Weird and strange are the feelings that flow as winds sweep and sound through the trees. Now the Storm King puts a bugle to his lips, and a deep, elemental hymn is sung while the blast surges wild through the pines. Soon Mother Nature is quietly singing, singing soft and low, while the breezes pause and play in the pines. From the past one has been ever coming, with the future is destined ever to go, when with centuries of worshipful silence one waits for a wind in the pines. Ever the good old world grows better, both with songs and with silence, in the pines.
One touch of forest nature makes the whole world kin. A tree is the flag of Nature, and forests give a universal feeling of good will. In the boundless forest the boundary-lines of nations are forgotten. Some time an immortal pine may be the flag of a united and peaceful world. In the forests' fairyland are still heard "the horns of Elfland faintly blowing." There—
"Echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever."
Kinship is the spirit of the forest.
XVII
WILD LIFE IN NATIONAL PARKS
Hunters are excluded from National Parks, and within these wonderlands all shooting is prohibited. All National Parks are wild-life sanctuaries, places of refuge for birds and animals. There the wild folk are not pursued, trapped, or shot. Nearly all the principal birds and beasts of North America are to be found in these Parks. Here may be seen the lively, merry play-pranks of young bears, young birds, and young beavers. Each Park is thus a wild-life paradise where the animals are safe, free from the fear of being killed by man. These Parks are ideal places in which to enjoy the animals and to study their character; and they are a happy hunting-ground for the hunter who carries the camera. Recreation in these wonderlands is thus absolutely separated from the butchering business. What a glorious exchange! All this should help the good old world to grow better. Making a wild-animal place of refuge is equivalent to making a park-place of refuge for ourselves.
ELK IN JACKSON HOLE