THE CONIFEROUS FORESTS 



Suppose, instead of a restless day, 

 it should be calm, with cloud masses 

 heaped in the sky and the sun sinking 

 low. There has been a loose snowfall 

 in the afternoon, and every twig, 

 branch, and spray hangs muffled in 

 snow. The rocks are capped with a 

 light cover and ribbed with snowy 

 lines along their sides. The air is 

 pure and breathless. The disappear- 

 ing sun sends back a rosy light to the 

 canopy of clouds overhead, and the 

 reflection falls upon masses of frosted, 

 whitened evergreens, lending them a 

 breath of color that deepens as the sun 

 sinks lower still; and the rays enter 

 the openings of the hills and flood the 

 opposite slopes, till they glow with a 

 fiery red. 



Thus the grandeur of these forests 

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