LEAF AND BRANCH 



263 



And in March how strong the bare forest 

 breaks across the horizon, how clear and sharp 

 the dark ranks along the hill-top cut the sky ! 

 The iron-like trunks show a variety of darks, 

 though to the casual observer they are all of 

 one tone ; the twigs that bunch together broom- 

 like along the top seem like a bordering fringe ; 

 and the dull-green mass of the cedar, 



" That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm," 



is merely a color-spot in the line. And how all 

 this outlining of the woods in detail and in 

 mass fits in and holds its place in the envelope 

 of the landscape ! Nature is stripped of its gay 

 garments. It is showing more of structure 

 than of color. The lines of shore and hill and 

 mountain, of tree and field and rock, are every- 

 where apparent. A cold light cements them 

 all, and it is the ensemble the unity of many 

 in one that makes such individual parts as 

 the bare boughs and branches appropriate and 

 beautiful. We may prefer certain months, 

 lights, skies, hues ; but the cold sky and light 

 of March belong with the leafless earth and 

 harmonize with it just as completely as the red 

 foliage of September with the yellow-flushed 

 sky of Indian summer. 



