152 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



another word or two may be said about winter. 

 We must not forget the brilliant hues of the 

 holly-berries and the barberry, and the hips 

 and haws, that force out the colour of the ever- 

 green leaves, and the leaves of lighter hue, 

 those of the rose-bushes for example, that stay, 

 and stay green, well through the winter. 



I turn my head and look out — it is 

 winter now and snow is falling — and the con- 

 trast between the evergreens and the bare, 

 deciduous trees awakens a sense of incomplete- 

 ness, and carries the thoughts to the summer- 

 time when all the trees will be fully clothed in 

 the leaves that, as we have seen, do most 

 endear to us the trees themselves. For then 

 we sit amid the dappled light and shade be- 

 neath them, or shelter there from the shower, 

 and be it or be it not irrational, we cannot with- 

 hold a feeling of gratefulness. 



