FOREST LEAVES 101 



But the little spruce tree could not shut out 

 the song of the discontented trees. She lis- 

 tened to the lure of the river, ''Come, dance 

 with me I" and their eager reply, ''We are com- 

 ing, we are coming!'' 



And then she saw that the trees really did 

 go with the river, for men came and chopped 

 them down and hewed off their branches and 

 floated them down the current; and she won- 

 dered what that great world was like to which 

 the Christmas trees had gone and whither the 

 river was hurrying down the valley, bearing 

 with it the spruce trees from the mountains. 



II.— The Poet 



One summer day a young man climbed the 

 mountain side, wearily, as if weights were on 

 his feet, and as he lifted his eyes to the spruce 

 tree, she saw that his heart was heavy in his 

 breast. 



"The mountain is not so steep,'' she re- 

 proved him, "that you need drag yourself up 

 in that way." 



