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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1888)
HE WEST rr ORE Uth Year. JANUARY, 1888. No. 1. 7- 3 AUL RENFREW, the artist, had gone into the heart of the the Sierras to make sketches for the fall exhibition. He hoped to put his soul, figurative ly SDeakincr. on can- fjvas, and win both fame and fortune at one stroke. fxsiSi It was mid-summer far 'SJjj''' f down in the valleys, tut 1 itude of these hoary mountains was yet a touch of winter just enough, however, to make the air delightful, ly exhilarating, and the nights full if.; of delicious repose. He was poor, " damnably poor, he often muttered, when rent day came and left him but a scanty al lowance with which to eke out the succeeding month. The world had been slow to recognize in him the birthmark of genius. Older heads, if not more divinely gifted, who wielded the brush with a steadier hand, had hitherto overshadowed him. But he was gradually coming into favor with a discerning public, and he looked forward with reasonable ex pectations to a bright and prosperous future. He pitched his camp in a little cove close beside a mountain rivulet, in whoso crystal depths multi tudes of silvery trout shot to and fro like a weaver's shuttle, He looked about upon the grand panorama with an almost overwhelming sense of bis own little ness. Gradually this was succeeded by a feeling of exultation a quicker leaping of arterial blood a EL UVf WW b Ml - rTt '.II . s; t . k K ; II l.ai3:rja3EE3a i i r dumb, intense longing to ponotrato even tho " holy of holies" of naturo's temples, and with a daring, though reverential, hand, to make her secrets his very own, attain heights hitherto undreamed of. In tho pres ence of these immutable monuments of tho handi work of the Almighty, all his soul's best and purest aspirations leaped to tho surface; the selfish and baao crept under cover. Tho sky looked so bluo-heaven seemed so near, and tho sordid, grasping world bo far away. That first night ho slept tho sleep of tho junt. Ho woko with tho dawn, new lifo tingling in his veins and oozing at his finger tips. After a hasty breakfast ho started out on a voyago of discovery. Ho had no fear, either of molestation or of losing his way. Ho was accustomed to follow ing mountain trails, and roaming for weeks at a timo in solitary, isolated places. Ho had grown to lovo this wild, Bohemian sort of life, and he was never bo much at homo as when, with knapsack and camping outfit, ho was off for his an nual summer jaunt After a time, however, ho becaino awaro that ho had lost his bearings. Ho had been so loat in won der and admiration, so filled with tho keenest enjoy ment, that ho had utterly forgotten to note any land marks. Ho must have traveled a long distance, for ho was a fast walker and it was already high noon. Tho thought suggested itself, that, perhaps, after all, ho might have been traveling in a circle, and was nearer camp than ho suspected, if ho only knew tho precise location of that much-desired haven. Ho had heard of such instances before. It would never do to sit down and quietly fold his hand. Tho afternoon would soon pass, and night drops swiftly and early in mountain fastnesses. Besides, there was another ur gent causo for action. A raan'i firt seiwo of discom fort proclaims itself in tho pit of his stomach. Paul