96 THE MOUNTAINS 



has one thing far beyond any of these 

 trees — a profound mystery of glorified 

 color. The olive leaf is thus described: 

 shape, long and narrow, resembling the 

 leaf of a willow; color, on the upper sur- 

 face, dark and somewhat glossy green; 

 on the under surface, dull silver gray. 

 This description, though, does not convey 

 even the smallest suggestion of what 

 takes place when these leaves are com- 

 bined in mass. A wonder takes place. 

 Baring-Gould tries to express this won- 

 der by comparing the effect to "smoke 

 rising from a lowly cottage." The word 

 "smoke" is excellent, but it does not do 

 enough, and the word "rising" is entirely 

 wrong. In "Aurora Leigh" Mrs. Brown- 

 ing captures almost the right phrase when 

 she says, "The mystic floating gray of 

 olive trees." Let us bring her line yet 

 nearer to the wonder, by daring to borrow 

 Baring-Gould's excellent word. The re- 

 sult is: "The mystic floating smoke of 

 olive trees." Even now the wonder is not 



