[The Lake of the Sky by George Wharton James]@TWC D-Link bookThe Lake of the Sky CHAPTER I 10/17
For instance, this is the day of athletic maids, as well as men.
We find them everywhere.
Very well! Lake Tahoe is the physical culturist's heaven. In any one of its score of camps he may sleep out of doors, on the porch, out under the pines, by the side of the Lake or in his tent or cottage with open doors and windows.
At sunrise, or later, in his bathing suit, or when away from too close neighbors, clothed, as dear old Walt Whitman puts it, "in the natural and religious idea of nakedness," the cold waters of the Lake invite him to a healthful and invigorating plunge, with a stimulating and vivifying swim.
A swift rub down with a crash towel, a rapid donning of rude walking togs and off, instanter, for a mile climb up one of the trails, a scramble over a rocky way to some hidden Sierran lake, some sheltered tree nook, some elevated outlook point, and, after feasting the eyes on the glories of incomparable and soul-elevating scenes, he returns to camp, eats a hearty breakfast, with a clear conscience, a vigorous appetite aided by hunger sauce, guided by the normal instincts of taste, all of which have been toned up by the morning's exercise--what wonder that such an one radiates Life and Vim, Energy and Health, Joy and Content. Do you know what the lure must be when a busy man, an active man, an alert man, a man saturated with the nervous spirit of American commercial life, sits down in one of the seats overlooking the Lake, or spreads out his full length upon the grass, or on the beds of Sierran moss, which make a deliciously restful cushion, and stays there! He does nothing; doesn't even look consciously at the blue waters of the Lake, on the ineffable blue of the sky, or the rich green of the trees or the glory of the flowers--he simply sits or sprawls or lies and, though the influence is different, the effect is the same as that expressed in the old hymn: My soul would ever stay, In such a frame as this, And sit and sing itself away, To everlasting bliss. There's the idea! Calm, rest, peace, bliss.
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