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Show 388. to become monotonous," he applauded the individual character of the sugar pine, "as free from conventionalities of form and motion as any oak." No two are a l i k e , even to the most i n a t t e n t i v e observer; and, notwithstanding they are ever tossing out their immense arms in what might seem most extravagant gestures, there is a majesty and repose about them that precludes all p o s s i b i l i t y of the grotesque, or even picturesque, in their general expression. The juniper, however, he found l e s s pleasing, because i t seemed an aged r e l i c , "reminding one of the crumbling towers of some ancient castle s c a n t i l y draped with ivy." The t r e e was too picturesque for Muir: I t s fine color and odd picturesqueness always catch an a r t i s t ' s eye, but to me the Juniper seems a singularly dull and t a c i t u r n t r e e , never speaking to one's heart. I think there is something perverse in t h i s judgment, perverse because Muir seemed to d i s l i k e the juniper precisely because it was judged by men to be picturesque. Thus he was s t i ll trapped by conventional a e s t h e t i c standards, even while rebelling against them. He continued in the same vein when he dealt with waterfalls in Picturesque California, preferring the extravagant to the regular, and d i s l i k i n g that which i s conventionally Picturesque. Thus, for instance, he did not prefer Vernal Palls: " i t is the most s t a i d and orderly of a l l the great f a l l s, and never shows any marked o r i g i n a l i t y of form or behavior." |