Four Trees 



worse even than the centre of a lawn, is the 

 very place where we most often find it — be- 

 side a placid sheet of water. The beauty 

 of a little sheet of water is the beauty of re- 

 pose, of simplicity, of breath, of horizontal 

 lines ; with all of these qualities the droop- 

 ing lines of the weeping willow conflict, for 

 they are almost as restless, in the artistic 

 sense, as is the color of pattern-beds of flow- 

 ers. Truly, a w^illow may look vrell by a 

 pond — better, perhaps, in some places, than 

 any other tree ; but not a weeping willow. 

 All the good points about this tree — the deli- 

 cate character of its spray, the tender, pallid 

 color of its leaves, and their twinkling, airy 

 grace — are found in greater perfection in its 

 fine cousin, the white willoAv, and in many 

 of its other cousins, too. The vrhite vrillow, 

 which is also a foreigner but grows content- 

 edly with us and has actually run wild in 

 our northern woods, is even more individual 

 in color and texture than the lachrymose 

 one ; it is likewise graceful, but with a much 

 more manly and normal kind of grace ; and 

 it has all the virtues that its relative lacks — 

 dignity, simplicity, and a general effect which 



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