NOTE.--The lines in this little book, as in all my others, were
written, or at least conceived, in the lands where the scenes are
laid; so that whatever may be said of the imperfections of my work,
I at least have the correct atmosphere and color. I have now and
then sent forth from Mexico, and from remoter shores of the Gulf,
fragments of these thoughts as they rounded into form, and some
of them have been used at a Dartmouth College Commencement, and
elsewhere; but as a whole the book is new.
From the heart of the Sierra, where I once more hear the awful
heart-throbs of Nature, I now intrust the first reception of these
lessons entirely to my own country. And may I not ask in return,
now at the last, when the shadows begin to grow long, something
of that consideration which, thus far, has been accorded almost
entirely by strangers?
Joaquin Miller.
Mount Shasta, California,
A.D. 1887.