In doing this work the power of life in the tree has to overcome many
other kinds of force. There is the power of cohesion. How it holds
the particles of stone or iron together! You can hardly break its
force with a great sledge. But the power of life in the tree, or even
grass, must master the power of cohesion and take out of the
disintegrating rock what it wants. So it must overcome the power of
chemical affinity in water and air. The substances it wants are in
other combinations, the power of which must be overcome.
Gravitation is a great power, but the thousand tons of this tree's vast
weight must be lifted and sustained in defiance of it. So for a
thousand years gravitation sees the tree rise higher and higher, till
the great lesson is taught that it is a weakling compared with the
power of life. There is not a place where one can put his finger that
there are not a dozen forces in full play, every one of which is
plastic, elastic, and ready to yield to any force that is higher. So
the tree stands, not mere lumber and cordwood, or an obstacle to be
gotten rid of by fire, but an embodiment of life unexhausted for a
thousand years. The fairy-fingered breeze plays through its myriad
harp strings. It makes wide miles of air aromatic. Animal life feeds
on the quintessence of life in its seeds.
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