The mountains of California . luences, that of the winds is snow bends and trims the upper forests everywinter, the lightning strikes a single tree here andthere, while avalanches mow down thousands at aswoop as a gardener trims out a bed of flowers. Butthe winds go to every tree, fingering every leafand branch and furrowed bole; not one is forgotten;the Mountain Pine towering with outstretched armson the rugged buttresses of the icy peaks, the lowliestand most retiring tenant of the dells ; they seek andfind them all, caressing them tenderly, bending themin lusty exercise, stimu
The mountains of California . luences, that of the winds is snow bends and trims the upper forests everywinter, the lightning strikes a single tree here andthere, while avalanches mow down thousands at aswoop as a gardener trims out a bed of flowers. Butthe winds go to every tree, fingering every leafand branch and furrowed bole; not one is forgotten;the Mountain Pine towering with outstretched armson the rugged buttresses of the icy peaks, the lowliestand most retiring tenant of the dells ; they seek andfind them all, caressing them tenderly, bending themin lusty exercise, stimulating their growth, pluckingoff a leaf or limb as required, or removing au entiretree or grove, now whispering and cooing throughthe branches like a sleepy child, now roaring likethe ocean; the winds blessing the forests, theforests the winds, with ineffable beauty and har-mony as the sure result. After one has seen pines six feet in diameterbending like grasses before a mountain gale, and 244 A WIND-STORM IX THE FORESTS 245. A W lM>;lv.\I IN I III, t A lil r > >ii:> I A i iv ^ i ,^.(AFTER A SKETCH BY THE AUTHOR.) (V<i- and aiion some giant fulling with a oasli thatshakes tli<? hills, it seoms astoiiisliiiig that any, saveIhr lowest thickset trees, could evei- li,i\c Iniind aperiod snfiiiiiiitly stonnlcss In cstaMish thciii-selves; i, once established, that Ihey shniild not, 246 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFORNIA sooner or later, have been blown down. But whenthe storm is over, and we behold the same foreststranquil again, towering fresh and unscathed inerect majesty, and consider what centuries of stormshave fallen upon them since they were first planted,—hail, to break the tender seedlings; lightning, toscorch and shatter; snow, winds, and avalanches,to crush and overwhelm,—while the manifest re-sult of all this wild storm-culture is the gloriousperfection we behold; then faith in Natures for-estry is established, and we cease to deplore theviolence
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectcaliforniadescriptio
