CHAPTER II 



SOME TROUBLES OF THE TREES 



TN the White Mountains is a hilltop which, 

 -*- three years ago,, was covered with noble pines. 

 Under these were lithe,, young saplings, ready to 

 renew the forest when time should bring the life 

 of the pines to an end. And under all were deep 

 moss, delicate ferns, and the sweet, fragile flowers 

 which love the forest shadows. 



Now, in that place, instead of the pines there 

 are stumps about three feet high. All over the 

 ground, among these stumps, one can see what is 

 left of the saplings. Some of them are bent, 

 with crowns to the earth; some broken, some up- 

 rooted, and many are chopped down. Every- 

 where is a litter of broken boughs, and under all 

 are the wildwood plants, the lovers of the 

 shadows, dying or dead. 



People who loved the wood now cut down 

 speak of the place with deep regret, for it is just 

 one example of what goes on all over the country 

 — wasteful lumbering. 



Careful woodcutters, in felling trees, spare the 

 little ones, so that in a few years there may be 



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