. . .And gulch and forest overcast With mantle ominous and vast, Nestling amid the spruce and pine, Which fringe the edge of timberline, This miner's cabin, quaint and rude, From the surrounding forest hewed, With primitive, yet stable form, Withstood the onslaught of the storm, And at the entrance of a dell Stood as a rustic sentinel. Beneath a pine's protecting skirt, It reared its modest roof of poles, Laid close, then overlaid with dirt, To cover up the cracks and holes; The intervals between the logs Were daubed with mud from mountain bogs. The ground did service as a floor In this, as many huts before; So beaten down beneath the tread, It more resembled tile instead. 25 The plastic clay, compressed and sleek, Was level and as hard as brick. Protruding boulders, smooth and bare, Exposed their faces here and there; And with their surfaces displayed, A primitive mosaic made. And, terminating in a stack, Some feet above the cabin's roof, The fireplace,. . . Read More