FEBRUARY. 89 



many of them gracefully pendulous, and their verdure has a 

 sober, not a sombre tint, without any of that glitter which is 

 perceived in the foliage of some of the firs. The bark of 

 this tree is smooth, and of a dark stone color, until it has at- 

 tained a large size, when it is finely cleft into irregular longi- 

 tudinal fissures. 



In romantic and picturesque expressions, the white pine 

 falls short of many other trees. It has no historical charac- 

 ter ; being an American tree, it is celebrated neither in poetry 

 nor romance. It is associated with no classical allusions, like 

 the oak, the beech, and the olive ; nor with sacred imagery, 

 like the Cedar of Lebanon ; and it has no poetic character, 

 save what it may have derived from its connection with our 

 own personal experience. Hence, it has no factitious charms, 

 and depends on its own intrinsic merits for all the pleasure it 

 affords the sight. But it has certain other suggestive qualities, 

 constituting a high degree of the fourth requisite of beauty, 

 derived from the easy motion of its foliage and the gentle 

 sweep of its smaller branches, and from its association with 

 the delightful influences of a pine wood and its peculiar aro- 

 matic odors. 



The symmetry, which I have mentioned as one of the 

 beauties of the white pine, is in many trees of the fir tribe a 

 positive defect, when it is combined with stiffness of the 

 smaller branches, and an immoveability of the, foliage, caus- 

 ing it to resemble an artificial object. In the white pine, this 

 symmetry, being united with grace and majesty, increases the 

 grandeur of its appearance, like architectural proportions in 

 certain noble edifices. This tree has sufficient amplitude to 

 take off all expression of primness, and a certain negligent 

 flowing of its leafy robes that causes its dignity to seem more 

 easy and graceful. It seems to wear its honors like one who 

 feels no constraint under their burden. There is another cir- 

 cumstance, that seems to relieve the effect of a perfect sym- 

 metry of outline. When this tree is branched nearly to the 

 ground, the lowest branches are not so long as those immedi- 

 ately above them, causing the tree to swell out a little below 

 the middle of its height. 



VOL. XXII. NO. II. 12 



