In Deep, Dark Woods. 245 



fiercely you may frown. It lessens the conceit 

 that mars every man to walk in the woods. 

 The fact that these trees are here by right and 

 you are an intruder is very forcibly set before 

 you. Nevertheless a forest is not inhospitable. 

 A dead tree may fall and crush you, but that 

 was because you were not forelearned in wood- 

 lore. If killed or maimed, it was not through 

 malice aforethought Satisfaction, in this world, 

 is too rare to miss any opportunity to acquire 

 even a trace of it, so take what you can from 

 the gruesome thought that a dead branch of a 

 tree may fall on you, but the result is purely 

 accidental. There is really something in the 

 thought, if it cannot mend a broken head. 



On the excellent principle of " contented wi' 

 little and cantie wi' mair," I have been wander- 

 ing in the woods, and here, let me say, even a 

 single tree means a vast deal on a hot, sunny 

 summer day. The difference in temperature 

 from sunshine to shade is often startling. 

 Under some lone amid-field oak the coolness 

 of October lingers, though it is tropical beyond 

 the tree's shadow. What a tree means is not 

 to be realized in a moment, so, how hopeless, 



