50 A SPRAY OF PINE. 



ward, or as the builders pull down their scaffold- I 

 ings and carry them higher as the temple mounts ; I 

 nothing superfluous, no waste of time or energy, 

 the one purpose to cleave the empyrean steadilyj 

 held to. 



At the Centennial fair I saw a section of a pine from 

 Canada that was eight feet in diameter, and that had 

 been growing, I have forgotten how many centuries. 

 But this was only a sapling beside the redwoods 

 of California, one of which would carry several such 

 trees in his belt. 



In the absence of the pine, the hemlock is a grace- 

 ful and noble tree. In primitive woods it shoots up 

 in the same manner, drawing the ladder up after it, 

 and attains an altitude of nearly or quite a hundred 

 feet. It is the poor man's pine and destined to hum- 

 bler uses than its lordlier brother. It follows the 

 pine like a servitor, keeping on higher and more 

 rocky ground, and going up the minor branch valleys 

 when the pine follows only the main or mother 

 stream. As an ornamental tree it is very pleasing 

 and deserves to be cultivated more than it is. It is a 

 great favorite with the sylvan folk, too. The ruffed 

 grouse prefers it to the pines ; it is better shelter in 

 winter, and its buds are edible. The red squirrel has 

 found out the seeds in its cones, and they are an im- 

 portant part of his winter stores. There is a hemlock 

 warbler also, and I never find some of the rarer species, 

 like the blackburnian, or blue yellow-back, except in 

 this tree. 



