phases of Nature and all
the moving variation of the atmosphere. At one time they are
cloud-capped and surrounded with fog, and then in an incredibly
short time they are glittering in a halo of sunlight. As one beholds
their majestic heads, around which the storms of centuries have
beat, disappear as twilight changes into night, he can but feel
oppressed with the gloom and melancholy of the scene. But in the
morning, when--

"Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops,"

he can but conclude with Ruskin, that "mountain scenery has been
prepared in order to unite as far as possible and in the closest
compass every means of delighting and sanctifying the heart of man.
Mountains seem to have been built for the human race, as at once
their schools and cathedrals, full of treasures of illuminated
manuscript for the scholar, kindly in simple lessons to the worker,
quiet in pale cloisters for the thinker, glowing in holiness for the
worshipper."

Then, again, a country road is a good place to become acquainted
with some forms of animal and vegetable life. The odors of growing
vegetation, the movement of squirrels and other creatures, and the
song of birds, all have a tendency to impress one with the idea that
the material world is animated with life. And when the sun pours
down a flood of glowing sunlight, and swathes the traveller and the
whole world with its glowing and life-giving beams, he realizes that
the sun is the source of every material blessing. In the city people
know in a general way that the sun is the source of heat and light,
and that he adds to their comfort and convenience, as do the
electric light and the fire on the hearth; but they hardly realize
that his rays are necessary for their existence, to say nothing of
their comfort, for even a week. But when a traveller in the morning
sees all animated Nature stirring and rejoicing with the throbbings
of warmed and rejuvenated life; when he looks out over the landscape
and sees the sun raising in misty vapors the water which supplies
our springs, lakes, and streams, and refreshes the earth in showers
of rain, he realizes that the sun is not only the fire which warms
the world, but it is also the mighty hydraulic engine of Nature.

These are some of the enjoyments of the way; but every thoughtful
and observing traveller knows that they cannot be enumerated. Like
Burroughs, "he is not isolated, but one with