-why that is
Manitou, like a robin's,home lodged
in the mountain crotch; and the low
red rocky blotches upon the sand be-
yond are the Garden of the Gods.
See how the clouds are lifting higher
out that way and the bright sun
beams its wavy heat-rays on the
plains! That checker board upon
the ground is Colorado Springs, and
the ranches round about and far be-
yond seem lifted high and tilted up
toward you. Turn your head this
way and that, and see the great
storm scroll furl. Look fast, for as
it leaves it lends a grandeur to the
scene no common day can give. See
Denver eighty miles away, hiding
her graceful shape behind her smoke.
See the great divide between the Ar
kansas and Platte-a brushy stripe
upon the swollen plain-and that
verdant fringing of the foreground
near the foothills there is the Mon
ument.
Turn quickly to the right How
fast the clouds depart. Just there the
Fountaine ribbons Cheyenne Noun
tain's base and sweeps beyond, and
there for a hundred miles OF. more
the Arkansas green border stripes
the hazy brown and seems as though
it ran up hill into the sky. The
steamy bloteh here at its nearer end?
Why, that's Pueblo nesting down
beneath her carbon coverletl
A storms birth is an awful thing
a portent that threatens much, but a
storms death is a grateful-an in
spring thing, the promise of such
peace. Let's run beyond the hut
look outl don't fall between the
blocks of stone!-let's run and gaze
out south and west and see a great
storm die and lift the curtain of its
spirit from of the ridge to two con-
o1~41 I1-1