FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155  
156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   >>   >|  
"But didn't you ask me again and again to help you to know the mountains as I know them?" "Yes," he said, "but you would not promise." "I did better than promise"--she returned--"I brought you, from the mountains themselves, their three greatest gifts." He shook his head, with the air of a backward schoolboy--"Won't you read the lesson?" "If you will work while I talk, I will," she answered--amused by the hopelessness of his manner and tone. Obediently, he took up his brushes, and turned toward his picture. Removing her hat, she seated herself on the ground, where she had woven the willow basket for the fish. After a moment's silence, she began--timidly, at first, then with increasing confidence as she found words to express her charming fancy. "First, you must know, that in all the wild life of the mountains there is no creature so strong--in proportion to its size and weight, I mean--as the trout that lives in the mountain streams. Its home is in the icy torrents that are fed by the snows of the highest peaks and canyons. It lives, literally, in the innermost heart and life of the hills. It seeks its food at the foot of the falls, where the water boils in fierce fury; where the current swirls and leaps among the boulders; and where the stream rushes with all its might down the rocky channels. With its muscles, fine as tempered steel, it forces its way against the strength of the stream--conquering even the fifty-foot downward pour of a cataract. Its strength is a silent strength. It has no voice other than the voice of its own beautiful self. And all its gleaming colors you may see, in the morning and in the evening, tinting the mighty heads and shoulders and sides of the hills themselves. And so, the first gift that I brought you--fresh from the mountain's heart--was the gift of the mountain's strength. "The second gift was gathered from bushes that were never planted by the hand of man. They grow as free and untamed as the rains that water them, and the earth that feeds them, and the sunshine that sweetens hem. In them is the flavor of mountain mists, and low hung clouds, and shining dew; the odor of moist leaf-mould, and unimpoverished soil; the pleasant tang of the sunshine; and the softer sweetness of the shady nooks where they grow. In the second gift, I brought you the purity, and the flavor of the mountains." "And to-day"--she finished simply--"to-day I have brought you the beauty of the h
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155  
156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

brought

 

strength

 

mountain

 

mountains

 

sunshine

 

flavor

 

promise

 
stream
 

cataract

 

beautiful


gleaming
 

swirls

 

silent

 

muscles

 
tempered
 
channels
 

rushes

 

colors

 

downward

 

conquering


boulders

 

forces

 

bushes

 

unimpoverished

 
clouds
 

shining

 

pleasant

 
simply
 

finished

 

beauty


purity

 

softer

 

sweetness

 

shoulders

 

gathered

 

mighty

 

morning

 

evening

 
tinting
 

current


untamed

 

sweetens

 

planted

 

streams

 

amused

 

answered

 

hopelessness

 

manner

 
lesson
 

Obediently