108 
NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
Under 
moonlight. 
Snow lines. 
Snow colors. 
of the earth, the dark ranks of trees, the gleam 
of the cold sky, the glitter of the snow lying so 
flufily upon earth and tree and hill and house- 
top. How calm and pure it seems! How im- 
pressive it is, too, under moonlight, with the 
hills stretching far away in their white, heaving 
mantle, the frozen woods standing up so darkly 
along the night horizon, the stars glistening in 
their violet depths, and over all the great si- 
lence of the sky ! 
And whata multitude of sharp angles, harsh 
forms, and bleak colors are hidden under the 
muffling of snow! The ragged mound, the 
rough cornfield, the tumbled meadow, the bushy 
foot-hills of the mountains are smoothed out, 
and evened over, and cast in new forms. 
Everywhere there are flowing, rounded lines 
running hither and thither to meet other 
lines, intertwining and uniting in graceful and 
rhythmic combinations. In the open fields, 
where the wind has been at work, the snow may 
be cast in rolls, like the long swells of a smooth 
sea; and when the sun is low these swells show 
pink light on their crests and blue shadows 
‘in their hollows—shadows even more delicate 
and tender in hue than those cast upon water. 
Above the open fields even the mountain-lines 
