THE CONIFEEOUS FORESTS 



for food and rest when on some longer 

 journey than usual. 



Like the sailor he also has learned 

 some of the secrets of nattire. He 

 does not usually possess a compass, 

 but he can tell its points by more 

 familiar signs: by the pendent tops 

 of the hemlocks, which usually bend 

 toward the east, or by the mossy sides 

 of the trees, which are generally 

 in the direction of the coolest and 

 moistest quarter of the heavens. In 

 an extreme case he will even mount 

 one of the tallest of the trees to find 

 his bearings in his oceanlike forest. 

 If well judged, the sighing of the 

 wind in the boughs, I have been told, 

 says much about the coming weather; 

 just as the sickly wash of the waves 

 means something to the sailor. Withal, 

 139 



