A PITCH-PINE MEDITATION. 185 



quality. They are not without charm, not 

 even the black spruce, while the Weymouth 

 pine and the hemlock are often of surpass- 

 ing magnificence and beauty ; but a punctil- 

 ious adherence to rule must of necessity be 

 attended with a corresponding absence of 

 freedom and variety. The pitch-pine, on 

 the other hand, if it works upon any set 

 scheme, as no doubt it does, has the grace 

 to keep it out of sight. Its gift is genius 

 rather than talent. It has an air, as genius 

 always has, of achieving its results without 

 effort or premeditation. Its method is that 

 of spontaneity; its style, that of the pic- 

 turesque-homely, so dear to the artistic tem- 

 perament. Its whole make-up is consis- 

 tent with this germinal or controlling idea. 

 Angular in outline, rough and ragged in its 

 bole, with its needles stiff and its cones 

 hard and sharp, it makes no attempt at 

 gracefulness, yet by virtue of its very way- 

 wardness it becomes, as if in spite of itself, 

 more attractive than any of its relatives. 



The Puritans of New England are mostly 

 dead ; the last of their spiritual descend- 

 ants, we may fear, will soon be dead like- 

 wise ; but as long as Pinus rigida covers 



