The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-28
CHARM OF AUTUMN CAMPING

Rise in the heart and gather to the
eyes.
On looking on the happy autumn fields
And thinking Of the days that are no
more"
Whether you are camping alone or
with a party of friends. you will spend
hours and hours just thinking and
dreaming, and your thoughts will not
dwell upon the world you have left be-
hind you.
What perfect nights for sleeping out
of doors are the cold. crisp ones of
| October or early November How
much more you appreciate the camp
fire when ii becomes a necessity rather
than a mere pleasure. You pile your
green hemlock boughs on the burning
logs, which crackle and send out
nyriads of sparks and fragrant fumes,
and you sit for hours forgetting every
thing, even the flight of time, and Just
listen to the voices of the night. The
stiffness which reigns over all is vocal!
yet profound, for the calls of the wild
creatures intensity rather than disturb
II. The katydids hiding in the wild
grape vines keep up sharp debate:
sad, lonely calls of the whip-poor-will
come from out the dark recesses Of the
forest, and sometimes the weird, shiv-
ering cry of loon reverberates from
the father shore of the lake
With little f1uttering starts and
struggles for new life, the fire slowly
dies down to smOuldering embers, but
still you sit there, deep in reveries.
You listen to the water gently tapping
the shore and making little splashes on
the sides of your boat and you watch
the big, bright stars in their slow pro-
cession across the heavens peeping out
now and then through the tops of the
dark hemlocks and birches. Perhaps
you will feel that now you can fully
appreciate those words you once read
in one of Ralph Corners books. How
mysterious the world is when night
makes it lone and empty" At last you
are aroused from your dreaming by
the keen chill of a fall night and en-
tering your tent lie down upon your
fragrant bed of balsam boughs for six
hours of sweet, peaceful slumber.
To step out into the keen frosty air
of carly morning and see the blue lake
shining through the forest aisles, which
seem afire with the glorious colors Of
autumn; to hear the bluejays shrilly
calling and the squirrels quarreling
over the newly fallen chestnuts; to look
across to the distant hillside and see
the early sun shining on the scarlet
flare of surnachs-well, to say the least,
il makes you feel that the poet who
said, What is so rare as q day in
June" should have changed his month
to that of October.
Will you ever forget the beauty OF
those autumn sunsets when the sun
drops lower behind the clouds, until
it finally disappears below the western
slope, leaving sky and water bathed in
tints of gold?
And then those twilight moments
which fOlloW-thOSe moments when you
forget everything in the whole world
but the beauty and mystery around
you. The hush and the fragrant still
ness, as dark creeps on, seem almost
too sacred to be broken by human
voice Perhaps, as you stand looking
off across the quiet lake, you see a
deer shyly emerge from the forest and
drink at the lakeside, then suddenly
dart back again into the shadows as
the dreaded scent of man is borne to
him on the wind.
When the dreamy, smoky days of au-
tumn call you to the silent woods
pack your camp outfit and answer the
call. Leave all business cares behind
and let your heart and mind be free
TO receive the restful peace which is
so generously offered you by this
Season of languorous gold and hazy
drouth;
Natures beauty ripened to the core. I"