106 lib^AY UPON REDWOOD. 



arms aloft appealing to Jove's high throne in the heavens ! 

 The lesser and more massed branches accumulate above in 

 ever refreshing variety, insphering the upj:3r body and 

 crowning the venerable-domed head and massive brow in a 

 halo of softer, serener glory ! fragments of special foliage in 

 rounded or varied tufts and touches, tiny-buttoned bou- 

 quets of beauty, as it were, pinned on gracefully here and 



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there for effect, to foil herculean brawn ; so in least as in 

 largest, to fill and soothe the sense ; the tiny, tender, slender, 

 and delicate little sprigs even hiding the finishing hand that 

 gives the final grace of the Great Artist! forcible reminder 

 of the light, gauzy texture-lines of the finest figures of earth- 

 born artists ; but these drawn by hallowed hands on the ce- 

 lestial canvass, pictures of inimitable grace and beauty graven 

 on the blue tablet of the skies ! But who will bring words to 

 describe that great behemoth-like hide of bright cinnamon- 

 brown bark, in massive mantle folds one to two feet thick, 

 consisting of compacted, shreddy fibres, darker on the shady 

 side, or in youth and early prime tinted in royal purple; 

 nay, crimson-fired in the lingering smiles of the setting sun's 

 adieu ! Then behold it flowing into large, deep, water- 

 lined troughs, as it were, careering silently on a smooth bed 

 adown the mountain height, until broadening and free, they 

 serenely glide into the great earthly sea ! 



The general hue of young trees becomes of a somewhat 

 soft, invisible sea green, or delicately blooming tint ; but 

 whon the venerable foliage ripens into its golden age of 

 glory, it dons a yellowish green. When these and other 

 cone-bearing forests are in their spring bloom, the gently 



