Thence, even as he gazed, a tiny column of smoke rose straight up into the still air. - Kenneth Grahame

What is the meaning of this gross outrage?

Here and there great branches had been torn away by the sheer weight of the snow, and robins perched and hopped on them in their perky conceited way, just as if they had done it themselves.

and thrust into the great sea of wheat, yellow, wavy, and murmurous, full of quiet motion and small whisperings. Here he often loved to wander, through the forest of stiff strong stalks that carried their own golden sky away over his head — a