NURSLINGS OF THE SKY 



the pines, twist them to a finer fibre, fit the 

 firs to be masts and spars, and, if you keep 

 reasonably out of the track of their affairs, 

 do you no harm. 



They have habits to be learned, appointed 

 paths, seasons, and warnings, and they leave 

 you in no doubt about their performances. 

 One who builds his house on a water scar 

 or the rubble of a steep slope must take 

 chances. So they did in Overtown who 

 built in the wash of Argus water, and at 

 Kearsarge at the foot of a steep, treeless 

 swale. After twenty years Argus water rose 

 in the wash against the frail houses, and 

 the piled snows of Kearsarge slid down 

 at a thunder peal over the cabins and the 

 camp, but you could conceive that it was 

 the fault of neither the water nor the snow. 



The first effect of cloud study is a sense 

 of presence and intention in storm pro- 

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