272 



NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 



European 



There are beautiful trees and groves in Eng- 

 land, France, and Italy, and there are Black 

 Forests, Bohemian Forests, and Harz Mountain 

 woodlands in Germany, but the European 

 woods are no improvement upon those of the 

 Western continent. They are not so varied in 

 form and color, nor have they the same fresh- 

 ness and wildness. In the Old- World forests it 

 always seems borne in upon one that nature is 

 playing the drudge to civilization, and that every 

 large tree exists only to cast a protecting shadow 

 over some house, park, or roadway. Happily, 

 in this Western world, the flavor of the wilder- 

 ness has not entirely departed. Along many a 

 plain and valley nature rears its growths undis- 

 turbed, and upon many a mountain-side " the 

 trees of the Lord " have not yet wholly become 

 the trees of man. 



