Vagabond Editorials

By Jack Dionne

The mountains they are silent folk; They stand afar-alone, And the clouds that kiss their brows at night Hear neither sigh nor groan. Each bears him in his ordered place As soldiers do, and bold and high They fold their forests round their feet, And bolster up the sky.

-Hamlin Garland

Vacationing this summer? Want some advice? Well, that's simple. Drive out of San Francisco over the new Golden Gate Bridge, and up through the Redwood Empire -the grandest road drive in America-to,the great Pacific No'rthwest, "Where Rolls the Oregon." You get your eyes and mind both filled to overflowing..

fn the Northwest the high\i'ays roll along through beautiful green mountainous country that presents such a variety of beauty and wonderment as to keep the surprised adjectives of the visitor in constant use. Out of Portland you can drive delightedly along the "Oregon," now the Columbia. You can climb Mount Hood, or beautiful symmetrical Mt. Helens, if you like snow in your neck.

You can drive through countless miles of orchards bearing luscious fruit; apples, cherries, prunes; plums, and other species, wonderful both to see and taste. Honest, Mister, did you ever sink your teeth in one of those huge, black Washington cherries that you find in all the markets in Seattle? Two bites to a cherry, or I'm the biggest liar on earth'

And on and on you can drive, with wonders all about you. Ever play golf at Everett, Washington, with the Cascades thrusting their ridge of tops through the sky on one side, and the Olympics piercing the clouds on the other? And between the two toward the South on a clear day Mount Rainier lifts its magnificent head to make all the other mountains of the territory trook cheap and small by comnarisont

Want a genuine thrill that will send the goose pimples into protninence on your back, and make every hair on your head tingle like a Jew's-harp? Then sit down in the Tacoma territory below Mount Rainier late on a clear after- noon. And after the dusk creeps in below, and all about you there is semi-darkness, you look up and there the sun is just setting on the top of the mountain. And it will come nearer to making you kneel and pray than anything you ever encountered in your life. For the peak of Rainier is a glorified ice cream cone, mighty in size, splendid in contour, white and glistening with snow and ice, and when the sun that has already left the earth below to darkness still plays upon that unforgetable mountain top, it furnishes you a sight that will live in your memory as long as it endures. No wonder the Indians called it "The Mountain that was God." It was the sun setting on the peak while the world below was draped in darkness that brought the Indians to their knees in worship. And it will, come mighty near doing the same thing to you.

A few steps off the Redwood Highway in Humboldt County, California, you can see the highest tree that grows on the face of this earth. It is a giant Redwood that grows near the tow:r of Weott. Three hundred and sixty-four' feet it towers above the earth; and there it has towered for tfiousands of years, looking down on the comings and goings, the living and the dying of poor little men things, and whispering to itself musingly, I have no doubt, of their little importance.

A jaunt north from ai"J.;ritish columbia is some, thing to write home and tell your girl friends about. Two glorious cities, enchahtingly located in the midst of Nature's grandest gifts of scenery, are Vancouver and Victoria. One of them is Canada at its finest and grandest. The other is still old England, quaint and o,ld-fashioned and so beautifui you can hardly believe it. Both surrounded by sparkling waters, high mountains, green forests, mighty trees, scenic things that delight the senses. You can go by boat, which is a wonderful daylight ride from Seattle, or by motor. Grand, either way.

If you are a lover of trees, the whole trip from San Francisco to Vancouver is a sequence of wonderful trees and impressive forests. Trees grow big all along this route. The Redwoods in California are the largest trees you will ever see. But all the commercial trees of the West Coast grow big. You will see Douglas Fir, and Hemlock, and Red Cedar, and Spruce, mixed with a certain sprinkling of lesser

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