Burroughs.
"Ask him about it," said the latter, "ask him." So I did.
"Bless you, I never cut down the trees--I only sawed those the
Lord had felled."
The storms that swept down the mountains had laid these monarchs
low, and the thrifty Scot had merely taken advantage of the ill
winds, at the same time helping nature to get rid of the debris.
"How does this compare with Esopus Valley, Johnnie?" Mr. Muir was
fond of asking Mr. Burroughs, when he saw the latter gazing in
admiration at mighty El Capitan, or the thundering Yosemite
Falls. Or he would say, "How is that for a piece of glacial work,
Johnnie?" as he pointed to Half Dome and told how the glacier had
worn off at least half a mile from its top, and then had sawed
right down through the valley.
"O Lord! that's too much, Muir," answered Mr. Burroughs. He
declared that it stuck in his crop--this theory that ice alone
accounts for this great valley cut out of the solid rocks. When
the Scot would get to riding his ice-hobby too hard, Mr. Burroughs
would query, "But, Muir, the million years before the ice age--what
was going on here then?'
"Oh, God knows," said Mr. Muir, but vouchsafed no further explanation.
[Illustration: John Burroughs and John Muir in the Yosemite. From
a photograph by F.
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