Song Birds and Water Fowl 



comes to his true self, when one can see how 

 he cuts the sky with his exhaustive catalogue 

 of belligerent angles. It is only in winter that 

 we get down to a tree's inner nature. And 

 how beautifully the lace - like tracery of the 

 white birch then reposes on the sky-blue back- 

 ground ; and what an undertone of strength is 

 evident in the stately elm, which is almost lost 

 sight of beneath its pliant, engaging manners 

 during the leafy season. It is only the ever- 

 greens that are exasperatingly self-contained, im- 

 mobile, in winter and summer alike, either from 

 absolute stagnation of soul, or from the perfect 

 self-restraint of an iron will, that would die 

 rather than show itself impressionable; almost 

 oblivious of the very winds, that mourn, in- 

 deed, most dolefully among their branches, 

 while the trees themselves are stolidly imper- 

 vious to smiles or tears. 



The most significant view of the lower forms 

 of creation is that in which we see the adumbra- 

 tion of the higher. Mrs. Browning has said, 



"A tree's mere firewood unless humanized ; " 



and the adjectives so often applied to many of the 



objects of Nature — humble violet, lordly pine, 



angry sea, etc. — striking deeper than their own 



258 



