330 Personality of Trees [THIRD WEEK 



chieftains, who perhaps in years past occasionally watched 

 the waters by the side of the young sapling, the conquered 

 tree will bow its head for the last time to the storm. 



Farther inland, sheltered in a narrow valley, stands a 

 sister tree, seeded from the same cone as the storm-dis- 

 torted spruce. The wind shrieks and howls above the 

 little valley and cannot enter ; but the law of compensation 

 brings to bear another element, silent, gentle, but as deadly 

 as the howling blast of the gale. All through the long 

 winter the snow sifts softly down, finding easy lodgment 

 on the dense-foliaged branches. From the surrounding 

 heights the white crystals pour down until the tree groans 

 with the massive weight. Her sister above is battling with 

 the storm, but hardly a feather's weight of snow clings to 

 her waving limbs. 



The compressed, down-bent branches of the valley spruce 

 soon become permanently bent and the strain on the trunk 

 fibres is great. At last, with a despairing crash, one great 

 limb gives way and is torn bodily from its place of growth. 

 The very vitals of the tree are exposed and instantly every 

 splintered cell is filled with the sifting snow. Helpless the 

 tree stands, and early in the spring, at the first quickening 

 of summer's growth, a salve of curative resin is poured 

 upon the wound. But it is too late. The invading water 

 has done its work and the elements have begun to rot the 

 very heart of the tree. How much more to be desired is 

 the manner of life and death of the first spruce, battling to 

 the very last! 



A beech seedling which takes root close to the bank 

 of a stream has a good chance of surviving, since there will 



