CHARACTERISTICS OF OREGON 



are clear, while three fourths have more or less 

 of fogs, clouds, or rain. 



The fogs occur mostly in the fall and spring. 

 They are grand, far-reaching affairs of two 

 kinds, the black and the white, some of the lat- 

 ter being very beautiful, and the infinite deli- 

 cacy and tenderness of their touch as they linger 

 to caress the tall evergreens is most exquisite. 

 On farms and highways and in streets of towns, 

 where work has to be done, there is nothing 

 picturesque or attractive in any obvious way 

 about the gray, serious-faced rain-storms. 

 Mud abounds. The rain seems dismal and 

 heedless and gets in everybody's way. Every 

 face is turned from it, and it has but few 

 friends who recognize its boundless beneficence. 

 But back in the untrodden woods where no 

 axe has been lifted, where a deep, rich carpet 

 of brown and golden mosses covers all the 

 groimd like a garment, pressing warmly about 

 the feet of the trees and rising in thick folds 

 softly and kindly over every fallen trunk, 

 leaving no spot naked or uncared-for, there the 

 rain is welcomed, and every drop that falls 

 finds a place and use as sweet and pure as it- 

 self. An excursion into the woods when the 

 rain harvest is at its height is a noble pleasure, 

 and may be safely enjoyed at small expense, 

 though very few care to seek it. Shelter i& 



285 



