192 
_1URAL HOUES. 
to the very last an appearance of vigor, as though keeping death 
at bay until struck to the heart, or laid low from the roots. It 
is true, this appearance may often prove deceptive ; still, it is a 
peculiarity of our pine, that it preserves its verdure until the very 
last, unlike many other trees which are seen in the forest, half 
green, half gray, and lifeless. 
The pine of the lawns or open groves and the pine of the forest 
differ very strikingly in outline ; the usual pyramidal or conical 
form of the evergreen is very faintly traced on the short, irregular 
limbs of the forest tree ; but what is lost in luxuriance and ele- 
gance is more than replaced by a peculiar character of wild dig- 
nity, as it raises its stern head high above the lesser wood, far 
overtopping the proudest rank of oaks. And yet, in their rudest 
shapes, they are never harsh ; as we approach them, we shall al- 
ways find something of the calm of age and the sweetness of na- 
ture to soften their aspect ; there is a grace in the slow waving 
of their limbs in the higher air, which never fails ; there is a mys- 
terious melody in their breezy murmurs ; there is an emerald light 
in their beautiful verdure, which lies in unfading wreaths, fresh 
and clear, about the heads of those old trees. The effect of light 
and shade on the foliage of those older forest pines is indeed much 
finer than what we see among their younger neighbors ; the tufted 
branches, in their horizontal growth, are beautifully touched with 
circlets of a clear light, which is broken up and lost amid the con- 
fused medley of branches in trees of more upright growth. The 
long brown cones are chiefly pendulous, in clusters, from the 
upper branches ; some seasons they are so numerous on the 
younger trees as to give their lieads a decided brown coloring. 
The grove upon the skirts of the village numbers, perhaps, some 
