My First Summer 



the most uncommonly beautiful of all the 

 Sierra tree flowers I have seen. How won- 

 derful that, with all its delicate feminine 

 grace and beauty of form and dress and 

 behavior, this lovely tree up here, exposed 

 to the wildest blasts, has already endured 

 the storms of centuries of winters ! 



The two pines also are brave storm- 

 enduring trees, the mountain pine (Pinus 

 monticola] and the dwarf pine (Pinus albi- 

 caulis). The mountain pine is closely related 

 to the sugar pine, though the cones are only 

 about four to six inches long. The largest 

 trees are from five to six feet in diame- 

 ter at four feet above the ground, the 

 bark rich brown. Only a few storm-beaten 

 adventurers approach the summit of the 

 mountain. The dwarf or white-bark pine 

 is tfhe species that forms the timber-line, 

 where it is so completely dwarfed that 

 one may walk over the top of a bed of 

 it as over snow-pressed chaparral. 



How boundless the day seems as we revel 

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