8 A WHITE-PAPER GARDEN 



when the moonbeams find their way between 

 the singing leaves, and throw their blue-black 

 shadows on the snow. 



An old pine is best seen when it is grown 

 about by younglings of many stages of growth, 

 from the feathery whorls of the babies in their 

 first summer to the young giants rejoicing in 

 the strength of their youth. The pinetum 

 ought not to be a thing of to-day nor of to- 

 morrow, but of always. Deep oh ! deep 

 within the human heart lies a longing for 

 permanence. Soul calls to soul for pause, and 

 as we hurry through the little day that lies 

 between the eternities, with what passionate 

 desire do we cry out to those who have gone 

 on into whatever lies before ; and with what 

 piteous futility do we try to be remembered, 

 if only by a single kindly thought, by those 

 who are to follow us! We cannot stay 

 that we know full well but some of the 

 things it pleases us to call our own, may live 

 a little longer than ourselves, and so, young 

 and old together, the pines should grow. The 

 little ones are to be loved and nourished as 

 one loves a young child, but the old ones 

 are to be cared for and honoured as one cares 



