" ... then kneeling quietly down... "

4,, March, 2018

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Yosemite Trails

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In this passage Chase depicts a wonderful vignette, of man

and beast experiencing the dreaded mosquito in the great

Sierra wilderness, where this hardly visible resident commands

the environment, unmercifully to Chase and company.

The beast seems to have more successfully mitigated the

  problem; at least in Mr. Chase's admiring eyes!

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" Mosquitoes descended upon us in swarms while we ate

our supper. They also follow the spring, and here they

were in full zest of the joy of life. Three smudges and 

the same number of pipes, all working industriously,

hardly abated their ardor, and we could but sit and endure

while we waited for them to succumb to the chill of the

falling temperature. 

The animals, neglecting the excellent pasturage of the

meadow, came and stood with us in the lee of the smudges,

gazing at us with glistening eyes. 

Our favorite, Jenny, with superior strategy, would invite 

the tormentors to settle freely upon her; then kneeling

quietly down she would suddenly but carefully roll over

upon them - and arise gloriously besmeared with the blood

of the slain. "

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