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 aérial 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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