CHARACTER OF BROADLEAF FORESTS 
tered far apart. The region is even 
bleak and dreary —at least until the 
summer comes; but when everything 
turns green the season is glorious. As 
we ride through these woods we real- 
ize the majesty of their stillness and 
strength, and cannot help admiring the 
great oaks and chestnuts that contend 
for the ground, succumbing only after 
centuries in the strife. 
While the broadleaf forests of 
western North Carolina and eastern 
Tennessee are characterized princi- 
pally by grandeur, this is not com- 
monly a pronounced trait of the leafy 
forests. Rather are they distinguished 
for a certain air of cheerfulness, the 
expression of which will vary in dif- 
ferent localities; but in some way it 
will manifest itself almost everywhere. 
107 
