My First Summer 



dred feet above the sea they are smaller, say 

 a foot to fifteen inches long, and at a height 

 of seven thousand feet or more near the 

 upper limits of its growth in the Yosemite 

 region they are about the same size. This 

 1 noble tree is an inexhaustible study and 

 source of pleasure. I never weary of gaz- 

 ing at its grand tassel cones, its perfectly 

 round bole one hundred feet or more 

 without a limb, the fine purplish color of 

 its bark, and its magnificent outsweeping, 

 down-curving feathery arms forming a 

 crown always bold and striking and exhila- 

 rating. In habit and general port it looks 

 somewhat like a palm, but no palm that I 

 have yet seen displays such majesty of form 

 and behavior either when poised silent and 

 thoughtful in sunshine, or wide-awake wav- 

 ing in storm winds with every needle quiv- 

 ering. When young it is very straight and 

 regular in form like most other conifers ; but 

 at the age of fifty to one hundred years it be- 

 gins to acquire individuality, so that no two 

 [68 ] 



