FOREST TREES AND FOREST SCENERY 



without some esthetic value, though it 

 be through the sense of hearing instead 

 of sight. Thoreau says, — 



" The dry rustle of the withered oak- 

 leaves is the voice of the wood in winter. 

 It sounds like the roar of the sea, and is 

 inspirating like that, suggesting how all 

 the land is seacoast to the aerial ocean." 



Deep and glorious, too, is the light 

 that rests in the oak woods on mid- 

 summer days. It filters, softened and 

 subdued, through the wealth of foliage, 

 and wraps us in a mellow radiance. Its 

 purity and calm depth lift the senses to 

 a higher level. Most limpid is the light 

 in a misty shower, when the sun is low 

 and the level rays break through the 

 moist leaves and dampened air, while 

 we stand within and see everything 

 bathed in a golden luster. 

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