The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1910-09-23

seems nave IHcbbhHo
more vivid. more vital than the rest;
as though 1t possessed some occult
quality that speaks not merely to
the Imagination, or to the general
love of nature per Sc, but directly to
the soul. the oak for strength. the
ash for mystery. the birch for her
feminine grace and SO forth; but the
pine. like sharp sword, pierces
straight through to that inner sense
OF beauty which accepts or rejects
beyond all question of analysis. The
personality of this common" tree
touches the same sense OF wonder
that Is stirred by the presence OF a
human personality, strong beyond
ordinary: and worship Is ever subtly
| linked with wonder.
The analogy is interesting. The
pine plants its roots where more
snowy trees faint and die; straight
strong and sweet to the winds. II
flourishes where only gorse. heather
and toughly obstinate things can live
| Out of the rock. where there seems
not earth enough to feed a violet, II
lifts its somber head undaunted
scorched by the sun. torn by the blast
peering into dreadful abysses. yet
utterly fearless. and yielding SO little
that the elements must pluck II ur
by the roots before they can destroy
II. Only lightning can break 1t. A,
a height above the sea that means
death TO other trees, II climbs sing
ing. "rock-rooted. stretched athwar,
the vacancy" and even when the
main army halts. stragglers are al
ways to be seen. leading forlorr
hopes into the heart of desolation
beyond. And II. amid the stress OF
conditions. 1t cannot look well. 1t IL
content to look Ill. showing dwarfed
and stunted figure to the skies. Only
then. ye elemental powers! what
strength In the gnarled roots. wha,
iron resistance In the twisted trunk
what dour endurance In the shori
thick limbs! 1t assumes the attitude
of the fighting animal. back to the
wall.
High mountains are full of vivie
pictures of this courage against Titan
ic odds. For 1t has the courage of Its
convietions-fine. simple. tenacious
as II has also that other quality of the
strong soul; the power to stand alone
c.Some say there Is a precipice where
one vast pine is frozen to ruin o'el
piles of snow and chasms of ice mid
Alpine mountains.'o No one who
has canoed on Canadian lakes and
seen those frequent rocky islets. each
with its solitary pine. can have ig
nored that there is something strange
" significant in the sight of thai
slender spire rising out OF the heart
of loneliness-something that thrills
and thrills deeply. into the regior
beyond words. Unsheltered beneath
wide skies, remote from its owl
kind. the tree stands there. splendit
in its isolation. straight as a temple
column and prepared for any shock
Elm Fichtenbaum steht einsam." o.
course-but there is more than ths
pathos of Heine's poem In its unap
proachable loneliness: there Ia tn,
spiritual suggestion Of personality
this upright, self-sufficing tree upor
a rock. buffeted by winds and waves
asking no sympathy and dreading NJ
possible fate. The picture. symbol,
OF the strong soul. conveys the in
svitable parable.
Compared with other trees, too, thu
pine does not change. One knows. o.
course. the tips of tender green thai
come with May and turn a pine WOOD
! into a sea of bewildering beauty. But
though deciduous. one is never aware
that anything Is lost: 1t branches
never thin; 1t puts out. properly
speaking. no buds. And the monot
ony Of . pine forest Is merely 4