VOL. 1 No. 8
t'OHTLAXl), OUEGOX, MARCH, 1876. USSS-!
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FRONT STREET, PORTLAND, LOOKING SOUTH FROM ALDER.
AN OREGON SPRING.
F. V, VlCtOR.
How t should like to write to you. sweet Spring,
A lovely little song elout tho'tmds,
And the deer, early flowers ; hut then the thing
Is done so often, that I few no words
Could be selected, the! wonld not seem stale,
To one so used to praise, and you'll "Xtum
Sly dressing up a three times thrice told tale
In the poor speech of my ungraceful muse.
We will therefore disnse with flighty
ol fancy and confine ourselves to facts. An
Oregon Spring is apt to be shower)'. There
is such an overplus of moisture in the
earth tlutt when the warm sun begins a
rapid evaporation, the work has to be done
over and over again; for no sooner docs
the invisible vapor get " sky-high," than a
cool current of air comes down from the
mountains and condensing it at a touch,
precipitates the same moisture upon us
th.u we vainly fancied had been gotten rid
of. And so we have flying showers in
plenty, and every now and then a genuine
louring rain.
Humanity grows rather tired, sometimes,
of this sort of thing. Hut the earth en
joys it If you do not believe it, come
w ith me to the woods, and I w ill prove it
to you aye, even now. in March. The
tutf in the flat or hollow places is soaked
with water, like a sponge, and if you do
not step carefully you will press it out over
your shoe-totis; but by dint of quick eyes
and agile movement, you will csca any
serious mishaps. Climbing over logs,
jumping weather ditches, and crossing
creeks, furnishes the necessary excitement
and exercise by which you keep off a
chill; for if you were to sit down to Sum
mer reveries at this time of year, the doc
tor would be in requisition directly.
Here we are at last, at the very foot of
the mountain; and what docs this forest
recess furnish us ? Wliat magnificent great
treesl Fir, cedar, and here and there along
this little creek, a yew, a maple, or an
alder. I lardly a ray of sunshine ever pen
etrates this green and purple gloom.
Spring and Fall, Winter and Summer are
much the same here a difference only
of water, In Summer the creek is within
hounds, ami you can lie on the mosses, at
you feel disposed. What! lie on the
mosses ? ever)' one of which seems such a
marvel of beauty! What a wonderful -what
a charming spoil I never, in all my
life !" (
No, of course you never saw anything
like it. This is the only country out of the
tropics where vegetation has such a. rt
markablc growth. Here arc a down ktiids
of elegant green mosses in a group,. to suy
nothing ol the tiny gray, and brown aiia
yellow varieties with which we lave always
lieen familiar, beside lichens innumerable.