THE STORM PINES 



feet above the sea, where the rough-legged buzzard 

 and the ring ousel stay awhile in autumn the ousel, 

 no doubt, again in spring. The driving rain, pass- 

 ing over to these hills, wrapped them in a most 

 solemn shroud of grey ; whilst by play of light and 

 stormy sunset the huge roof of cloud above them 

 north and east was turned for a few grand minutes 

 to a deep thick blue. The cloud blues of winter are 

 among the rarest and loveliest of all. 



For a hundred winters at least the tallest raven 

 pines on this ridge have been stormed at by the full 

 force of winds. But for a few useless thorns round 

 their lower boles, the pines are practically without 

 shelter. Yet some have reached a grand height, and 

 all are storm-proof. Trees in exposed spots often 

 shrink and grow away from the quarter where the 

 storms strike them hardest ; they are blasted on 

 the weather side. But we do not see such quailing 

 or aversion in these pines. Perhaps they do not 

 grow away from any one quarter, being whirled at 

 impartially from all quarters year in year out. The 

 trees stand upright enough, spread their dark plat- 

 forms indifferently in any direction. But how few 

 these platforms are ! It is the survival of the 

 toughest. If one wished to breed pines with wood 

 and foliage as storm-proof as can be, one might well 

 choose the seeds of trees that flourished on such a 

 battered hill. Icy storms tanging through them 

 from the north, gales laden with wet that burst upon 

 them from the south-west with a sound like sea-surf, 

 have tested every branch. How the supplest village 



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