Mexico Missouri message., 1918-07-18
ADay With NatureIn
The 6lumbineSta
Concluded from page 1,)

fields of growing grains made de-
lightful contrast in color against
the somber greens, of the spruce
and pine trees beyond. Along the
path were the deepest blue hya-
cinths, the reddest of wild rosebuds
and dozens of the bluebell variety,
Indian pinks, lavender loco, which
IL a COW eats will make her think
she has snakes in her boots, and
many other kinds of flowers which
we had never seen before.
This path led us to the top of
Lookout Mountain" they had so
named II because from there we
could see for hundreds of miles in
all directions. The hill itself with
it's balsam trees, Towering bushes
and great boulders was a fine place
to picnic but we were told to look
this way and see the great continen-
tai divide, a great line of snow
caps. The sun was shining on them
and gave them a warm flesh tinge,
the shadows a delicate lavender
blue below, the blue hills in shad-
ov. still nearer, the foothills with
a tinge of green. In another direc-
tion was the Sangre de Christie
range, another the Pixies Peak re-
gion and to the west the mountains
gradually merging into the plains.
The next hike was thru trail
which Lawrence Karr and Mr.. Boil
court had located. They had also
nailed signs all along the way which
added in witty way to thepleasure
of the walk. First, they they led us
thru "Pole-cat Gulch," swampy
little ravine, but we didn't see the
polecat: we weren't regretting that
much. then tru a lane surrounded
bv hundreds of forest pines. This
they called Squirrel Forest" and 1t
was truly named for we heard the
tinv SQUIRRELS barking at eachother.
One we saw on a limb so near us
that could see him bat his eyes.
The mountain squirrels are very
small and gray in color. Their
breasts are dove-colored and their
tails are not very large nor very
bushy.
Then we had to go thru Button
hole Squeeze" before we could go
any further. Two quaking aspens
had grown out of the same roofing
place, separated for a space of "a
bout four feet then entwined their
arms about eachother leaving per-
feet buttonhole, and had we been as
fat as Col. Jim Johnson we would
have had to climb the trees and
gone down on the other side.
We then took crooked path
which they had named the "Zigg
Zagg-Zaugg" trail, in honor of us.
Well, we decided If we were as
crooked as that trail we should have
been locked up in the county Jail
long ago.
All of us were getting a little
winded by now and my head had a
high altitude ache which made me
ready to drop as we came into a
cunningly arranged room called
"Rest-a-Bit' We had no more than
dropped on the carpet of soft pine
needles till our eyes saw another
room adjoining which had a pla-
| card on a small tree which fomed
| the doorway. 1t read, Keep Co
ing" A number Of tired sighs went
about the pretty little room formed
of trees growing in a circle.
But we were too inquisitive to
sit still, so from one room to anoth-
er we went. The trees had formed
bower house that would delight a
child for a playhouse.
Nearby we came to spring
where we drank and exclaimed,
my, how cold! This would put ice
water to test"
On we walked thru Lovers
Lane" thru "Porcupine Ridge" and
Nr ntl tl.nV. S,f nntt1
only this one was larger American
flags draped the entrance and sur
rounded the large room. A ham
mock was hung, a log at one side
was just the shape and size for a
couch. Here were pillows. Soon we
had a fire blazing. 1t didn't feel
amiss. Someone ran to a spring q
| few feet away and brought a bucket
of cream, one of milk and home
made cottage cheese and butter.
Another roasted the meat, another
cooked peas while the rest spread
the eats from baskets onto the ta-
blecloth. My! what a dinner. All
the milk we could drink. Real milk,
| too. They gave us a bucket of it
to bring home.
After dinner l painted a picture
of Pixies Peak with the clouds of
an approaching mountain storm.
My canvas 16x96 inches, and it was
painted in shower, finished in the
sunshine.
Just as we were going home we
gathered huge punches of colum-
bines. o the pleasure of those flow-
ers have given so many away
that l think we'll have to go up
there again soon.
The ride home was grand. Our
arms loaded with flowers, the cool,
clean air gradually getting warmer
as we neared Manitou and the pret-
ty sunset effect or the mountain
| tops is more than L can describe.
In Manitou folks would look at our
columbines and say, "Oh, look at
those eolumbines!" and end up with
| an enVious sigh. One has to go
pretty high to get these. We were
ten thousand feet in the air when
we gathered them.
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