Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-07-05
THE FOREST.

AN Essay by Gleason L. Archer. Great Pond
Throughout this vast and marvellous
creation, which abounds with a great va
riety of sublime and wonderful things,
there is naught that reveals the majestic
imprint Of divine hand more plainly
than a cool sequestercd spot in wild and
| trackless forest.
Here in the sylvan calm that even hroods
over such an enchanting spot, nature, I'M
ahashed by human gaze, adorns herself
with such exquisite taste, such delicate
| beauty that the mind OF man may we'll
be awed. The softness of its artistic shad-
ing infuses the scene with an unmistak-
/ able semhlanee to animation, and this,
and its great profusion of vivid eoloring,
unite to form a scene of magnihceuce
quite inconceyable.
If one wishes to feel the nearest APP
preach Of subiimity itself, or receive one
t Of The graHdest Impressions which nature
can impaIt. he should, When the oppees.
sive heat Of a summer day has dimmed
his faulty perceptions and lulled his senses
from an active to a passive state, repair to
/ the depths OF the shaded forest. Once
within the Woodlands tangled. hedge like
margin, sense of delightful GOODNESS as
sails the nostrils and cools the throbbing
brow. In silent eXhilaration he deeply
breathes the inyigorating air laden with
the pleasant aroma of wild flowers and
the freshness of the summer forest. The
twittering of birds, the gentle hum OF in
seets, and the soft rustIing of the wind
through the tree tops, complete the pict-
ure of perfect ideality.
The enhancing spell which nature
throws upon US the moment we enter its
undisputed dominion, sinks deeper into
our receptive brain. Its impression broad
are crowded from our spellbound mind,
care and trouble leave US, and like mist
before the morning san, parts and van
shes on he magic wings OF the fragrant
air
For space the consciousness that we
are but human. relaxes its numbing grasp,
withdraws its restraining hand, ana cur
thoughts, weary of their long captivity,
soar 10 a higher altitude. No longer the
physical appearance of nature seems dumb
and impassiye; no longer utterly devoid
of reason or destitute OF life, for We view
il from standpoint here we can better
understand its seeming confusion, and d.
tails which have before escaped Us are
here revealed.
The giant trees whose massive spar-Iike
trunks rise majestically 10 a dizzy height.
far above the interminahle maze of en-
tangled branches, which shut their peaks
from view, no longer seem calm. inani-
mate monuments OF death, but things OF
the highest physical beauty; symmetrical
in every respect, and tingling with life in
every fibre. Deeply rooted in the solid
earth they shake their sturdy limbs in
proud defiance at wind and weather.
Able to withstand the tiereest rigors OF
northern winter, or the mighty blasts of
furious tempest, they remain the most
massive and enduring type OF material
life that nature can produce. Centuries
may fade and generations of men pass
away, before the day a length arrives
when they shall be shorn of their regal
splendor by the relentless hand of death.
Death! How strangely out of place
sounds that dread word among such
scenes as these, How impossible seems
the statement that this beauty is but tran
silent, that the varied glories before us
must all sink back to the earth from which
they came. Yet every fallen log and
every decaying mound silently proclaims
that of physical beings naught can escape
q l.. lot S,,c
shalt return