the closest branches to my eye formed a small frame , only a few inches across , but looking through it i discovered there were others , in fact a whole series which extended forward in increasing diameters , and together they acted as a golden telescope or spyglass , the type that snap sections of smaller diameter together , and this spyglass seemed by its perspective to magnify the cowboys , oxen and stagecoaches that were travelling toward me and to present each image in momentary isolation , the same way artists who need inspiration for a new painting will slide a square which is snipped out of the middle of a sheet of blank paper around a large painting searching for a smaller , suitable aspect to paint , a masterpiece within the masterpiece , so to speak .