The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1910-09-30

q nature; but the pine, for many,
seems to have message
more vivid, more vital than the rest;
as though it possessed some occult
quality that speaks not merely 10
the imagination, or to the general
love of nature per Sc, but directly 10
the soul, the oak for strength, the
ash for mystery, the birch Tor 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. Ihe
personality of this common tree
touches the same sense OF wonder
that Is stirred by the presence OF
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, IL
flourishes where only gorse. heather
! and toughly obstinate things can live.
! Out of the rock, where there seems
not earth enough to feed violet, II
| lifts its somber head undaunted;
| scorcbed by the sun, torn by the blast,
| peering into dreadful abysses, yet
utterly fearless. and yielding so little
| that the elements must pluck it up
bv the roots before they can destroy
| If. Only lightning can break 1t. AT
[
| death to other trees, it climbs sing
! ing "rock-rooted. stretched athwart
the vacancy" and even when the
main army halts. stragglers are al
vays to be seen. leading forlorn
homes into the heart of desoiaton
beyond. And if, amid the stress Of
| conditions, it cannot look we'll. 1t IS
content to look i'll, showing dwarfed
and stuuted figure to the skies. Only
then, We elemental powers. what
strength in the gnarled roots. what
iron resistance in the twisted trunk,
what dour ~~tlurance in the short
thick limbs, 1t assumes the attitude
of the fighting animal, back to the
wall.
High mountains are full Of vivid
pictures of this courage against Titan
! ic odds. For it has the courage OF Its
.conyictions-fne. simple, tenacious
as il has also that other quality Of the
strong soul; the power 10 stand alone
('Some say there is precipice where
one vast pine IS frozen 20 ruin oeT
niles of snow and chasms of ice mid
Anime mountains.") 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 that
slender spire rising out of the heart
of loneliness that thrills
and thrills deeply. into the region
hevond words. Tnsheltered beneath
wide skies. remote from its own
kind. the tree stands there, splendid
IN it's isolation. straight as a temple
column and prepared for any shock
Fin Ffchtenbaum steht einsam," o:
corrse-but there is more than the
pathos of Heine's poem in its unap
Droachable loneliness; there is the
spiritual suggestion OF personality
this upright, self-sufficing tree upon
a rock. buffeted by winds and waves
asking no sympathy and dreading nc
possible fate. Tie picture, symbolic
Of the strong soul, conveys the in
evitable para Bile
Compared with other trees. too. the
nine does not change. One knows, o
course, the tips Of tender green thai
como with May and turn pine wood
into a sea Of bewildering beauty. But
though deciduous, one is never aware
that anything is lost; it branches
! never thin; it puts out, properly
speaking. no buds. And the monot
ony of a pine forest is merely q
defect of its great quality of con
! stancy. In summer its shade is deep
er, it's reGesses more cool than those
Of other woods; and in winter, jus
when most trees are leaheSs and un
able to fight. il bears the full weigh
of the SNOW and meets the whole force
of the destroying WINDS. II stands tf
face disaster when others faint or run
The analogy with man is again stmh
ing and complete. Yet its qualities
are not only negative. More thar
most, It gives 9Tt-withOIt reward
often without recognition; for tn
great forests that sweeten the woTi'
! with their haisan. life-giving odors
stand most often in the deso.ate re