Evening star., 1919-03-23

Hs %~Ap SAopeS upward az q lepS angle
than on the northerly side. The slope
not constant and op / broad shelf
Of land stands the deserted house.
Across the front Is row OF splendid
1ons-leaf pine. planted there at least
half q century ago They are Of that
species which country boys time out
of mind, and their fathers and grand
gathers, too. have called sugar pines"
very probably because there IL no
more sugar in this variety Of pine
than in many others growing in this
vicinity. There Is a we'll known spe-
cleS OF pine whose regular and proper
name Is the sugar pine" but its habi-
tat Is the Pacific coast and that tree
resinous matter which men have
sometimes used as they would use
cane or beet sugar. The Rambler re-
members that there was one of these
western sugar pines in the collection
Of confer in the grounds of the De-
partment of Agriculture and perhaps
it Is still there! The trees that grow
across the north front of the aban-
doned house are apparently about
sixty years old and close to the house,
so close that the branches extend
above 1t and their acorns patter down
upon the roof, are some oak trees very
much older than the pines and which
must have been big, mature trees
when the first habitation was set up
there.
through the broken windows of the
house one can look across to the River
road and at this season see all that
goes on there. One by patient waiting
may see muddy team pass slowly by
or, maybe. a solitary footman. If the
shadows of the sycamoreS and cedars
point northwest it may be farm la
borer going to his work in some near
by fields and il the shadows point
northeast 1t may be plowman who
homeward plods his weary way when
curfew tolls the knell of parting day
and leaves the world to darkness and
to me. Or. according to Oliver Wendell
Holmes instead OF Thomas Gray, ii
may be:
The lord Of earth. the hero Of the plough!
First in the neld before the reddening sun,
Last In the shadows when the day Is done;
Lime after line. along the bursting sod,
Mark the broad acres where his feet have trod.
In summer the vesture of the oaks,
the sycamores and all the other kinds
Of trees which the Rambler has not
mentioned, though he does not mean
between the abandoned house and the
old road and through which men can
not see. The Rambler stood in one of
the upper rooms and looked out
through window. or through the
and glazing once had been. The rosan
was damp and shadowy though the
sun was shining. That window APP
peared to be frame for bit Of very
beautiful landscape. In the compost
tion Of the picture were the lonely
road with a vine-covered stone wall
beside>it and stream. The back
ground was the land that slopes
steeply but unevenly up from the
north side of the road. In the fore
ground, middle ground and back
ground were trees of many Kinds ar
ranged singly and in groups, and
there were also masses of wild shrub
berry which one may describe within a
Few days as wild greenery.
X X
The picture which the old and broken
window framed seemed TO the Ram
bler to make the fairest landscape
that ever fell from the brush of
great painter appear as a very tame
counterfeit, One may marvel at the
technique by which great painter
inmates a vista of road. stream, woods
and hills. but 1t is a feeble picture in
Comparison with a bit of true land
ecape lighted by o bright March sun,
dimmed here and there by patches OF
shadow cast by clouds. and framed by
fhe broken window of an abandoned
bome.
Perhaps IL you should stand there
Hou, too. would fall to thinking OF