24 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



siring nothing but righteousness, content with re- 

 stricted completion. Tall or short, it will be 

 straight. Small or large, it will be round. It may 

 be permitted to those soft lowland trees that they 

 should make themselves gay with show of blossom, 

 and glad with pretty charities of f ruitfulness. We 

 builders with the sword have harder work to do 

 for man, and must do it in close-set troops." 



The whole group of conifers and evergreens have 

 very similar qualities. They are all patient en- 

 durers of snow and cold astronomer-like dwellers 

 in high places; sturdy climbers up precipitous 

 slopes. The firs, the hemlocks and the spruces are 

 the only trees with the courage to fling their leaves 

 into the teeth of a nor'wester. The leaves are spe- 

 cially constructed for such hardships. Their sur- 

 face has been so reduced that they are truly little 

 more than needles off which snow and ice readily 

 slide. Still they do the work for which they were 

 created and add a delightful zest to the winter 

 landscape, besides forming the winter homes of 

 northern birds. A man may think a maple in spring 

 the essence of pure green until he has walked 

 through a snow-decked evergreen forest in Jan- 

 uary. A more peculiarly delightful sight is hard 

 to imagine. The familiar resinous fragrances are 

 in themselves extracts of health and vitality. 



