the neighboring trees that had succumbed while they only suffered and
stood firm. Yet they seemed all complete, of proved strength and staying
power, and their aspect was not of defiance or anger, but rather
indicative of beneficent strength, as if they said, "Here we stand;
somewhat crippled, it is true, but yet pointing upright to the heavens,
yet vigorous, yet seed-bearing and cheerful!"

Another group of these white pines that stood close to some only less
picturesque red pines on the shores of a pond deep in the Adirondacks
emphasized again for me one May day the majesty of this beneficent
friend of mankind; and yet another old pine monarch against the sunset
sky pointed the westward way from the picturesque Cornell campus, and
alas! also pointed the danger to even this one unreplaceable tree when
modern "enterprise" constructs a trolley line on a scenic route,
ruthlessly destroying the very features that make the route desirable,
rather than go to any mechanical trouble!

My readers will easily recall for themselves just the same sort of "old
pine" groups they have record of on memory's picture-gallery, and will,
I am sure, agree with me as to the informality, dignity and true beauty
of these survivors of the forest, all of which deserve to be
appreciatively cared for, against any encroachment of train, trolley or
lumberman.

I am ashamed to say I have not yet seen the blossoms of the white pine,
which the botanists tell us come in early spring, minute and light
brown, to be followed by the six-inch-long cones which mature the second
year. I promise my camera that another spring it shall be turned toward
these shy blossoms.

[Illustration: The long-leaved pines of the South]

[Illustration: The fountain-like effect of the young long-leaved pine]

Any one who has traveled south of Virginia, even by the Pullman way of
not seeing, cannot fail to have noted the lovely green leaf-fountains
springing up from the ground along the railroads. These are the young
trees of the long-leaved or Southern yellow pine. How beautiful they
are, these narrow leaves of vivid green, more than a foot long, drooping
gracefully from the center outward, with none of the stiffness of our
Northern species! In some places they seem to fairly bubble in green
from all the surface of the ground, so close are they. And the grand
long-leaved pine itself, maintained in lusty vigor above these
greeneries, is a tree of simple dignity, emphasiz