The Chorus of the Forest 



against the sky could be seen the finelj'-toothed 

 cutting and waxy gold-green leaf that only could 

 mean beech, and I marveled. Could beech branches 

 be waving there? That tree of low habit and A Beech- 

 spreading limb ! I called my guide's attention ^^^^ '' 

 to it, and he made a road, and then cleared space 

 for me to focus. ^\^here trees Mere so numerous 

 it was imjjossible to get awaj^ far enough to in- 

 clude the entire subject. This mighty wind instru- 

 ment of the forest was fourteen feet in circum- 

 ference and fifty feet to tlie branching. We could 

 secure no leaves, but they were large and appeared 

 especially Avaxy. The trunk was tlie most beauti- 

 ful I ever have seen save the purple beeches of 

 Southern Indiana. Those are low, of widely- 

 spreading branch, and their trunks are like pur- 

 plish-gray moleskin. This forest beech had patches 

 of moleskin, then gray and green s])aces, tlie fore- 

 runners of lichens, and then the lichens themselves 

 in big circles with exquisite gradations of gray, 

 white, and green colors. 



At its base grew a fern with fronds two feet 

 long, and the mottled brown carpet spread beneath 

 it was dee]5 layers of dead leaves. Then we began 

 to watch for its kindred through the forest, and 

 found many, giants all of them. One thing we 

 noted in particular. Not a beech ever leaned or 

 curved, but in a noble column all of them aspired 

 straight toward heaven, and among their stiff, 



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