THE CONIFEROUS FORESTS 
Suppose, instead of a restless day, 
it should be calm, with cloud masses 
heaped in the sky and the sun sinking 
low. There has been a loose snowfall 
in the afternoon, and every twig, 
branch, and spray hangs muffled in 
snow. The rocks are capped with a 
light cover and ribbed with snowy 
lines along their sides. The air is 
pure and breathless. The disappear- 
ing sun sends back a rosy light to the 
canopy of clouds overhead, and the 
reflection falls upon masses of frosted, 
whitened evergreens, lending them a 
breath of color that deepens as the sun 
sinks lower still; and the rays enter 
the openings of the hills and flood the 
opposite slopes, till they glow with a 
fiery red. 
Thus the grandeur of these forests 
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