GRAY DAYS AND MERRY WAYS 



trunks, main branches, and sub-branches, with 

 their infinite variety of extensions, of smaller, 

 finer shoots, offshoots, and terminals, come to 

 view; and the sky, in all its aspects, from the 

 dullest of gray-day effects to the most gorgeous of 

 sunset or sunrise lights, has new meanings when 

 seen through these delicate traceries. 



During its denuded state the individuality of a 

 tree is recognized as at no other time ; for in riven 

 trunk, seamed bark, and twisted bough, or even in 

 general symmetry of growth, is each history re- 

 corded; just as, in human countenances, joys and 

 sorrows, failures and successes leave their im- 

 print and tell life's story. 



During leafless seasons there comes to view the 

 tender, delicate green of moss-covered trunks, 

 which is lost in the wealth of summer foliage, 

 and many a forest secret is revealed when boughs 

 are bare. Then, for instance, one is enabled to 

 take a comparatively correct inventory of the 

 habitations that have been built among the 

 branches, and, to the lover of nature, how sug- 

 gestive, how eloquent is even the very silence of 

 these deserted dwellings! 



Even in the dullest of November skies there are 

 sometimes beautiful surprises. Look, for instance, 



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