6 East and West 
December,, the Arizona cottonwoods are 
shedding their leaves, but early in January, 
before they are all off, the trees are in bloom 
and the hum of bees resounds in the dry creek 
beds. That gorgeous colouring, that splen- 
dour of maple and sumac, of scarlet oak and 
Virginia creeper has no counterpart in the 
West. The year must seem to be born and 
seem to die to yield us the esthetic and 
spiritual consciousness, the true sense of 
spring and of autumn. 
When we go West we must put aside the 
old feeling for Nature which we have cherished 
on the Atlantic side of our estate, prepared to 
be solaced by other joys. The charm of the 
Western winter, aside from the mildness of 
the climate and the greater amount of sun- 
shine, is in the continued evidence of life. 
Always some birds are singing, some flowers 
are blooming. Winter in the East is a re- 
cession to the glacial period and life is at a 
standstill. Its beauty is the cold beauty of 
marble. But on the Pacific Slope, Nature is 
awakening from a summer nap; winter is a 
growing time, and in the more arid regions at 
least, a sunny season as well. 
North of Mexico, the most delightful cli- 
mate is that of the high Sierra Nevada in 
