The record-union., 1896-08-23


In beauty far beyond all mortal ken,
Twining itself about the human heart
With ties that ne'er will severed be again,
Great natures fount where brook and
river start,
Stands wondrous Shasta!
have treated myself to a weeks hol-
iday at Shasta Springs. Do you know
" hat a perfectly lovely spot it is?
stopped two nights and days at the no.
tel in Dunsmuir and tramped over the
country for miles around, feeling as if
/ had in some mysterious manner been
launched into fairyland. Lake Tahoe
and the Summit Soda Springs are beau
tiful. but you feel withal when there
that you are in a material world among
things of the earth, earthly, though
most lovely of their kind. Emerald Bay
Is a gem of purest ray serene" in its
lovely setting of lofty mountain peaks,
but Shasta is the land of fairies, if it is
10 be found on earth. 1t is about mile
from Dunsmuir UP the railroad track
to Mossbrae Falls, where, at the i'm
minent risk of my neck, I gathered
quantities of the graceful "five-fnger"
fern, which beckons like baby hands
from beneath the splashing waters of
the falls in the most enticing fashion.
Here the infant Sacramento first
tries its strength, so lovely
and clear that you can easily
count the shining white pebbles over
which it flows to the busy world miles
beautiful and fragrant as the choicest
and miles away, contact with which
does not improve its pristine innocence
and beauty. In the bed of the infant
river grow innumerable wild plants
Which / never beheld elsewhere as
exotics in your conservatory. Water
begonias, pink and transparent as a
sea shell: water lilies, white and fra
grant, and as you pursue your way
further on toward the springs you pass
ferns and ferns of every sort and de-
Scription, intermingled with the wild
azalea, the perfume Of whose delicate
pink and white blossoms pervades all
the air about you. just a mile further
on, you don't mind the walk, there is so
much to engage your attention at every
step. you come upon Shasta Springs,
where, in a little pavilion built about
the spring, you can sit and rest q bit
before climbing over the mountain and
refresh yourself with a drink Of the
sparkling Shasta water. II you happen
to have a lime or a lemon and some
sugar conveniently at hand, you can
make a glass of delicious Shasta lem
onade-a nectar fit for the gods.',' After
resting awhile and watching the crowds
OF eager passengers who fairly poured
out of the train just in, stopping there
just twenty minutes to give everyone
an opportunity to sample the spring
water, 1 began to ascend the trail
Words will hardly describe the Won
drous beauty Of it all. Rustic bridges
at short intervals crossed and re-
crossed foaming, rushing waterfalls,
which spluttered and rushed beneath
my feet in their eagerness to reach the
river below
Ferns and wildaowers adorned the
Tath on every side in fairy-like profu-
sion, and at last, after a hard climb.
there is a breathing place found, where
p great basin of cool spring water in
vjtes you TO slake your thirst. The
spring is called the GLACIER" and It is
said TO cost 5000 a year to keep in re-
pair. Another shorter climb brings one
to the tableland where the cottages
and boarding house are built, and you
find yourself looking down upon the
springs 400 feet below you. looking
like a child's toy playhouse set against
toy trees and other infnitesimal green
things. Here I filed my lungs full
again and again with the fragrant
breath of the pines. Away to the right
stretches the highroad to Mott, four
miles away toward the mountain. and
turning you behold the purple and
white grandeur Of Shasta itself. stand
ing alone in solitary and lofty beauty
rearing its majestic snow-crowned
head till it seems lost in the blue vault
of heavens dome above him When
the sun sets ii touches old Shasta s
nightcap with fairy fingers, and 10,
rosy blush diffuses its surface and
for q short space, the white coldness Of
the snow crown Is changed 10 a warm
PINK, giving a marvelously beautiful
effect 10 the enchantment of the be-
holder They told me that there is less
STOW on Shasta's summit this summer
than there has been before in many
years. owing TO the unwonted heat of
July, which melted ii very rapidly If
YOU have not yet taken your vacation.
and have not decided upon your "des-
tiny's end" as rustic youth once
termed 1t. go to Shasta, whose lowell
pess viii well repay you. A friend of
mine once said of it: Il could live and
die there"
Miss Mary Lewis writes from Pacific
Grove. Monterey. Of lovely times en-
5oyed in that woodsey spot by the sea.