THEIR FORTUNATE ESCAPE 103 



Bart, who had left the buggy and was walking beside 

 it with The Man, who had dismounted and led his nag, 

 turned and looked backward, but did not answer. 



" It is the evergreens that give it the quality," said The 

 Man, "even though they are only those stiff little Noah 's- 

 ark cedars. I notice it far and wide, wherever I go; 

 a landscape is never monotonous so long as there is a 

 pine, spruce, hemlock, or bit of a cedar to bind it to- 

 gether. I believe that is why I am never content for 

 long in the land of palms !" 



"I love evergreens in winter, but I've never thought 

 much about them in the growing leafy season; they 

 seem unimportant then," I said. 



"Unimportant or not, they are still there. Look at 

 that wall of trees rising across the river ! Every conceiv- 

 able tint of green is there, besides shades of pink and 

 lavender in leaf case and catkin, but what dominates 

 and translates the whole? The great hemlocks on the 

 crest and the dark pointed cedars of! on the horizon 

 where the woodland thins toward the pastures. 

 Whether you separate them or not, they are there. 

 People are only just beginning to understand the value 

 of evergreens in their home gardens, both as wind- 

 breaks and backgrounds. No, I don't mean stark, 

 isolated specimens, stiff as Christmas trees. You have 



