Newberry Library - George Frederick Augustus Ruxton papers, ca. 1839-1948

George Frederick Augustus Ruxton papers, ca. 1839-1948

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Open book George Frederick Augustus Ruxton papers, ca. 1839-1948

Title George Frederick Augustus Ruxton papers, ca. 1839-1948

Creator Ruxton, George Frederick Augustus, 1820-1848

Date 1839-1948

Language English

Summary Collection includes correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, manuscript notes, drafts, copies, etc., mostly relating to Ruxton's travels in America.

Extent 0.2 linear feet (1 box)

Format Correspondence, Photographs, Clippings

User-Contributed Transcription upper right corner: 3With the world for our cathedral and nature for an altar, what meretricious aid do we require to stir up in ouur hearts sensations of awe or of devotion. In the vallies and the mountains, in the seas, the lakes and rivers, God speaks through his high priest, Nature the word of power and truth. What seek we more to prove his omnipotence and glory, for us his loved children doth he not provide spectacles of awful grandeur, scenes of soft and pleasing beauty, compared to which the cunningly devised allurements wrought by children of men are as fire sparks in lustre to the stars of heaven.Doubt, if your soul allows you, his power and truth. Go ahead then unbeliever and cast your eyes around you: look to yonder mountain piled in stupendous blocks into the clouds of heaven. Behold its gorgeous canopy of painted vapours, through which the sun imparts its hues of endless splendour and variety. See its dazzling mantle of purest white, clothed by the snows of winter with a spotless garment, symbol of the glory and perfection of its maker. What human hands, think you, could effect this. What human mind concieve it.Look over head, doth not the burning orb of day, which warns your eyes of their arrogance and yet will remind you too of your likeness. From morn to night, it wends its impartial way distributing to every portion of the globe its share of warmth and life and happiness. See this and doubt not, for to doubt it is to die here and hereafter.As the day advanced we proceeded somewhat more briskly, interupted and delayed ???tho now and then, by one of the macho???s tumbling into a snow drift, from which it required an hour or so of pulling and shouting and numerous vollies of Basque and Spanish oaths, startling and horrible enough in their sentiments to split one up the back, como se dicen en America. One scene will suffice. We are proceeding in Indian file, along a narrow track of barely 3 ft width. On one side rises abruptly the rocky sides of the mountain against which the well laden baggage frequently rubs and jostles, on the other some thousand feet of perpendicular descent, at the bottom of which rushed headlong amongst falling masses of snow and icicles of huge dimensions, though hardly ???bergs???, a roaring torrent, its bed choked with rocks, over which we could occasionally discern a string of loping wolves following on our flank. In most places, between the track and the precipice, there was a ledge of snow of some 4 or 5 feet broad, beyond this ???facilis discensus averni???. In rounding a corner, the leading macho would strike his well secured load against an abutting angle of the rock. In an instant slipping by the force off his legs, down he would thud on the ledge of snow with his head over the side, enjoying the view of the ???gentle descent??? below.Here, perfectly aware of the insecurity of his position and taking in at one glance of his brown expressive eye, the critical juncture, for in his struggles to rise with his back encumbered, the chances were less than even he would topple over. All these considerations being at once grasped in his sagacious mind,

Transcription Status Needs review

Transcription Note This document was transcribed by volunteers as part of the Newberry Transcribe crowdsourcing initiative.

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Call Number VAULT folio Graff 3614

BibID 991560928805867

Rights Status Copyright Not Evaluated

Contributing Institution Newberry Library

Newberry Open Access Policy The Newberry makes its collections available for any lawful purpose, commercial or non-commercial, without licensing or permission fees to the library, subject to these terms and conditions.

Size 2642px × 4118px 31.15 MB

Filename 991560928805867_graff_3614-2_0019.tif

Unique Identifier NL1YMJZ

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