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Show 264 a meditation on Nature's violence which began when he considered the alligator. Although First Summer is an edited and rewritten version of forty year old journals, the pattern of his thought on June 13, 1869, seems characteristic. He considered the struggle in Nature and then chose not to deal with it. Absorbed by the day, he thought "Life seems neither long nor short, . . . This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality." So his meditation began as he looked around at herbacious plants which had "come this far up the mountains from the plains." He was enchanted by the rich seven foot growth of ferns under Pilot Peak. They reminded him of a tropical forest. At times, they even hid the sheep, which is to say they eradicated his worldly cares. Surrounded by this "fairyland created out of the commonest fern-stuff," Muir began to observe lizards. He admired their "beautiful, innocent eyes," their bright colors, and their "soft, sly ease and grace of a snake." He thought of them as "gentle saurians," descendants of a mighty race, who were as lovable as creatures covered with feathers, hair, or cloth. Perhaps he was reminded of the alligators he had seen in Florida; in any case he began to consider extinct elephants, mastadons, and finally the fierce beasts of the present Sierra. Surprisingly, he was "almost tempted at times to regard a small savage black ant as the master existence of this vast mountain world." Had the ferociousness of life diminished? Under the surface of his meditation, he seemed to be led, almost unconsciously, |