I see snakes in all withered
twigs, and am ready to flee at "the sound of a shaken leaf." And
besides snakes, the earth and air are alive and noisy with forms
of insect life, large and small, stinging, humming, buzzing,
striking, rasping, devouring!
[8] The curative effect of the climate of Colorado can hardly be
exaggerated. In traveling extensively through the Territory
afterwards I found that nine out of every ten settlers were cured
invalids. Statistics and medical workers on the climate of the
State(as it now is) represent Colorado as the most remarkable
sanatorium in the world.
I. L. B.
Letter V
A dateless day - "Those hands of yours" - A Puritan - Persevering
shiftlessness - The house-mother - Family worship - A grim Sunday - A
"thick-skulled Englishman" - A morning call - Another
atmosphere - The Great Lone Land - "Ill found" - A log camp - Bad
footing for horses - Accidents - Disappointment.
CANYON, September.
The absence of a date shows my predicament. THEY have no
newspaper; _I_ have no almanack; the father is away for the day,
and none of the others can help me, and they look contemptuously
upon my desire for information on the subject. The monotony will
come to an end to-morrow, for Chalmers offers to be my guide over
the mountains to Estes Park, and has persuaded his wife "for once
to go for a frolic"; and with much reluctance, many growls at the
waste of time, and many apprehensions of danger and loss, she has
consented to accompany him.
