6 THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE 



was so still that even the birds hushed their voices. 

 Such wonderful things as one finds in those deep, 

 dark forests! The pretty moss, soft and damp, and 

 so thick that one can walk among the trees without 

 the least noise, if only one can avoid breaking the 

 dry twigs; or the feather-like ferns that sway and 

 bend with the slightest breath of wind, sometimes 

 spreading over the forest floor like a carpet, and 

 sometimes growing in single clusters from a crevice 

 in a rock or from an old rotten stump or beside a 

 trickling stream! Or you may have seen the great 

 rocks which lie in such tumbled masses that one 

 looks in amazement and wonders what broke them 

 up and piled them there! 



Did you hear the leaves whisper together when 

 the wind came through the forest? Sometimes the 

 branches seem to sigh gently, but at other times 

 they almost seem to groan. That is when the wind 

 pushes them too hard in its play. When the wind is 

 in earnest it is very rough, and the tops of those great, 

 strong trees bend and wave almost like the tall grass in 

 a gentle breeze. Sometimes the wind is so fierce that 

 it breaks off large branches and blows down the trees 

 themselves. 



The wind when it is fierce and strong can blow so 

 iiard that it makes great waves upon the ocean. It 

 may be that that was one of the wonderful things 

 you saw last summer. Perhaps you saw the waves 

 come dashing and pounding upon the beach, all 

 crested with white foam, or tossing the spray high up 

 on the jagged rocks with a roar that could be heard 

 a long way off. It seemed strange that the ocean, 



