THE PINES 



to the eye only hides the dainty, white -Hned 

 interior surface of those same leaves. To the 

 outside, a somber dignity, unassailable, un- 

 touched by frost or sun, protective, defenseful, 

 as nature often appears to the careless observer; 

 but inside is light, softly reflected, revealing 

 unsuspected delicacies of structure and finish. 

 To us who are not woodsmen or ^^timber- 

 cruisers" the most familiar of all the spruces 

 is the introduced form from Norway. Its yel- 

 lowish green twigs are bright and cheerful, and 

 in specimens that have reached the fruiting 

 age the crown of cones, high up in the tree, 

 is an additional charm, for these soft brown 

 "strobiles," as the botanist calls them, are 

 smooth and regular, and very different from 

 those of the rugged pines. I have often been 

 told that the Norway spruce was short-lived, 

 and that it became unkempt in age ; but now 

 that I have lived for ten years and more beside 

 a noble specimen, I know that the change from 

 the upreaching push of youth to the semi- 

 drooping sedateness of maturity is only a taking 

 on of dignity. There stands on the home 

 grounds of a true tree-lover in Pennsylvania 



69 



