122 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



which I never come near without thinking 

 of a friend of mine and of theirs who used 

 to walk hereabouts with me; a real tree 

 lover, who loves not species, not white oaks 

 and red oaks, but individual trees, and goes 

 to see them as one goes to see a man or a 

 woman. This pair he always called the 

 twins. They have summered and wintered 

 each other for a hundred years. Who knows 

 putting the matter on grounds of pure 

 science whether they do not enjoy each 

 other's companionship? Who knows that 

 trees have no kind of sentience? Not I. 

 We take a world of things for granted ; and 

 if all our neighbors chance to do the same, 

 we let the general assumption pass for cer- 

 tainty. If trees do know anything, I would 

 wager that it is something worth knowing, 

 something quite as good as is to be found in 

 any newspaper. 



Here are red maples as bare as December, 

 and yonder is one that is almost in full leaf ; 

 and by some freak of originality every leaf 

 is bright yellow. Three days more and it 

 will be naked also. Under it are white-alder 

 bushes (Clethra) clothed in dark purple, and 



