The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1888-10-31
me Pitch Pine Tree
september Atlantic

-Erfem Der A1l8Atfc-
Human nature y nothing not
paraEioxical- In rs eyes every thing -
both coed and bad AID for my own
part sometimes wonder shefher tnls
NAV not be the sam OF all wiss1onz-t0
ind everything good n it, place and
everything bad out OF rs place
Thoughts ike these suggest themselves
as look at the pitch pine. which, to
speak emily OF such trees as grow with
ii the range OF nay own observation. Is
the one irregular member Of the family
of cone-bearerS The white or Wey-
mouth pine, the hemioek, the cedars.
the spruces, the ar and the Iarca- these
are al, in different ways, of decided
IL symmetrical turn The pitch pine.
on the other hand, if il works upon
any set scheme. a. no doa.s IL does
has the grace 70 Keep Il out OF sight
/ It's gift Is genius rather than talent
It has an air, as genius always has OF
achieving rs results without Effort or
reconciliation Its method is that OF
spontaneiky; its style that OF the
picture~qGe-h omely, 20 dear 10 the AZ
Iistic temperament. Its whole make
up i consistent with this geTInia2l or
controlling idea Angular IN outline.
rough and ragged in rs bole, with its
needles stiff and its cones hard and
sharp. 1t makes no attempt 81 graceful
ness: vet, BY virtue OF its very way
wardaess, il becomes. as IL in spite of
itself, more attractive than any OF its
relatives. For the pitch pines MODEST
qualities are, after all, not artistic.
but moral such unalterable con-
tentment, such hardness and
persisteRcy are enough to put the
stoutest of as to shame Once give il
root and no sterility of soil can dis
courage H. Every thing else may sue
sumb, but it-and the gray birch
will make shift 70 live. Like the resin
that exudes from it, having once taken
hold. il has no thought OF letting 60
IL is never planted BY the rivers of
water" but all the same its leaf does
not wither No summer so hot and
dry, no winter so cold and wet but it
keeps its perennial green. What can
not be done in one year may, per-
chance, be accomplished in three or
four. II spends several seasons in
ripening its fruit. The pitch-pine is
beautiful to look at. and profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for eorrec-
ton. for instruction in righteousness, |"
but il would be a shame not to add
that it Is almost excellent to smell of.
II / am to judge, scarcely any odor
wears better than this of growing tur-
pentine. There Is something urmis-
takahly clean and wholesome about it.
The very first Whit savors OF salubrity.
When all this is said, however, moth
ing else about the pitch-pine ever
affects me so deeply as its behavior
after man has done his worst upon It.
II would appear to have some vague
sense OF Immortality, some groupings
after resurrection. The tree was
felled in the autumn, and the trunk
cut up ANONYMOUSLY into eordwood,
but in spring the PROSTATE logs begin
to put forth scattered tufts OF bright
green leaves-life still working under
the ribs OF death-wEile the stump, |
whether through the scent Of water"
| cannot say, is, perhaps, sending up
fresh shoots-a piece of post norton
hopefullness, the like of which no
white pine. for all its seemingly greater
vitality, was ever known TO exhibit