IN SILENT WOODS IO7 



and thick as is the Laurel's; the flower -clusters 

 and florets also, roughly speaking, are twice as large. 



The Laurel, however, blooms with more uni- 

 formity than its giant cousin, and carries its flowers 

 more boldly. The Rhododendron gains strength 

 and symmetry when living untouched in a wooded 

 glen where the branches twist and interlace to 

 form impenetrable barriers, studded with perfectly 

 formed bouquets of wax -like flowers, each cluster 

 growing from a wheel of leaves. 



With the fading of Laurel and Rhododendron 

 the upper color of the deep wood vanishes. But 

 on the lighter edges and river banks we meet 

 white once more in Clethra and Swamp Azalea, 

 both of the old Heath tribe ; then we must lower 

 the eye to Mother Earth again, as in the Spring 

 days of Adder's Tongue, Hepatica, Anemone and 

 Yellow Violet. 



Days of June and young July, woods from which 



the Spring chill has passed, a bed of moss and 



silence. Take no books. The stillness is too ab- 

 sorbing and profound for reading. Go close to the 

 earth and smell its spiciness. Rest the body and 

 travel with the mind. Focus the eye on the un- 

 dergrowth with which the foot is the more often 



