eep. During these nights I watched my
flaming fountain of fire brighten, fade, surge, and change, or shower
its spray of sparks upon the surrounding snow-flowers. Strange
reveries I have had by these winter camp-fires. On a few occasions
mountain lions interrupted my thoughts with their piercing, lonely
cries; and more than once a reverie was pleasantly changed by the
whisper of a chickadee in some near-by tree as a cold comrade snuggled
up to it. Even during the worst of nights, when I thought of my lot at
all. I considered it better than that of those who were sick in houses
or asleep in the stuffy, deadly air of the slums.

"Believe me, 'tis something to be cast
Face to face with thine own self at last."

[Illustration: A MAN WITH A HISTORY]

Not all nights were spent outdoors. Many a royal evening was passed in
the cabin of a miner or a prospector, or by the fireside of a family
who for some reason had left the old home behind and sought seclusion
in wild scenes, miles from neighbors. Among Colorado's mountains there
are an unusual number of strong characters who are trying again. They
are strong because broken plans, lost fortunes, or shattered health
elsewhere have not ended their efforts or changed their ideals. Many
are trying to restore health, some are trying again to prosper, others
are just making a start in life, but there are a few who, far from
the madding crowd, are living happily the simple life. Sincerity,
hope, and repose enrich the lives of those who live among the crags
and pines of mountain fastnesses. Many a happy evening I have had with
a family, or an old prospector, who gave me interesting scraps of
autobiography along with a lodging for the night.

The snow-fall on the mountains of Colorado is very unevenly
distributed, and is scattered through seven months of the year. Two
places only a few miles apart, and separated by a mountain-range, may
have very different climates, and one of these may have twice as much
snow-fall as the other. On the middle of the upper slopes of the
mountains the snow sometimes falls during seven months of the year.
At an altitude of eleven thousand feet the annual fall amounts to
eighteen feet. This is several times the amount that falls at an
altitude of six thousand feet. In a locality near Crested Butte the
annual fall is thirty feet, and during snowy winters even fifty feet.
Most winter days are clear, and the climate less severe than is
usually imagined