Trail and Camp-Fire 



green of a pine — all hoary with snow lying 

 high upon every branch, even to the very top 

 of the tallest trees ; then farther lines of hills, 

 their banks of evergreens showing an unimag- 

 inable deep blue in this intensely clear air; 

 beyond all, in the extreme distance, faint, 

 translucent hills of blue and violet melting 

 into the sky, and one clear note of rosy white, 

 a far-away burned mountain. 



Next we plunged into dense forest of deep 

 green : the ground was level ; were it summer 

 we should be walking on spongy green moss. 

 All about us the tall straight stems of spruce 

 and fir rose high into the air, their dark 

 branches interlacing overhead. Among their 

 feet were the little balsams, an endless wealth 

 of Christmas trees ; but here their fragrant 

 branches were adorned only with snow, piled 

 upon them so deep that they were pyramids 

 of white, merely flecked here and there with 

 a green which, by contrast, looked black and 

 colorless. So thick they stood that we could 

 see for only a few yards, and their branches 

 brushed our faces and sent heavy showers and 

 lumps of snow upon us as we passed. The 

 hoarse croak of a raven overhead brought to 



my mind visions of Norse gods flying through 



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