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LADIES' HOME JOURNAL
LIBRARY OF FICTION
THE SPIRIT OF
SWEETWATER
BY
HAMLIN GARLAND
AUTHOR OF
WAYSIDE COURTSHIPS
MAIN-TRAVELED ROADS
PRAIRIE SONGS, ETC.
PHILADELPHIA
CURTIS PUBLISHING
COMPANY
NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY &
McCLURE CO.
Copyright, 1898, by
HAMLIN GARLAND
TO
JESSIE VIOLA
AND
HARRIET EDITH GARLAND
[Illustration: Hamlin Garland]
_THE MYSTERY OF MOUNTAINS_
_As the sun sinks
And the cañons deepening in color
Add mystery to silence
Then the lone traveller lying out-stretched
Beneath the silent pines on some high range
Watches and listens in ecstasy of fear
And timorous admiration._
_In the roar of the stream he catches
The reminiscent echo of colossal cataracts;
In the cry of the cliff-bird
He thinks he hears the eagle's scream
Or yowl of far-off mountain-lion;
In the fall of a loose rock
He fancies the menacing footfall of the grizzly bear;
And in the black deeps of the lower cañon
His dreaming eyes detect once more
Prodigious lines of buffalo crawling snake-wise
Athwart the stream,
Or files of Indian warriors
Winding downward to the distant plain,
Where camp-fires gleam like stars._
Part I
The Spirit of Sweetwater