Music of the Wild 



bushes, and its creamy cornucopias dangled the 

 size of foxglove, freckled with much paler brown 

 than in strong light. The white violets were as 

 large as their cultivated blue relatives, and nodded 

 from stems over a foot in length. Possibly it was 

 because they formed such a small spot of color in 

 that dark place, possibly they were of purer white 

 than flowers of larger growth in stronger light; 

 no matter what the reason, these deep forest vio- 

 lets were the coldest, snowiest white of any flower 

 I ever have seen. They made arrow-head lilies ap- 

 pear pearl white and daisies cream white compared 

 with them. 



Thinking of this caused me to notice the range 

 of green colors also. The leaves and mosses near 

 earth were the darkest, growing lighter through 

 ferns, vines, bushes, and different tree leaves in 

 never-ending shades. No one could have enumer- 

 ated all of them. They were more variable and 

 much more numerous than the grays. But in dim 

 forest half-light all color appeared a shade paler 

 than in mere woods. 



From the all-encompassing volume of sound I 



endeavored to distinguish the instruments from the 



The performers. The water, the winds, and the trees 



Tree combined in a rising and falling accompaniment 



Iarps that never ceased. The insects, birds, and animals 



were the soloists, most of them singing, while some 



were performing on instruments. Always there 



36 



