8. AMID YOSEMITE'S CHARMS—SENTINEL HOTEL, LOOKING NORTH ACROSS VALLEY TO YOSEMITE FALLS

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In the main, things tell their own story here, good roads, good horses, the arrival of the latest and expected tourists, sensibly clad as we can see, and welcomed with that hospitality which one cynic has said, is never equaled elsewhere. The hotel's outward appearance and trim neatness, its severe lines and kempt appearance contrast vividly, not to say startlingly, with the rugged dishabille of nature in her sternest garb, by which it is overtopped and surrounded. It is a useful place as well as a useful comparison. […] "Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn ?" is a justifiable question, suggestive of good things to be enjoyed. Especially, when the weather tokens are unpropitious, or the feet are tender, both events likely enough to make an inn a mighty pleasant refuge. […]

From: Charles Quincy Turner, Yosemite Valley Through the Stereoscope, Underwood & Underwood, New York, 1902, pp. 36-37.

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