38 Trails to Woods and Waters 



some as a solitary tree out in the open, but 

 I kept the nest for a long time as a remem- 

 brance. 



" The second winter of the lumbering op- 

 erations in the forest where I lived, some- 

 thing happened that filled me with grief and 

 nearly wiped me off the face of the white 

 snow-covered world as well. It also set me 

 to thinking of how uncertain a thing life is, 

 even for a small insignificant little pine. 



" I had often seen the lumberman casting 

 admiring glances at my sire the old sentinel 

 pine, as they passed, but their admiration 

 was the admiration of greed as I soon dis- 

 covered. It does not pay to be too much 

 admired in a covetous world like this. One 

 day, one of the choppers came and began 

 hacking away at the old pine, under whose 

 protecting arm I had been reared. How 

 grand he looked, and how small and insig- 

 nificant these two puny wood-cutters! But 

 how untiring they plied their axes, and what 

 deep cuts those sharp blades made when they 

 fell! I saw the white chips fly out on the 



