WILDWOOD WAYS 



came to the woods. In the hush of ex- 

 pectation there was a certain feeling- of 

 awe. The trees felt it as much as I did 

 and stood as breathless and expectant. 

 Instead of clearly defined clouds, the 

 whole air seemed to thrill with the dusky 

 gray presence of a spirit out of unknown 

 space, of whose beneficence we might 

 hope, but of whom we were not without 

 dread. And so the dusk of the storm 

 we hoped for gloomed down on us in the 

 breathless stillness and tiny flakes slipped 

 down so quietly that the touch of their 

 ghost fingers on my cheek was the first 

 that I knew of their actual coming. The 

 pine boughs high over my head caught 

 these first flakes and held them lovingly 

 and let them slip through their fingers 

 only after many caresses, and soon 

 through all the pine wood you could hear 

 a little- sigh that was a purr of content- 

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