The Chorus of the Forest 



against the sky could be seen tlie iinely-toothed 

 cutting and waxy gold-gvcen leaf that only could 

 mean beech, and 1 marveled. Could beccJi branches 

 be waving there ^ That tree of low habit and A Beech- 

 spreading limb! 1 called my guide's attention Tree Harp 

 to it, and he made a road, and then cleared space 

 for me to focus. Where trees were so numei'ous 

 it was impossible to get a^\ay far enough to in- 

 clude the entire subject. This mighty wind instru- 

 ment of the forest Mas fourteen feet in circum- 

 ference and fifty feet to the branching. We could 

 secure no leaves, but they Avere large and apj^eared 

 especially waxy. The trunk was the most beauti- 

 ful I ever ha\'e seen sa^e the piu'ple beeches of 

 Southern Indiana. Those are low, of widely- 

 s^Jreading branch, and their trunks are like pur- 

 plish-gray moleskin. This forest beech had patches 

 of moleskin, then gray and green s])aces, the fore- 

 runners of licliens. and then the lichens themselves 

 in big circles with exquisite gradations of gray, 

 white, and green colors. 



At its base grew a fern ^^'ith fronds two feet 

 long, and the mottled bro^\ii carpet spread beneath 

 it was deep layers of dead leaves. Then we l)egan 

 to watch for its kindred through the forest, and 

 found many, giants all of them. One thing we 

 noted in particular. Xot a beech ever leaned or 

 curved, but in a noble column all of them as])ired 

 straight toward heaven, and among their stiff, 



71 



