GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH THE FREES 



floor. Some one, years ago, struck by the aisles 

 that the straight trunks mark out so clearly, 

 called this the "Cathedral Woods." The name 

 seems appropriate at all times, but especially 

 when, on a warm Sunday afternoon, I lie at 

 ease on the aromatic carpet, hearing the soft 

 organ tones in the pine tops, and drinking in 

 God's forest message. 



I have visited these pine woods at midnight, 

 when a full moon, making brilliant the near-by 

 lake, gave but a ghostly gloom in the deep, 

 deep silence of the Cathedral ; but, more 

 impressive, I have often trodden through in a 

 white fog, when the distance was misty and 

 dim, and the aisles seemed longer and higher, 

 and to lead one further away from the trifles 

 of temper and trial. Indeed, I do not believe 

 that any one who has but once fully received 

 from the deep forest that which it gives out 

 so freely and constantly can ever think of 

 things trivial, or of minor annoyances, while 

 again within its soothing portals. 



But of the trees of the forest of pine and 

 spruce it must be noted that sometimes the 

 deepest, glossiest green of the leaves as presented 



68 



