The west shore., June 01, 1888, Page 313, Image 23

THE WEST
SHORE. 313
A PICTURESQUE TOUR.
I AM about to invite the reader to follow me in " A
Picturesque Tour" from the northern base of
the Siskiyou mountains to the historic Straits of Fu
ca, not on foot, or horseback, in car, or carriage, or
steamer, but by the aid of the printed page. The
proposed trip, be it understood, is not to be a hurried
"scud" from start to finish, but a leisurely surrey of
a route in which the traveler will find many objects of
interest and admiration. For the globe-trotter, or
sight-seer, who is content to take a hurried glance at
a new country from a car window, and from the sight
of a fragment pass judgment on the whole, there will
be little of interest in what I am about to write; but
to those who are on the search for " fresh fields and
pastures new," and those who, having tourists' tick,
ets by rail, with stop-over privileges, and desire to
spend a few weeks, or the whole summer, from May
to October, in unconventional study of the northwest,
I imagine these pages will prove not uninteresting
or unsnggcstive. The average tourist, it is to be
hoped, for his comfort's sake, enters upon a summer's
outiDg with a heart attuned as much to the beauty of
nature as to the mere materialities of breakfast, din
ner, supper, an increased avoirdupois and sound
sleep. When, after having at some turn of the road
by which he arrives at Ashland lost sight of Mount
Shasta, the mountain monarch of Northern California,
he wonders what fresh surprise in the way of scenic
beauty and grandeur awaits him, let him prepare him
self for exquisite revelations. Let him also remem
ber that the Siskiyous have been made classic ground.
A few years ago a young mountain pine from that re
gion was selected as the class tree by the graduates
of the State University of Oregon. From one end of
this picturesque tour to the other, he will be, while
daylight lasts, in sight of the pine. Its resinous fra
grance will accompany him in his lying down and his
getting up. As a certain poet, whom I shall quote
somewhat at length, has said
Km day were bom and yearn
The pine a sacred unto Vtui.
Poets of all ages, from Virgil, with his ooucnfVs
linos, to Tennyson, with his weird and mystic inro
cation to Mother Ida, have helped to make the tree
immortal in song. However, it has remained, I think,
for an Oregon poet, Mr. Sam. L Simpaon come
nearer to the heart of the matter as to what is doe to
the chief grandeur of these northwestern woods,
through which this tour runs, than either Virgil or
Tennyson, or any man who wrote before them or Las
written since. As class tree poet in 1&S5, his theme
was " The Pine." Hear him
Oh, proudly In the Sinklyou
II is princely Iril arixe and reljjn,
And pi delight of summer do,
Anil strength of winter's toiling- strain
While bright madrona it their side
Like courtly inw abide,
Anil tell the scarlet lad they w6
As sytntioU of a potion slain.
A rul then, like nome barbaric kinf,
All mailed In brune red dragon scales,
The pine trvfl tocr-glad to IlintC
II in royal rnniitns to the plea
And in bin ru!a of golden green,
That glinlen with a vibrant tiwii.
And garnUhed with bright cones, that salng
Like Jewel, over all prevail.
The Gothic mlntitrei of tho woi!,
Ho sing the lightest lullaby,
Or. swept by winter's fitful inotsls,
The battle ( bants, and loud and high
The Pyrrhic numlwr ri and roll
To midnight Mara, and earth' grrat and
Wail in tho solemn Interlude
Of death and won that never die.
Tho shriek of shlj and war of aaves,
And fury of the blarn hlng surge,
Tlie denotation of lotto graves,
And shout that Mill the onwt urg
The nob of maidens In despair
And all sad sounds of earth and air,
The harp of Thof, o'rr pesks and caves,
Pdenda In the an and the dirge.
Theso words make the Hiakiyous classic grouud
for all time. You, reader, haro started out on a pic
turesqoo tour. There is no particular reason why
you should make it a sentimental one. For all that,
it is well cnough-indoed, it is bettrto carry along
with you a heart attuned to tho gentler and kinder
sympathies of humanity, and it svms to ino that,
whether you are lying out under the stars, with now
and then a stray falling nllo In tr,, ,,ic'
ing your eyebrow, as if the dagger of Puck had U u
thrust into you by that mischievous sprite while on
one of his earth-girdling mission, or whether ym sre
snugly ensooncM under a cottage roof in tho !go of
a "clearing," your mind will bo more In harmony
with nature and her high prints, health, real and
sleep, if tho reonant and majtic liu- of the t
sre set to the music of your thoughts, reminding you
that humanity Is the same on s- and land, In the
shock of the tempest and the hush and calm of a sum.
mcr night beneath the pine of tho great northwest
Uut it is not tho pine alone which gloriGe tho land
scape. The poet further sings -
All vtit'A tl sil rrpa
A tlii I iA chaffs loir hi,
Whrrw Jon' a Wnli snfdirfM sW
On iU iuf Lvs and IniM tr,
AiA v1 hbta IU Wfy &"tn
With A B'it ,n Momu.
Strength and Waot; clasp hands in tv;rth.
western forest aisle.