Charles E. Burchfield, Journals, August 11, 1914

Heavy shower in the night. Morning loose & breezy but warm. Clouds so low they brush the tree-tops. They seem to be born from out the loose misty trees - the trees in expanding under the influence of the rain, gave forth a perspiration which was caught by the wind & sun & whirled skyward & now tired of their wandering are coming down again. There is a peculiar absence of both bird & insect voices,tho I am sure if I were afield I would hear aplenty. 

A wonderful sunset tonight - one of beautiful colors. I had taken Thoreau’s Autumn and gone out on the porch. I was first attracted to the sky by a peculiar phenomenon connected with it. The whole sky was clear except at the northwest where was a long dark grey bank of clouds, which was not, properly speaking, a bank as there were many openings in it. In front of this was a long string of small curly clouds, travelling northeastward, whose topmost edges were colored bright orange. This was all the color there was and the quick curly line of color had a rapid rhythmthat wag strangely beautiful. Almost at once the color died out, - the sky became grey & I fell areading.

It was some time when I looked up again & when I did so I almost exclaimed aloud. The whole mass of clouds was turned to a vivid reddish purple, which with orange linings here & there, capriciously scattered, made a rich combination. It seemed a thing of life. Gradually this color faded again & I thought it was over. But no. In an unguarded moment while I was readi­ng, another rapid change took place. When next I looked up it was because the whole earth was a glow. The bulk of the clouds had become rich salmony yellow, which showing its fibrous, undulating surface looked indeed like a great fire. Thru openings showed the robin’s egg blue sky. This color lasted longer and faded slowly. I find that such rich colorings came on cool clear days.    

I wonder how many who viewed this spectacle could do so without entertaining an aspiration to something nobler than they had yet achieved.  Indeed & I saw no one so much as giving the sky a second glance, if a first.       

Most people start out in life with the idea that life is a burden thrust upon them against their will when it is the highest gift God can bestow, better even than any promises of future bliss,if he ever made any, and so they go thru life looking forward to the heaven they imagine will come, going thru a set form of religious duties to prepare themselves for it, and spurn the heaven that is here on earth - which required neither money or religious rites for its possession - there is no mortgage on it.

Charles E. Burchfield, August 11, 1914