240 
NATURE FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
In autumn. 
And in 
winter, 
mountain-walls all have their special features 
that attract; the brook in its flashing motion 
and light, the valley in its mass of foliage, the 
mountain-walls in their color, their shadows, 
their bulk, and their lift against the sky. All 
of them are seen at their best during the 
months of summer. In October, when the 
autumn leaf is rustling, and the rain begins to 
fall on bare boughs, a strange feeling comes 
over one in looking at the valley—a feeling 
that its bright days are numbered, and that 
it will soon be sleeping under ice and snow, 
with its protecting mountains looming dark 
and grim through the long nights of winter. 
But at any time of the year, and with all the 
beauties the valley may reveal, it is not the 
best place for habitation. The conditions of 
life are harder there than on the flat-lands ; 
and the density of the shade, the jungle qual- 
ity of the foliage, the enclosing walls of the 
mountains, are all oppressive—in a way stifling 
and stunting in their effect. The very animals 
and the birds seem to feel this, for they are 
not so frequently found here as upon the 
edges of the flat plains, where the country is 
open. Man himself grows rather heavy and 
stolid when hemmed in by mountains, or sur- 
