6 A WHITE-PAPER GARDEN 



tentlike stocks which bring the crows cawing 

 from their distant pines. 



Of all the birds that fly I love the crows 

 most dearly. Their slow cries mingled with 

 the half-sleeping, half-waking dreams of dawn, 

 and their strong wings measure off the sky- 

 gold of sunset with a beauty and system which 

 gives them a right to be called the chief of our 

 winter birds. Others come and go or they 

 are too small or too few to impress themselves 

 upon the largeness of the out-of-door world 

 but the crows may always be depended upon 

 to give the landscape the sharp accent of their 

 black wings, and the note of mastery in their 

 undaunted voices. 



If we would have crows always, and black- 

 birds later and blue jays when the gay spirit 

 that rules them pleases, we must plant pines. 

 Even in an estate encompassing a castle in Spain 

 there could never be pines enough, and were 

 I the owner of Aladdin's lamp I would endow 

 whole landscapes with the glory of rows and 

 clusters and avenues and forests of these royal 

 trees. Nothing so lends distinction to country 

 life as the possession of pines. A splendid 

 mansion doubles its dignity by an approach 



