TREES AT LEISURE 



tall, straight, cut-leaved birch 

 with its central column of white, 

 and white branches ascending 

 stark and stiff and then suddenly 

 breaking into dark fountains of 

 deliquescence ; the Lombardy 

 poplar, a spire of green against 

 summer horizons, now a vague 

 wraith through whose transpar- 

 ent form we can see the sky 

 and landscape beyond; and, as 

 picturesque as any, the old apple 

 tree, its great angularly twisted 

 branches bearing a forest of 

 aspiring shoots. 



The stream borders give us 

 trees of strong individuality. 

 The willows, unwilling even in 

 summer to be taken for other 

 tree species, assert their pecu- 

 liarities quite as vigorously 

 in winter. The golden osier 

 displays its magnificent trunk 



[27] 



