MOUNTAINS AND HILLS 
225 
dow, have you noticed how they vary with 
the different lights and atmospheres ? Have 
you seen them at sunrise lying off in the west, 
when the light is on them instead of behind 
them, and each barren crag gleams like a star, 
when the pine forest on the ridge is pale and 
blue, and the network of interblended lines is 
woven faint and fleecy against the dark ground 
of the half-awakened sky ? Howcold and still 
are the valleys in shadow, and how spectre-like 
the mists floating hither and thither, knocking 
themselves to pieces on the mountain-side, and 
finally dying out like smoke against the clear 
sky! Have you noticed them at noon, when 
the sun in the zenith has bleached their forest- 
greens to grays and blues, when the valleys 
drowse in the blazing light and the sky lines are 
vague almost to the point of obliteration ? 
What a thick veil of silver-blue air les in the 
valleys and along the ridges, blurring and ob- 
scuring everything with delicate fingers un- 
til the far-off peaks seem turning into clouds! 
The mountains lie enchanted under the wand 
of the sunlight like the princes in Elfland. 
No sound, no wind, no motion; silent they 
rest under the falling light, reflecting the sky 
above them. Of course, you have seen these 
Mountains 
at sunrise. 
At noon, 
