THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 63 



shine and showers ; and a third noble magnolia 

 forest is carefully raised on the top of the second. 

 And so on. Forest was planted above forest 

 and destroyed, as if Nature were ever repenting, 

 undoing the work she had so industriously done, 

 and burying it. 



Of course this destruction was creation, pro- 

 gress in the march of beauty through death. 

 How quickly these old monuments excite and 

 hold the imagination ! We see the old stone 

 stumps budding and blossoming and waving in 

 the wind as magnificent trees, standing shoulder 

 to shoulder, branches interlacing in grand varied 

 round-headed forests ; see the sunshine of morn- 

 ing and evening gilding their mossy trunks, and 

 at high noon spangling on the thick glossy 

 leaves of the magnolia, filtering through translu- 

 cent canopies of linden and ash, and falling in 

 mellow patches on the ferny floor ; see the shin- 

 ing after rain, breathe the exhaling fragrance, 

 and hear the winds and birds and the murmur 

 of brooks and insects. We watch them from sea- 

 son to season ; see the swelling buds when the 

 sap begins to flow in the spring, the opening 

 leaves and blossoms, the ripening of summer 

 fruits, the colors of autumn, and the maze of 

 leafless branches and sprays in winter ; and we 

 see the sudden oncome of the storms that over- 

 whelmed them. 



One calm morning at sunrise I saw the oaks 



