240 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



mountain-walls all have their special features 

 that attract ; the brook in its flashing motion 

 and light, the valley in its mass of foliage, the 

 mountain-walls in their color, their shadows, 

 their bulk, and their lift against the sky. All 

 of them are seen at their best during the 

 months of summer. In October, when the 

 autumn leaf is rustling, and the rain begins to 

 fall on bare boughs, a strange feeling comes 

 over one in looking at the valley a feeling 

 that its bright days are numbered, and that 

 it will soon be sleeping under ice and snow, 

 with its protecting mountains looming dark 

 and grim through the long nights of winter. 

 But at any time of the year, and with all the 

 beauties the valley may reveal, it is not the 

 best place for habitation. The conditions of 

 life are harder there than on the flat-lands ; 

 and the density of the shade, the jungle qual- 

 ity of the foliage, the enclosing walls of the 

 mountains, are all oppressive in a way stifling 

 and stunting in their effect. The very animals 

 and the birds seem to feel this, for they are 

 not so frequently found here as upon the 

 edges of the flat plains, where the country is 

 open. Man himself grows rather heavy and 

 stolid when hemmed in by mountains, or sur- 



