The Chorus of the Forest 



inherited from days when most of the heasts and 

 many of the birds were larger and of greater 

 strength tlian man, so that existence was a daily 

 battle. Then the forest is ever receding. As we 

 apjiroach. it retreats, until of late years it has be- 

 come difficult to find, and soon it is tlu-eatened 

 M'ith extinction. As yet, it is somewhere, but pa- 

 tience and tra\'el are recjuired to reach it. I found 

 the forest here pictured after a journey by rail, 

 water, and a long road so narrow tJiat it seemed 

 as if cA'ery one traveling it went in the morning 

 and returned at night, but none extr passed on 

 the ^xny. 



Such a narrow little road, and so sandy that 

 it appeared like a white ribbon stretched u]) gen- 

 tle hill and down valley! On each side I saw evi- The 

 dence that latelv it had been forest itself; else the *"', 



to the 



•way would not have been so very narrow, the sides Forest 

 impassable, and bordered with trees so mighty and 

 closely set as to dwarf it to the vanishing point 

 long within the range of vision. The very flowers 

 ■\\'ere unusual, the faint musky perfume creeping 

 out to us, a touch of the forest greeting our ap- 

 proach. The road ran long and straight, and 

 where it ended the work of man ceased and the 

 work of nature began. 



The forest was surrounded ])y a garden, where 

 sunliglit and warmth encouraged a growth not to 

 be found inside. Here in early spring daintiest 



27 



