A Mountain Boyhood — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
A Mountain Boyhood
John Stuart Mill · en
The work afforded none of the opportunities for fame and glory that had
lurked in the trails of my heroes; I did not creep stealthily from a
wagon train in the dead of night to thwart the redmen in a fiendish
massacre; I was not compelled to kill game to furnish food for my
charges; I did not have to find fords across wide, deep and treacherous
unknown rivers, and steer panic-stricken cattle or heavily laden oxen
across them. But even though the work lacked the glamour of the
pioneers' primitive, golden day, it was not without engrossing
interests. It was filled with drama, relieved by comedy, sometimes
fraught with tragedy.
Yes; styles in guides have changed since Bill Cody scouted the plains,
even as they have changed since I piloted my first party up Long's
Peak. A new breed has sprung up since the people have made such wide
use of their National Parks. Not only the modern guides outwit the
savage elements, but, under the National Park administration, they are
required to have a fund of general information, especially nature lore,
to be able to identify the thousands of varieties of wild flowers, the
birds, animals and trees; to conduct field classes in geology, and to
explain every phenomenon of weather and climate. Such a guide must
have the patience to answer numberless questions. All this in addition
to watching his charges, as a nurse watches her patients, feeling their
pulses, so to speak, and taking their physical and moral temperatures.
He must keep up their morale with entertaining yarns, he must restrain
their too ambitious experience, must protect them from their own
foolhardiness. He must have the charity to forbear deriding their
stupidity. He must be as courageous and resourceful as the old-time
guides, though his trials may not be so spectacular. A guide soon
plumbs a man's character and fathoms its weakness and its strength.
As a boy guide I trailed far into the wilds with hunting parties, and
camped through the summers with fishermen, geologists, explorers and
mountain climbers. The reaction of individuals to the open spaces has
ever been interesting to me. I have seen voluble women silent before
the awesome beauty. I have seen phlegmatic business men moved to
tears. There was no way of anticipating people's reactions.
Nearly all climbers dread the altitude of the high country. It is the
"Old Man of the Sea" to most "tenderfeet." It has as many forms as the
clouds and changes them as readily. It pounces upon the innocent but
not unsuspicious wayfarer in the form of nosebleed, short wind,
earache, balky watches, digestive troubles, sleeplessness and
oversleeping.