32 Trails to Woods and Waters 



ered it. A white pine in the open would have 

 been much larger at this age, but this pine 

 was a victim of circumstances, during its sap- 

 ling years. 



" After this I grew much faster than I 

 had done before, for the tip of my blue green 

 plumes now reached a pencil of light for 

 which I had been long stretching. 



" So instead of a scant fifteen minutes of 

 sunlight a day, I now had an hour of my 

 foster father's gracious smile. 



"How it warmed and cheered me! Be- 

 fore, I had been gloomy and foreboding, but 

 now I became hopeful and cheerful, and full 

 of great longings. Before, it had seemed to 

 me that I would never get out of the dark- 

 ness and the damp mold. Now, I was sure 

 that some day I would be almost as tall as 

 the great monarch pine from which I had 

 sprung. 



" The first two decades of my life had been 

 spent almost entirely in the bosom of my 

 mother, the earth. Now I belonged partly 

 to the earth, and partly to the sun. I could 



