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Adam's Conquests 



THERE was sometimes music in the usually 

 silent forest. The wind blew mournful notes 

 on the flutes of hollow trees. There was 

 a breathing of the pines and a foamy sound in 

 the aspens; and more marked than all, a great 

 violin. This was formed of a cavernous and sea- 

 soned gum tree, dead and dry, but still stand- 

 ing, which was crossed by the resinous arm of 

 a pine. All these gave tongue to the fury of the 

 storm, which with the pattering roar of the rain, 

 the flying of broken branches, the downward crash 

 of fallen trees, the stunning shocks of thunder 

 and the quivering lances of lightning, was not 

 only the most awe-inspiring and terrifying, but 

 the most dangerous display of nature in Paradise. 

 Adam, crouching in the security of his rocky cave, 

 peering out upon the scene, beheld war in heaven, 

 heard the shouts of the furious gods, beheld his 

 friends and protectors, the trees, bending with 

 frowning brows before the wrathful and tremendous 

 onset, and then striking back v/ith their gnarled and 

 knotty arms. As the storm subsided he heard the 

 great violin, whose piercing notes had risen con- 

 tinually above the roar of the storm, now playing 



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