30 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



With all their terrible majesty, they have a very 

 mild, kindly feeling toward man. Coming, as they 

 do, from vaguely remote ages, they have an air of 

 the infinite about them. Their wood is almost in- 

 destructible. A stump thirty years old often shows 

 so little decay that the concentric lines of its diary 

 can still be read. 



When walking amid their curiously fluted and 

 buttressed bases, with the sunlight sifting through 

 the leaves above as if through stained glass, men of 

 evil pasts have been known to go temporarily in- 

 sane through an unspeakable fear and apprehen- 

 sion. To the righteous and clean of conscience the 

 Big Trees bring peace and an inexplicable exul- 

 tation. 



These are some of the more common and char- 

 acteristic tree personalities. Of others there are 

 hundreds. Each and every tree as with each and 

 every human being has its distinct personality. 



The lime is a poetical, debonair little creature, 

 most willing to lend its beauty to the long vistas of 

 English avenues. When the sun shines on its yel- 

 low autumn leaves they turn to burnished gold. 



The alders and hazels are tree-dwarfs, which for 

 personal advantage have adopted bush-like meth- 

 ods. Their matted roots are of service in protect- 



