The Music of the Marsh 



can! That is a miserable fact, and soon it will 

 become our discomfort and loss. Clouds are beds 

 of va])or arising from damp places and floating Cutting 

 in air imtil they meet other vapor masses, that 1^°^'" 



• 1 I " -in the Clouds 



mmgle with them, and the weight becomes so 

 great the M'hole falls in drops of rain. If men in 

 their greed cut forests that preserve and distil 

 moisture, clear fields, take the shelter of trees 

 from creeks and rivers until they eva])orate, 

 and drain the water from swamps so that tliey 

 can be cleared and cultivated, — they prevent vapor 

 from rising; and if it does not rise it can not fall. 

 Pitjr of pities it is; but man can change and is 

 changing the forces of nature. I never told a 

 sadder truth, but it is truth that man can "cut 

 down the clouds." In utter disregard or ignorance 

 of what he ^^'ill do to himself, his children, and 

 his country he persists in doing it wherever he 

 can see a few cents in the sacrifice. 



And of all the dreary, desolate places for a 

 home these little cabins perched on a small eleva- 

 tion at the edge of a marsh are the worst, espe- 

 cially in the mists of morning and evening. I can 

 see the artistic possibilities of the gray cabin, the 

 heavy mists, the drenched grasses, the straggling, 

 vine-covered old fences, and the vapor-shrouded 

 trees and swamp. It is all most beautiful, but so 

 desolate. As a setting for a funeral it is appro- 

 priate, but as a home it appeals to me as insupport- 



335 



