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Show 143 nature of spiritual journeys. Nevertheless Muir did settle down in Oakland for a while to write Studies in the Sierra. He conceived his book of Studies a full year before his journey into the glacial womb, and he thought of it as the magnum opus of his Yosemite years. But he continued to put off the project; he might become distracted from his main work by writing his thoughts too soon, more than by even "the distasteful and depressing labor of the mill or guiding." He asked Jeanne Carr, Suppose I should give some of the journals my first thoughts about this glacier work as I go along, and afterwards gather them and press them for the Boston wise. Or will it be better to hold my wheesht and say it all at a breath? He didn't wish to pick half-formed thoughts like dead botanical specimens before they matured and turned to fruit. Even if he could send certain flowers of his experience to the press as decorative essays, he would still devote his energy and enthusiasm to a more substantial and mature project: Well, here it is - the only book I ever have invented. First, I will describe each glacier with its tributaries separately, then describe the rocks and hills and mountains over which they have flowed or past which they have flowed, endeavoring to prove that all of the various forms which those rocks now have is the necessary result of the ice action in connection with their structure and cleavage. . . . Then, armed with these data, I will |