Letter from R[ichard] W[atson] Gilder to John Muir, 1899 Nov 2.

Abstract

[illegible]Tell you the news Prom Pour Brooks Parm? Well,But there is news to tell!As long as my arm. What, a new she-calf born To this world forlorn? Few things are finer Than a fine heifer-calf,And most things are minor;.But it \u27s better by half -The news that I speak of;Besides now we reek of Such farm news as this:You were here, when, what bliss!Alpha dropped on our planet,And we all ran to scan it.How it staggered and swayed,Groped, puckered, sucked, prayed On its knees, or it seemed so;But its mother never dreamed so,For there! what fun! Wisht!How the old cow it punished,With blows of its nose 2Till she rocked on her toes!-When its warm food it takes it -Your word, Herr Professor,Of instinct no less aMystery makes it;And so, Dr. Baldwin,Whatever it\u27s called inYour books,\u27t is as queer,As -lots of things here;-How the soft thing, with silk down,Had learned to bring milk downWithout any teaching,Example or preaching.-But the old cows so quick went To breeding, that such news, Calves being frequent,No longer is much news;If the cows keep enthused upWe \u27ll soon be to PhiAnd next summer will see All the Greek letters used up!- No this is not the news From Four Brooks Farm -Nor the ice-pond builtWhere Hermit Brook spilt;Nor the great pine we foundThunder-burst in the middleAnd spread on the groundLike the strings of a fiddle,Not of this, not of that,-Such news now were flat,But something far racier!Muir, of Alaska,Path-finder, cliff-basker,Known of bird, known of deer(Grizzlies know him, won\u27t harm),John Muir has been here,And has hitched to the farmA great blanket glacier!Don\u27t flout it! don\u27t doubt it!\u27T is as sure and as clearAs if on the rockWith chisel and knock,A giant of eldHis message had spelled,And ten thousand years afterWe read it,- with laughter05086 And loyal acclaim,-His ancestry, name, The work he was doing, The place whence he came, And the journey pursuing. This giant of eld.See his path, said John Muir,- Here it held North-west to south-east Slow and sure Like a king at a feast Eating down through the list: Inch by inch, crunch by crunch; Long Mountain was his lunch, Of this valley - one gobble,-Then he dined upon Cobble! This big boulder, he bore it; Through eons uncounted That range there he mounted, He tore it.Rock-grinding; strata bending; Always pausing;never ending; 0 what a grand rumpus! Now, down on your knees, Said Muir, and you please,05086 And out with your compass! (By the way -\u27t was Thoreau\u27s In the good long-agoes,) And then, in a trice, Where the quartz glistens white, Smooth as ice, In the clear slanting light The fine striae show,-Like arrows they go,-North-west to south-east Just as John Muir pleased!—And as he spoke I saw the huge creature glide With speed that scarcely lessened or increased Prom the far pole to ocean\u27s melting tide. Through countless boreal hours It moved on its torn pathway deep and wide; Its gelid bulk I saw Crunching the mountain tops with monstrous maw;-To make our Four Brooks Farm with all its flocks and flowers.R. W. GilderFall of 1898. Gilders4 Brook FarmRhymeGo rolling down to Rio Roll down roll down to [illegible] Editor of the India Rubber O Mon[illegible]s to the falls of Uruguay Smythe Channel - Straits Magellen Amazon begins to rise in Nov. increases in volume til June then falls until the end of October.The Madeira rises & falls 2 mos earlier.The Amazon stream N[illegible]ation Co English[State?] of Para yields 35 [up?] of the Amazon Basin rubber.The Cacao tree grows wild in great abundance Probably not 25 sq ms of the Am. basin cultivated[illegible]quitos 230