rees 



65 



and in July are a tender pale green, turn golden-hued before 

 they fall. 



The cones are small and dainty and soon drop off. It is 

 very pleasant to pause awhile amongst a grove of these ex- 

 quisite feathery apple-green Larches, and recall the words 

 of one who said : 



" Behind me lay the forests hushed with sleep ; 

 Above me in its granite majesty, 



Sphinx-like, the peak thro' silent centuries 

 Met the eternal question of the sky. 



Victor at last — throned on the cragged height — 

 I scan the green steeps cf the mountain side 

 Where late I toiled. The forest lands stretch wide. 



And in deep valleys farms gleam far and white. 



Vistas of distance break upon my sight. 



The peopled plain creeps to the sky's blue rim. 

 Where new peaks gather substanceless and dim, 



As half-remembered dreams at noontime light. 



" Between two silences my soul floats still 



As any white cloud in this sunny air. 



No sound of living breaks upon my ear. 

 No strain of thought — no restless human will — 



Only the virgin quiet, everywhere — 



Earth never seemed so far, or Heaven so near. 

 In the awed silence of this dim high place 



One keeping vigil might not fear, indeed, 



If it befell him as that man of old, 

 Who in the mountain met God face to face," 



WHITE SPRUCE 



Picca canadensis. Pine Family 



A tall tree. Leaves: incurved, acute, terminating in rigid callous 

 tips. Flowers: staminate pale red, soon appearing yellow from the 

 thick covering of pollen. Fruit: cones nearly sessile, pendulous, oblong- 

 cylindrical, obtuse at the apex. 



The White Spruce has unpleasant-smelling foliage. The 

 branches sw^eep out in graceful curves, and the tree is pyra- 



