If  the  project  fails,  it  will  not  be  for  lack  of  at-
tractive features  in  the  plan  itself,  nor  for  the  absence
of  necessity  impelling  us  to  it.  For  we  must  buy  this
land  and  establish  this  forest  if  we  are  to  be  true  to
our  collective  duties.  Unless  we  do  so,  this  vast  re-
gion, charming  in  scenery  and  rich  in  historic  interest,
is  doomed  to  lose  its  utility,  and  to  become  an  unsightly
and  mischievous  desert.  The  destruction  of  its  forests
has  set  in  motion  the  advancing  ruin.
The  White  and  Appalachian  mountains  are  great


138  Inland  Waterways

lumps  of  earth  mingled  with  stones.  The  rains  and
snows  wear  them  away  as  spray  from  a  garden  hose
would  wear  away  a  lump  of  potter's  clay.  Until  man
destroyed  it,  the  forest  was  spread  over  them,  breaking
the  dash  of  the  rain,  carrying  it  in  runnels  down  the
trunks  of  the  trees,  or  letting  it  drip  harmlessly  from
the  boughs.  Thickly  covering  the  ground  was  a  warp
and  woof  of  dead  leaves,  twigs,  boughs,  humus,  and  a
mat  of  small  green  things  sheltered  by  the  great  trees.
The  very  spirit  of  the  woods  is  one  of  shade  and
moisture  and  mosses  and  the  slow  outflow  of  cool
springs.  This  spirit  has  been  changed  by  the  destruc-
tion of  the  forests.  The  mountains  have  begun  to
dissolve  and  wash  down  upon  the  lowlands.  The
streams  are  commencing  to  silt  up  with  mud.  The
nap  of  nature's  protecting  towel  was  the  large  trees.
