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 willow may look well 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 willow, and in many 
of its other cousins, too. The white willow, 
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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