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diff --git a/11723.txt b/11723.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..864925b --- /dev/null +++ b/11723.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7421 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Among the Trees at Elmridge, by Ella Rodman +Church + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Among the Trees at Elmridge + +Author: Ella Rodman Church + +Release Date: March 26, 2004 [eBook #11723] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMONG THE TREES AT ELMRIDGE*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 11723-h.htm or 11723-h.zip: + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/7/2/11723/11723-h/11723-h.htm) + or + (http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/1/1/7/2/11723/11723-h.zip) + + + + + +AMONG THE TREES AT ELMRIDGE + +BY + +ELLA RODMAN CHURCH + +1886 + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. A SPRING OPENING. +CHAPTER II. THE MAPLES. +CHAPTER III. OLD ACQUAINTANCES: THE ELMS. +CHAPTER IV. MAJESTY AND STRENGTH: THE OAK. +CHAPTER V. BEAUTY AND GRACE: THE ASH. +CHAPTER VI. THE OLIVE TREE. +CHAPTER VII. THE USEFUL BIRCH. +CHAPTER VIII. THE POPLARS. +CHAPTER IX. ALL A-BLOW: THE APPLE TREE. +CHAPTER X. A FRUITFUL FAMILY: THE PEACH, ALMOND, PLUM AND CHERRY. +CHAPTER XI. THE CHERRY-STORY. +CHAPTER XII. THE MULBERRY FAMILY. +CHAPTER XIII. QUEER RELATIONS: THE CAOUTCHOUC AND THE MILK TREE. +CHAPTER XIV. HOME AND ABROAD: LINDEN, CAMPHOR, BEECH. +CHAPTER XV. THE TENT AND THE LOCUSTS. +CHAPTER XVI. THE WALNUT FAMILY AND THE AILANTHUS. +CHAPTER XVII. SOME BEAUTIFUL TREES: THE CHESTNUT AND HORSE-CHESTNUT. +CHAPTER XVIII. AMONG THE PINES. +CHAPTER XIX. GIANT AND NUT PINES. +CHAPTER XX. MORE WINTER TREES: THE FIRS AND THE SPRUCES. +CHAPTER XXI. THE CEDARS. +CHAPTER XXII. THE PALMS. + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +_A SPRING OPENING._ + +On that bright spring afternoon when three happy, interested children +went off to the woods with their governess to take their first lesson in +the study of wild flowers, they saw also some other things which made a +fresh series of "Elmridge Talks," and these things were found among the +trees of the roadside and forest. + +"What makes it look so _yellow_ over there, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, +who was peering curiously at a clump of trees that seemed to have been +touched with gold or sunlight. "And just look over here," she continued, +"at these pink ones!" + +Malcolm shouted at the idea: + +"Yellow and pink trees! That sounds like a Japanese fan. Where are they, +I should like to know?" + +"Here, you perverse boy!" said his governess as she laughingly turned +him around. "Are you looking up into the sky for them? There is a clump +of golden willows right before you, with some rosy maples on one side. +What other colors can you call them?" + +Malcolm had to confess that "yellow and pink trees" were not so wide of +the mark, after all, and that they were very pretty. Little Edith was +particularly delighted with them, and wanted to "pick the flowers" +immediately. + +"They are too high for that, dear," was the reply, "and these +blossoms--for that is what they really are, although nothing more than +fringes and catkins--are much prettier massed on the trees than they +would be if gathered. The still-bare twigs and branches seem, as you +see, to be draped with golden and rose-colored veils, but there will be +no leaves until these queer flowers have dropped. If we look closely at +the twigs and branches, we shall see that they are glossy and polished, +as though they had been varnished and then brightened with color by the +painter's brush. It is the flowing of the sap that does this. The +swelling of the bark occasioned by the flow of sap gives the whole mass +a livelier hue; hence the ashen green of the poplar, the golden green of +the willow and the dark crimson of the peach tree, the wild rose and the +red osier are perceptibly heightened by the first warm days of spring." + +[Illustration: MALE CATKIN OF WILLOW.] + +"Miss Harson," asked Clara, with a perplexed face, "what are catkins?" + +"Here," said her governess, reaching from the top bar of the road-fence +for the lowest branch of a willow tree; "examine this catkin for +yourself, and I will tell you what my _Botany_ says of it: 'An ament, or +catkin, is an assemblage of flowers composed of scales and stamens or +pistils arranged along a common thread-like receptacle, as in the +chestnut and willow. It is a kind of calyx, by some classed as a mode of +inflorescence (or flowering), and each chaffy scale protects one or more +of the stamens or pistils, the whole forming one aggregate flower. The +ament is common to forest-trees, as the oak and chestnut, and is also +found upon the willow and poplar.'" + +"It's funny-looking," said Malcolm, when he had made himself thoroughly +acquainted with the appearance of the catkin, "but it doesn't look much +like a flower: it looks more like a pussy's tail." + +"Yes, and that is the origin of its name. 'Catkin' is diminutive for +'cat;' so this collection of flowers is called 'catkin,' or +'little cat.'" + +"I think I'll call them 'pussy-tails,'" said Edith. + +"There is a great deal to be learned about trees," said Miss Harson, +when all were comfortably seated in the pleasant schoolroom; "and, +besides the natural history of their species, some old trees have +wonderful stories connected with them, while many in tropical countries +are so wonderful in themselves that they do not need stories to make +them interesting. The common trees around us will be our subjects at +first; for I suppose that you can scarcely tell a willow from a poplar, +or a chestnut tree from either, can you?" + +"I can tell a chestnut tree," said Malcolm, confidently. + +"When it is not the season for nuts?" asked his governess, smiling. + +There was not a very positive reply to this; and Miss Harson continued: + +"I do not think that any of us know as much as we ought to know of the +trees which we see every day, and of the uses to which many of them are +put, to say nothing of many familiar trees that we read about, and even +depend upon for some of the necessaries of life." + +"Like the cocoanut tree," suggested Clara. + +"That is not exactly necessary to our comfort, dear," was the reply, +"for people can manage to live without cocoanuts, although in many forms +they are very agreeable to the taste, and it is only the inhabitants of +the countries where they grow who look upon these trees as necessaries; +but we will take them up in their turn. And first let us find out what +we can about the willow, because it is the first tree, with us, to +become green in the spring, and, of that large class which is called +_deciduous_, the last one to lose its leaves." + +"And why are they called _deciduous?_" asked Malcolm. + +"Because they shed their leaves every autumn and are furnished with a +new set in the spring: 'deciduous' is Latin for 'falling off.' And this +is the case with nearly all our native trees and plants. _Persistent_, +or permanent, leaves remain on the stem and branches all through the +changes of season, like the leaves of the pine and box, while +_evergreens_ look fresh through the entire year and are generally +cone-bearing and resinous trees. 'These change their leaves annually, +but, the young leaves appearing before the old ones decay, the tree is +always green.'" + +"Miss Harson," said Clara, "when people talk about _weeping_ willows, +what do they mean? Do the trees really cry? I sometimes read about 'em +in stories, and I never knew what they did." + +"They cry dreadfully," said Malcolm, "when it rains." + +"But only as you do when you are out in it," replied his governess--"by +having the water drip from your clothes.--No, Clara, the tree is called +'weeping' because it seems to 'assume the attitude of a person in tears, +who bends over and appears to droop.' The sprays of this tree are +particularly beautiful, and 'willowy' is often used for 'graceful,' as +meaning the same thing. Its language is 'sorrow,' and it is often seen +in burial-grounds and in mourning-pictures. 'We remember it in sacred +history, associating it with the rivers of Babylon, and with the tears +of the children of Israel, who sat down under the shade of this tree and +hung their harps upon its branches. It is distinguished by the graceful +beauty of its outlines, its light-green, delicate foliage, its sorrowing +attitude and its flowing drapery.'" + +"Were those weeping willows that we saw to-day?" asked Clara. + +"No," replied her brother, quickly; "they just stuck up straight and +didn't weep a bit." + +"They are called _water_ willows," said Miss Harson, "because they are +never found in dry places. They are more common than the weeping willow. +The water willow has the same delicate foliage and the same habit, under +an April sky, of gleaming with a drapery of golden verdure among the +still-naked trees of the forest or orchard. 'When Spring has closed her +delicate flowers,' says a bright writer, 'and the multitudes that crowd +around the footsteps of May have yielded their places to the brighter +host of June, the willow scatters the golden aments that adorned it, +and appears in the deeper garniture of its own green foliage.' A group +of these golden willows, seen in a rainstorm, will have so bright an +appearance as to make it seem as if the sun were actually shining." + +[Illustration: THE WHITE WILLOW (_Salix alba_).] + +"I wish we had them all around here, then," said Edith; "I like to see +the sun shining when it rains." + +"But the sun is _not_ shining, dear," replied her governess: "it is only +the reflection from the willows that makes it look so; and we can make +just such sunshine ourselves when it rains, or when there is dullness of +any sort, by being all the more cheerful and striving to make others +happy. Who loves to be called 'Little Sunshine'?" + +"I do," said the child, caressing the hand that had patted her rosy +cheek. + +"Let's all be golden willows," said Malcolm, in a comical way that made +them laugh. + +Miss Harson told him that he could not make a better attempt than to be +one of those home-brighteners who bring the sunshine with them, but she +added that such people are always considerate for others. Malcolm +wondered a little if this meant that _he_ was not, but he soon forgot it +in hearing the many things that were to be said of the willow. + +"The family-name of this tree is _Salix_, from a word that means 'to +spring,' because a willow-branch, if planted, will take root and grow so +quickly that it seems almost like magic. 'And they shall _spring up_ as +among the grass, as willows by the watercourses,' says the prophet +Isaiah, speaking of the children of the people of God. The flowers of +the willow are of two kinds--one bearing stamens, and the other +pistils--and each grows upon a separate plant. When the ovary, at the +base of the pistil, is ripe, it opens by two valves and lets out, as +through a door, multitudes of small seeds covered with a fine down, like +the seeds of the cotton-plant. This downy substance is greedily sought +after by the birds as a lining for their nests, and they may be seen +carrying it away in their bills. And in some parts of Germany people +take the trouble to collect it and use it as a wadding to their winter +dresses, and even manufacture it into a coarse kind of paper." + +"What queer people!" exclaimed Clara. "And how funny they must look in +their wadded dresses!" + +"They are not graceful people," was the reply, "but they live in a cold +climate and show their good sense by dressing as warmly as possible. It +was quite a surprise, though, to me to find that the willow was of use +in clothing people. The more we learn of the works of God, the better we +shall understand that last verse of the first chapter of the Bible: 'And +God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.' The +bees, too, are attracted by the willow catkins, but they do not want the +down. On mild days whole swarms of them may be seen reveling in the +sweets of the fresh blossoms. 'Cold days will come long after the willow +catkins appear, and the bees will find but few flowers venturesome +enough to open their petals. They have, however, thoroughly enjoyed +their feast, and the short season of plenty will often be the means of +saving a hive from famine.'" + +"Are willow baskets made of willow trees?" asked Malcolm. + +"Yes," said Miss Harson. "Basket-making has been a great industry in +England from the earliest times; the ancient Britons were particularly +skillful in weaving the supple wands of the willow. They even made of +these slender stems little boats called 'coracles,' in which they could +paddle down the small rivers, and the boats could be carried on their +shoulders when they were walking on dry land." + +"Just like our Indians' birch-bark canoes," said Malcolm, who was +reading about the North American Indians. "But isn't it strange, Miss +Harson, that the Indians and the Britons didn't get drowned going out in +such little light boats?" + +"Their very lightness buoyed them up upon the waves," was the reply; +"but it does seem wonderful that they could bear the weight of men. The +willow, however, was also used by the Romans in making their +battle-shields, and even for the manufacture of ropes as well as +baskets. The rims of cart-wheels, too, used to be made of willow, as now +they are hooped with iron; so, you see, it is a strong wood as well as a +pliant one. The kind used for basket-making is the _Salix viminalis_, +and the rods of this species are called 'osiers.' Let us see now what +this English book says of the process of basket-making: + +"'The quick and vigorous growth of the willow renders it easy to provide +materials for this branch of industry. Osier-beds are planted in every +suitable place, and here the willow-cutter comes as to an ample store. +Autumn is the season for him to ply his trade, and he cuts the willow +rods down and ties them in bundles. He then sets them up on end in +standing water to the depth of a few inches. Here they remain during the +winter, until the shoots, in the following spring, begin to sprout, when +they are in a fit state to be peeled. A machine is used in some places +to compress the greatest number of rods into a bundle. + +[Illustration: THE POLLARD WILLOW IN WINTER.] + +"'Aged or infirm people and women and children can earn money by peeling +willows at so much per bundle. The operation is very simple, and so is +the necessary apparatus. Sometimes a wooden bench with holes in it is +used, the willow-twigs being drawn through the holes. Another way is +to draw the rod through two pieces of iron joined together, and with one +end thrust into the ground to make it stand upright. The willow-peeler +sits down before his instrument and merely thrusts the rod between the +two pieces of iron and draws it out again. This proceeding scrapes the +bark off one end, and then he turns it and fits it in the other way; so +that by a simple process the whole rod is peeled. When the rods are +quite prepared, they are again tied up in bundles and sold to the +basket-makers.'" + +"But how do they make the baskets?" asked Clara and Edith. "That is the +nicest part." + +"There is little to tell about it, though," said their governess, +"because it is such easy work that any one can learn to do it. You saw +the Indian women making baskets when papa took us to Maine last summer, +and you noticed how very quickly they did it, beginning with the flat +bottom and working rapidly up. It is a favorite occupation for the +blind, and one of the things which are taught them in asylums." + +"I wonder," said Malcolm, "if there is anything else that can be done +with the willow?" + +"Oh yes," replied Miss Harson; "we have not yet come to the end of its +resources. It makes the best quality of charcoal, and in many parts of +England the tree is raised for this express purpose. 'The abode of the +charcoal-burner,' says an English writer, 'may be known from a distance +by the cloud of smoke that hovers over it, and that must make it rather +unhealthy. It is sometimes a small dome-shaped hut made of green turf, +and, except for the difference of the material, might remind us of the +hut of the Esquimaux. Beside it stands a caravan like those which make +their appearance at fairs, and that contains the family goods and +chattels. A string of clothes hung out to dry, a water-tub and a rough, +shaggy dog usually complete the picture.'" + +"But how can people live in the hut," asked Malcolm, "if the charcoal is +burned in it? Ugh! I should think they'd choke." + +"They certainly would," said his governess; "for the charcoal-smoke is +death when inhaled for any length of time. But the charcoal-burner knows +this quite as well as does any one else, and he makes his fire outside +of the house, puts a rude fence around it and lets it smoke away like a +huge pipe. The hut is more or less enveloped in smoke, but this is not +so bad as letting it rise from the inside would be. A great deal of +willow charcoal is made in Germany and other parts of Europe." + +"But, Miss Harson," said Clara, in a puzzled tone, "I don't see what +they do with it all. It doesn't take much to clean people's teeth." + +"No, dear," was the smiling reply, "and I am afraid that the people who +make it are rather careless about their teeth.--You need not laugh, +Malcolm, because it is 'just like a girl,' for it is quite as much like +a boy not to know things which he has never been taught, and you must +remember that you have two years the start of your sister in getting +acquainted with the world. Perhaps you will kindly tell us of some of +the uses to which charcoal is applied?" + +"Well," said the young gentleman, after an awkward silence, "it takes +lots of it to kindle fires." + +"I do not think that Kitty ever uses it in the kitchen," said Miss +Harson, "for she is supplied with kindling-wood for that purpose. You +will have to think of something else." + +But Malcolm could not think, and his governess finally told him that a +great deal of charcoal is used for making gun-powder, and still more for +fuel in France and the South of Europe, where a brass vessel supplies +the place of a grate or stove. Quantities of it are consumed in +steel-and iron-works, in preserving meat and other food, and in many +similar ways. The children listened with great interest, and Malcolm +felt sure that the next time he was asked about charcoal he would have a +sensible answer. + +"Our insect friends the aphides, or plant-lice, are very fond of the +willow," continued Miss Harson, "and in hot, dry weather great masses of +them gather on the leaves and drop a sugary juice, which the +country-people call 'honey-dew,' and in some remote places, where +knowledge is limited, it has been thought to come from the clouds. But +we, who have learned something about these aphides[1], know that it +comes from their little green bodies, and that the ants often carry the +insects off to their nests, where they feed and 'tend them for the sake +of this very juice. The aphis that infests the willow is the largest of +the tribe, and the branches and stems of the tree are often blackened by +the honey-dew that falls upon them." + +[1] See _Flyers and Crawlers_, by the author. Presbyterian Board of +Publication. + +"Do willow trees grow everywhere?" asked Clara. + +"They are certainly found in a great many different places," was the +reply, "and even in the warmest countries. In one of the missionary +settlements in Africa there is a solitary willow that has a story +attached to it. It was the only tree in the settlement--think what a +place that must have been!--except those the missionary had planted in +his own garden, and it would never have existed but for the laziness of +its owner. Nothing would have induced any of the natives to take the +trouble to plant a tree, and therefore the willow had not been planted. +But it happened, a long-time ago, that a native had fetched a log of +wood from a distance, to make into a bowl when he should feel in the +humor to do so. He threw the log into a pool of water, and soon forgot +all about it. Weeks and months passed, and he never felt in the humor to +work. But the log of wood set to work of its own accord. It had been cut +from a willow, and it took root at the bottom of the pool and began to +grow. In the end it became a handsome and flourishing tree." + +This story was approved by the young audience, except that it was too +short; but their governess laughingly said that, as there was nothing +more to tell, it could not very well be any longer. + +[Illustration: THE WEEPING WILLOW (_Salix Babylonica_).] + +"The weeping willow," continued Miss Harson, "was first planted in +England in not so lazy a way, but almost as accidentally. Many years ago +a basket of figs was sent from Turkey to the poet Pope, and the basket +was made of willow. Willows and their cousins the poplars are natives of +the East; you remember that the one hundred and thirty-seventh psalm +says of the captive Jews, 'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, +yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the +willows in the midst thereof.' 'The poet valued highly the small slender +twigs, as associated with so much that was interesting, and he untwisted +the basket and planted one of the branches in the ground. It had some +tiny buds upon it, and he hoped he might be able to rear it, as none of +this species of willow was known in England. Happily, the willow is very +quick to take root and grow. The little branch soon became a tree, and +drooped gracefully over the river in the same manner that its race had +done over the waters of Babylon. From that one branch all the weeping +willows in England are descended.'" + +"And then they were brought over here," said Malcolm. "But what odd +leaves they have, Miss Harson!--so narrow and long. They don't look like +the leaves of other trees." + +"The leaf is somewhat like that of the olive, only that of the olive is +broader. The willow is a native of Babylon, and the weeping willow is +called _Salix Babylonica_. It was considered one of the handsomest +trees of the East, and is particularly mentioned among those which God +commanded the Israelites to select for branches to bear in their hands +at the feast of tabernacles. Read the verse, Malcolm--the fortieth of +the twenty-third chapter of Leviticus." + +Malcolm read: + +"'And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, +branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and _willows of +the brook;_ and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.'" + +[Illustration: LEAF OF WEEPING WILLOW.] + +"A place called the 'brook of the willows,'" added his governess, "is +mentioned in Isaiah xv. 7, and this brook, according to travelers in +Palestine, flows into the south-eastern extremity of the Dead Sea. The +willow has always been considered by the poets as an emblem of woe and +desertion, and this idea probably came from the weeping of the captive +Jews under the willows of Babylon. The branches of the _Salix +Babylonica_ often droop so low as to touch the ground, and because of +this sweeping habit, and of its association with watercourses in the +Bible, it has been considered a very suitable tree to plant beside ponds +and fountains in ornamental grounds, as well as in cemeteries as an +emblem of mourning." + +"How much there is to remember about the willow!" said Clara, +thoughtfully. "I wonder if all the trees will be so interesting?" + +"They are not all _Bible_ trees," replied Miss Harson. "But the wise +king of Israel found them interesting, for he 'spake of trees, from the +cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of +the wall.'" + + + +CHAPTER II. + +_THE MAPLES._ + +"The pink trees next, I suppose," said Malcolm, "since we have had the +yellow ones?" + +"_Real_ pink trees?" asked Edith, with very wide-open eyes. + +"No, dear;" replied her governess; "there are no pink trees, except when +they are covered with bloom like the peach trees. Malcolm only means the +maples that we saw in blossom yesterday and thought of such a pretty +color. There are many varieties of the maple, which is always a +beautiful and useful tree, but the red, or scarlet, maple is the very +queen of the family. It is not so large as are most of the others; but +when a very young tree, its grace and beauty are noticeable among its +companions. It is often found in low, moist places, but it thrives just +as well in high, dry ground; and it is therefore a most convenient +tree. Here is a very pretty description, Malcolm, in one of papa's large +books, that you can read to us." + +Malcolm read remarkably well for a boy of his age, and he always enjoyed +being called upon in this way. + +[Illustration: THE RED MAPLE.] + +Miss Harson pointed to these lines: + +"Coming forth in the spring, like morning in the east, arrayed in +crimson and purple; bearing itself, not proudly but gracefully in +modest green, among the more stately trees in summer; and ere it bids +adieu to the season stepping forth in robes of gold, vermilion, crimson +and variegated scarlet,--stands the queen of the American forest, the +pride of all eyes and the delight of every picturesque observer of +nature, the red maple." + +"Why, I never saw such a tree as that!" exclaimed Clara, in great +surprise. + +"Yes, dear," replied her governess; "you have seen it, but you never +thought of describing it to yourself in just this way. When you saw it +yesterday, it was coming forth in the spring, like morning in the east, +arrayed in crimson and purple,' but you just called it a pink tree. It +is much nearer red, however, than it is pink." + +"I've seen all the rest of the colors, too," said Malcolm, "when we went +out after nuts." + +"That is its autumn dress," said Miss Harson, "although a small tree is +often seen with no color on it but brilliant red. But first we must see +what it is like in spring and summer. It is also called the scarlet, +the white, the soft and the swamp maple, and the flowers, as you see +from this specimen, are in whorls, or pairs, of bright crimson, in +crowded bunches on the purple branches. The leaves are in three or five +lobes, with deep notches between, and some of them are very broad, while +others are long and narrow. The trunk of the red maple is a clear ashy +gray, often mottled with patches of white lichens; and when the tree is +old, the bark cracks and can be peeled off in long, narrow strips." + +"Is anything done with the bark?" asked Clara. + +"Yes, it is used, with other substances, for dyeing, and also for making +ink. The sap, too, can be boiled down to sugar, but it is not nearly so +rich as that of the proper sugar-maple. The wood, which is very +light-colored with a tinge of rose in it, is often made into common +furniture, as it takes a fine polish and is easy to work with. It is +used, too, for building-purposes. The early-summer foliage of the red +maple is of a beautiful yellow green, and the young leaves are very +delicate and airy-looking; but the graceful tree is in such a hurry to +display her gay autumn colors that she will often put on a scarlet or +crimson streamer in July or August. One brilliantly-colored branch will +be seen on a green tree, or the leaves of an entire tree will turn red +while all the other trees around it are clothed in summer greenness." + +"Don't you remember, Miss Harson," said Edith, "the little tree that I +thought was on fire and how frightened I was?" + +"Yes, dear, I remember it very well--an innocent little red maple that +_would_ put on its flame-colored dress when it should have been all in +green, like its sisters; but it was too green at heart to be in a blaze. +This tree is often used for fuel, but it has to be cut down and dried +first. The reddening of the leaf generally begins at the veins and +spreads out from them until the whole is tinted. Sometimes it appears in +spots, almost like drops of blood, on the green surface; but, come as it +will, it is always beautiful. It is said of the red maple that 'it +stands among the occupants of the forest like Venus among the +planets--the brightest in the midst of brightness and the most beautiful +in a constellation of beauty,'" + +"Is there such a thing as a silver tree?" asked Clara. + +[Illustration: THE SILVER-LEAF MAPLE.] + +"There is a tree called 'the silver maple,'" was the reply, "and there +is also the silver poplar. The silver maple is considered the most +graceful of the large and handsome maple family. I have not told you, I +think, that the name of the family is _Acer_, which means 'sharp' or +'hard,' and it was supposed to have been given in old English times +when the wood of the maple was used for javelins. The silver maple gets +its name from the whitish under-surface of its leaves, and it is a +favorite shade-tree; it has a slender trunk and long, drooping branches. +The foliage is light and rather dull-looking, and it is not a very +bright tree in autumn. The leaves are so deeply notched that they have a +fringe-like appearance, and this, with its slender form and bending, +swaying habit, gives it a very graceful look." + +Little Edith wished to know "if the wood was like silver," and Malcolm +asked her how she expected it to grow if it was. + +But Miss Harson replied kindly, + +"The silver, dear, is all in the leaves, and there is not much of it +there. The wood is white and of little use, as it is soft and +perishable; but the beauty of the finely-cut foliage, the contrast +between the green of the upper surface of the leaves and the silver +color of the lower, and the magnificent spread of the limbs of the white +maple, recommend it as an ornamental tree; and this is the purpose for +which it is intended. It is used very largely in the cities for shade +and beauty. It is often called the 'river maple,' because it is so +frequently seen on the banks of streams." + +"And now," said Malcolm, "I hope there is ever so much about the +maple-sugar tree. Can't we get some this spring, Miss Harson, before +it's all gone?" + +"We can certainly buy the sugar in town, Malcolm, if that is what you +mean; but it does not grow on the trees in cakes, and we shall scarcely +be able to tap the trunks and go through with the process of preparing +the sap, even if it were not too late for that. We will do what we can, +though, to become acquainted with the rock maple, that we may be able to +recognize it when we see it. When young, it is a beautiful, neat and +shapely tree with a rich, full leafy head of a great variety of forms. +It is the largest and strongest of the maples, and gives the best shade. +It can be distinguished from the other members of the family by its +leaves, in which the notch between the lobes is round instead of being +sharp, and also by their appearing at the same time with the blossoms, +which are of a yellowish-green color. The green tint of the leaves is +darker on some trees than it is on others, and in autumn they become, +often before the first touch of the frost, of a splendid orange or gold, +sometimes of a bright scarlet or crimson, color, each tree commonly +retaining from year to year the same color or colors, and differing +somewhat from every other. The most beautiful and valuable maple-wood is +taken from this tree. It is known as 'curled maple' and 'bird's-eye +maple,' and the common variety looks like satin-wood. In the curled +maple the fibres are in waves instead of in straight lines, and the +surface seems to change with alternate light and shade; in the +bird's-eye, irregular snarls of fibres look like roundish projections +rising from hollow places, each one resembling the eye of a bird. +Buckets, tubs and many useful things are made of the straight variety, +and for lasts it is considered better than any other kind of wood. The +curled and the bird's-eye are largely used for furniture." + +"But isn't it a shame," said Clara, "to spoil the maple-sugar by making +the trees into chairs and things?" + +"You would not think so," replied her governess, "if you needed the +'chairs and things' more than you need the sugar. But the supply of +trees seems to be sufficient for both purposes." + +"Does the sugar come right out of the tree when people tap on it with a +hammer?" asked Edith, whose ideas of sugar-making were rather crude. + +"You blessed baby!" cried Malcolm, with a shout of laughter. Let's take +our hammers and go after some maple-sugar right away." + +"No, Edie," said Miss Harson as she took her much-loved little pupil on +her lap; "we'll stay at home and learn just how the sugar is made. To +_tap_ a tree, dear, means to make cuts in the trunk for the sap to flow +out, and in the sugar-maple this sap is more like water than sugar. From +the middle of February to the second week in March, according to the +warmth or the coldness of the locality, is the time for tapping the +trees; and when the holes are bored, spouts of elder or sumac from which +the pith has been taken are put into them at one end, while the other +goes down to the bucket which receives the sap. 'Several holes are so +bored that their spouts shall lead to the same bucket, and high enough +to allow the bucket to hang two or three feet from the ground, to +prevent leaves and dirt from being blown in.' The next thing is to boil +the sap, and this is done in great iron kettles, over immense +wood-fires, out there among the trees, with plenty of snow on the +ground, and only two or three rude little cabins for the men and boys to +sleep in. This is called 'the sugar-camp,' and the sap-season lasts five +or six weeks." + +"And why is it boiled?" + +"Boiling drives the water off in vapor, and leaves the sugar behind in +the pot." + +"And do they stay in the woods there all the time?" asked Malcolm, with +great interest. "What lots of fun they must have, with the big fires and +the snow and as much maple-sugar as ever they want to eat! _I'd_ like +to stay in a sugar-camp in the woods." + +[Illustration: MAKING MAPLE SUGAR.] + +"Perhaps not, after trying it and finding how much hard work there is in +sugar-making," replied his governess. "'The kettles must be carefully +watched and plenty of wood brought to keep them boiling, and during the +process the sap, or syrup, is strained; lime or salaeratus is added, to +neutralize the free acid; and the white of egg, isinglass or milk, to +cause foreign substances to rise in a scum to the surface. When it has +been sufficiently boiled, the syrup is poured into moulds or casks to +harden.' The sugar with which the most pains have been taken is very +light-colored, and I have seen it almost white." + +"Have you ever been to a sugar-camp, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, who was +wishing, like Malcolm, that she could go to one herself. + +"Yes," said Miss Harson; "I did go once, in Vermont, when the family +with whom I was staying took me to see the 'sugaring off.' This is +putting it into the pans and buckets to harden after it has been +sufficiently boiled and clarified; and we younger ones, by way of +amusement, were allowed to make jack-wax." + +"Oh!" exclaimed three voices at once; "what is that? Is it good to eat?" + +"I thought it particularly good," was the reply, "and I am quite sure +that you would agree with me. To make it, we poured a small quantity of +hot syrup on the snow to cool; and when it was fit to eat, it was just +like wax, instead of being hard like the cakes in moulds. It took only a +few minutes, too, to make it, and it seemed a great deal nicer because +we did it ourselves. I remember that it was the last of March and very +cold, but there were big fires to get warmed at, and we had a +delightful time." + +"Were there any Indians there, Miss Harson?" asked little Edith, after +being quiet for some time. Vermont was such a long way off on the map, +besides being up almost at the top, that Indians and bears and all sorts +of wild things seemed to have a right to live there. + +"No," said her governess, smiling at the question; "I did not see one, +even at the sugar-camp. Yet the Indians made maple-sugar long before we +knew anything about it, and from them the white people learned how to +do it." + +"Well, that's the funniest thing!" exclaimed Malcolm. "I thought that +Indians were always scalping people instead of making maple-sugar." + +"They did a great many other things, though, besides fighting, and their +life was spent so much out of doors that they studied the nature of +every plant and living thing about them. The healing-properties of some +of our most valuable herbs were first discovered by the Indians, and, as +they never had any grocery-stores, the presence of trees that would +supply them with sugar was a blessing not likely to be neglected. The +devoted missionary John Brainerd first heard of this tree-sugar from +them, and it is said that he used to preach to them when they were thus +peacefully employed, and obtained a better hearing than at other times." + +"Have we any maple-sugar trees?" asked Clara. + +"No," replied Miss Harson; "there are none at Elmridge, and I have seen +none anywhere near here. They seem to flourish best in the Northern and +North-eastern States, while in Western Canada the tree is found in +groves of from five to twenty acres. These are called 'sugar-bushes,' +and few farmers in that part of America are without them. In England the +maple trees are called 'sycamores,' and the sap is used as a sweet +drink. I will read to you from a little English book called _Voices from +the Woodlands_ a simple account of a country festival where maple sap +was the choicest refreshment: + +"'"Take care of that young tree," said Farmer Robinson to his laborer, +who was diligently employed in clearing away a rambling company of +brambles which had grown unmolested during the time of the last tenant; +"the soil is good, and in a very few years we shall have pasturage for +our bees, and plenty of maple-wine." + +"'The farmer spoke true; before his young laborer had attained middle +age the sapling had grown into a fine tree. Its branches spread wide and +high, and bees came from all parts to gather their honey-harvests among +the flowers; beneath its shade lambkins were wont in spring to sleep +beside their dams; and when the time of shearing came, and the sheep +were disburdened of their fleeces, you might see them hastening to the +sycamore tree for shelter. + +"'A kind of rustic festival was held about the same time in honor of the +maple-wine. Hither came the farmer and his dame, with their children and +young neighbors, each carrying bunches of flowers. Older people came in +their holiday dresses, some with baskets containing cakes, others tea +and sugar, with which the farmer and his wife had plentifully supplied +them; and joyfully did they rest a while on the green sward while young +men gathered sticks, and, a bright fire having been kindled, the kettle +sent up its bubbling steam. + +"'When this was ended, and few of the piled-up cakes remained--when, +also, the young children had emptied their cans and rinsed them at the +old stone trough into which rushed a full stream--tiny hands joyfully +held up the small cans and bright eyes looked anxiously to the stem of +the tall tree while the farmer warily cut an incision in the bark. + +"'What joy when a sweet watery juice began to trickle! and the farmer +filled one small cup, then another, till all were satisfied and a +portion sent to the older people, who were contentedly looking on from +the grassy slope where they had seated themselves. The farmer's wife +knew naught concerning the process for obtaining sugar, or else she +might have sweetened her children's puddings from the watery liquid +yielded by the sycamore, or greater maple--an art well known to the +aboriginal tribes of North America.'" + +"Does that mean Indians, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm, with a wry face at +the long word. + +"Yes," was the reply; "and I hope that you will feel properly grateful +to these aborigines whenever you eat maple-sugar." + + + +CHAPTER III. + +_OLD ACQUAINTANCES: THE ELMS._ + +Miss Harson had admonished her little flock that they must use their own +eyes and be able to tell her things instead of depending altogether on +her to tell them; so now they were all peering curiously among the trees +to see which were putting on their new spring suits. The yellow trees +and the pink trees had been readily distinguished, but, although the +others had not been idle, it was not so easy for little people to +discern their leaf-buds. + +Clara soon made a discovery, however, of what her governess had noticed +for a day or two, and the wonder was found on their own home-elms, those +stately trees which had shaded the house ever since it was built, and +from which the place got its pretty name--Elmridge. + +"Well, dear," said Miss Harson, coming to the upper window from which an +eager head was thrust, "what is it that you wish me to see?" + +"Those funny flowers on the bare elm trees," was the reply. "Look, Miss +Harson! Didn't I see them first?" + +"You have certainly spoken of them first, for neither Malcolm nor Edith +has said anything about them. But they must both come up here now, where +they can see them, and Malcolm and I can manage to reach some of the +blossoms by getting out of the broad window on to the little balcony." + +Up came the two children kangaroo-fashion in a series of jumps, and +presently Miss Harson was holding a cluster of dark maroon-colored +flowers in her hand. + +"How queer and dark they make the trees look!" said Malcolm; "and +they're so thick that they 'most cover up the branches. They're +like fringe." + +"A very good description," replied his governess. "And now I wish you +all to examine the trees very thoroughly and tell me afterward what you +have noticed about them; then we will go down to the schoolroom and see +what the books will tell us in our talk about the American elm and its +cousin of England." + +The books had a great deal to tell about them, but Miss Harson preferred +to hear the children first. + +"What did my little Edith see when she looked out of the window?" she +asked. + +"Stems of trees," was the reply, "with flowers on 'em." + +"A very good general idea," continued Miss Harson, "but perhaps Clara +can tell us something more particular about the elms?" + +"They are very tall," said Clara, hesitatingly, "and they make it nice +and shady in summer; and some of the branches bend over in such a lovely +way! Papa calls one of them 'the plume.'" + +"And now Malcolm?" + +"The trunk--or big 'stem,' as Edie would call it--is very thick, and the +branches begin low down, near the ground." + +"Some of them do," said his governess, "but many of the elms on your +father's grounds are seventy feet high before the branches begin. +Sometimes two or three trunks shoot up together and spread out at the +top in light, feathery plumes like palm trees. The elm has a great +variety of shapes; sometimes it is a parasol, when a number of branches +rise together to a great height and spread out suddenly in the shape of +an umbrella. This makes a very regular-looking and beautiful tree. For +about three-quarters of the way up, the 'plume' of which Clara speaks +has one straight trunk, which then bends over droopingly. Small twigs +cluster around the trunk all the way from bottom to top and give the +tree the appearance of having a vine twining about it. I think that the +plume-shape is the prettiest and most odd-looking of all the elms. +Another strange shape is the vase, which seems to rest on the roots that +stand out above the ground. 'The straight trunk is the neck of the vase, +and the middle consists of the lower part of the branches as they swell +outward with a graceful curve, then gradually diverge until they bend +over at their extremities and form the lip of the vase by a circle of +terminal sprays.'" + +"Have we any trees that look like vases, Miss Harson?" asked Clara. + +"Yes," was the reply; "not far from Hemlock Lodge there is one which we +will look at when the leaves are all out. But you must not expect to +find a perfect vase-shape, for it is only an approach to it. The +dome-shaped elm has a broad, round head, which is formed by the shooting +forth of branches of nearly equal length from the same part of the +trunk, which gradually spread outward with a graceful curve into the +roof or dome that crowns the tree." + +"I know something else about our elms," said Malcolm: "some of the roots +are on top of the ground. Isn't that very queer, Miss Harson?" + +[Illustration: WYCH-ELM LEAVES.] + +"Not for old elm trees, as this is quite a habit with them. Indeed, in +many ways, the elm is so entirely different from other trees that it can +be recognized at a great distance. It is both graceful and majestic, +and is the most drooping of the drooping trees, except the willow, which +it greatly surpasses in grandeur and in the variety of its forms. The +green leaves are broad, ovate, heart-shaped, from two to four or five +inches long. You can see their exact shape in this illustration. Their +summer tint is very bright and vivid, but it turns in autumn to a sober +brown, sometimes touched with a bright golden yellow, And now," +continued Miss Harson, "we will examine the flowers which we have here, +and we see that each blossom is on a green, slender thread less than +half an inch long, and that it consists of a brown cup parted into +seven or eight divisions, rounded at the border and containing about +eight brown stamens and a long compressed ovary surmounted by two short +styles. This ripens into a flattened seed-vessel before the leaves are +fully out, and the seeds, being small and chaffy, are wafted in all +directions and carried to great distances by the wind." + +"Where does slippery elm come from?" asked Clara. + +"From another American species, dear, which is very much like the white +elm that we have been considering. The slippery elm is a smaller tree, +does not droop so much, and the trunk is smoother and darker. The leaves +are thicker and very rough on the upper side. The inner bark contains a +great deal of mucilage--that, I suppose, is the reason for its being +called 'slippery'--and it has been extensively used as a medicine. The +wood is very strong and preferred to that of the white elm for +building-purposes, although the latter is considered the best native +wood for hubs of wheels. There is a great elm tree on Boston Common +which is over two hundred years old, and another in Cambridge called the +'Washington Elm,' because near it or beneath its shade General +Washington is said to have first drawn his sword on taking command of +the American army. In 1744 the celebrated George Whitefield preached +beneath this tree." + +"I'm glad we have elm trees here," said Malcolm, "though I s'pose nobody +ever did anything in particular under ours." + +"You mean," replied his governess, laughing, "that they are not +_historical_ trees; but they are certainly very fine ones. There is +another species of elm, the English, which is often seen in this country +too. It is a very large and stately tree, but not so graceful as our own +elm. It is distinguished from the American elm by its bark, which is +darker and much more broken; by having one principal stem, which soars +upward to a great height; and by its branches, which are thrown out more +boldly and abruptly and at a larger angle. Its limbs stretch out +horizontally or tend upward with an appearance of strength to the very +extremity; in the American elm they are almost universally drooping at +the end. Its leaves are closer, smaller, more numerous and of a darker +color. In England this tree is a great favorite with those black and +solemn birds the rooks. The poet Hood writes of it as + + "'The tall, abounding elm that grows + In hedgerows up and down, + In field and forest, copse and park, + And in the peopled town, + With colonies of noisy rooks + That nestle on its crown.' + +"Some of these English elms are very ancient and of an immense size; one +of them, known as the 'Chequer Elm,' measures thirty-one feet around the +trunk, of which only the shell is left. It was planted seven hundred +years ago. The Chipstead Elm is fifteen feet around; the Crawley Elm, +thirty-five. A writer says, 'The ample branches of the Crawley Elm +shelter Mayday gambols while troops of rustics celebrate the opening of +green leaves and flowers. Yet not alone beneath its shade, but within +the capacious hollow which time has wrought in the old tree, young +children with their posies and weak and aged people find shelter during +the rustic _fetes_.'" + +"Does that mean that people can sit inside the tree?" asked Clara. "I +wish we had one to play house in where Hemlock Lodge is." + +"That is one of the things, Clara," replied Miss Harson, "that people +can have only in the place where they grow. In the South of England +there is another great elm tree with a hollow trunk which has fitted +into it a door fastened by a lock and key. A dozen people can be +comfortably accommodated inside, and there is a story told of a woman +and her infant who lived there for a time." + +"What a funny house!" said Malcolm. "Just like a woodpecker's." + +"Another great elm, near London, has a winding staircase cut within it, +and a turret at the top where at least twenty persons can stand. One +species of this tree, called the _wych-_, or _witch-_, elm, was believed +by ignorant people to possess magical powers and to defend from the +malice of witches the place on which it grew. Even now it is said that +in remote parts of England the dairymaid flies to it as a resource on +the days when she churns her butter. She gathers a twig from the tree +and puts it into a little hole in the churn. If this practice were +neglected, she confidently believes that she might go on churning all +day without getting any butter." + +"Isn't that silly?" exclaimed Clara. + +"Very silly indeed," replied her governess; "but we must remember that +the poor ignorant girl knows no better. The wood of the European elm is +stronger than ours; it is hard and fine-grained, and brownish in color, +and is much used in the building of ships, for hubs of wheels, axletrees +and many other purposes. In France the leaves and shoots are used to +feed cattle. In Russia the leaves of one variety are made into tea. The +inner bark is in some places made into mats, and in Norway they +kiln-dry it and grind it with corn as an ingredient in bread. So that +the elm tree is almost as useful as it is beautiful." + +[Illustration] + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +_MAJESTY AND STRENGTH: THE OAK_. + +"Here," said Miss Harson, "is a small branch from an oak tree containing +the young leaves and the catkins, which come out together; for the oak +belongs, like the willow and the maple, to the division of +_amentaceous_ plants." + +"Oh dear!" sighed Clara at the hard name. + +But Malcolm repeated: + +"_Amentaceous_--_ament_. I know, Miss Harson: it's _catkins_" + +"Yes, it means trees which produce their flowers in catkins, or looking +as if strung on long drooping stems; and the oak is the monarch of this +family, and in Great Britain of all the forest-trees. It is especially +an English tree, although our woods contain several varieties. But they +do not hold the pre-eminence in our forests that the oaks do in those +of England. The oak ordinarily runs more to breadth than to height, and +spreads itself out to a vast distance with an air of strength and +grandeur. This is its striking character and what gives it its peculiar +appearance. Oaks do not always go straight out, but crook and bend to +right and left, upward and downward, abruptly or with a gentle sweep. + +[Illustration: MALE CATKIN OF THE OAK.] + +[Illustration: THE OAK] + +"The white oak is the handsomest species, and takes its name from the +very light color of the bark on the trunk, by which it is easily known. +The leaves are long in proportion to the width and deeply divided into +lobes, of which there are three or four on each side. There is a great +variety in the shape of oak-leaves, those of our white oak being long +and slender, while the red oak has very broad ones, and the foliage of +the scarlet oak is almost skeleton-like. The chestnut oak has leaves +almost exactly like those of the chestnut. The acorns of the different +varieties, too, differ in size and shape. + +[Illustration: WHITE-OAK LEAF.] + +"There is so much to be said of the oak," continued Miss Harson, "it is +such an ancient and venerable tree and has so many stories attached to +it, that it is not easy to begin an account of it. The blossoms, +perhaps, will be the best starting-point: and I should like to have you +examine this branch and tell me if you see any difference in the +blossoms." + +"They are nearly all alike," said Malcolm, "but here at the ends of the +twigs are one or two that look like buds."' + +"That is just what I wanted you to notice," replied his governess, "for +the flowers are of two kinds, one bearing the stamens, and the other the +pistils. The flowers that bear the stamens grow on loose scaly catkins, +as you may see in this branch. Those with the pistils are also in +catkins, but very small, like a bud. The bud spreads into a little +branchlet and bears the flowers at the tip. The calyx is not seen at +first; it is a mere membrane covering the ovary. By degrees the ovary +swells into the acorn and the membrane becomes part of the shell." + +"I like acorns," said little Edith, "they're so nice to play with." + +"But they're not nice to eat," said Clara. + +[Illustration: SQUIRREL AND ACORN] + +"Some animals think they are," continued Miss Harson. "If you should +come here in October, you would find the squirrels feasting on them. In +old times in England the oaks were valued highly on account of their +acorns, and great herds of swine were driven into the forests to feed +upon them. In the time of the Saxons a crop of acorns often formed a +part of the dowry bestowed upon the Saxon queens, and the king himself +would be glad to accept a gift or grant of acorns; and the failure of +the crop would be considered as a kind of famine. In those days laws +were made to protect the oaks from being felled or injured, and a man +who cut down a tree under the shadow of which thirty hogs could stand +was fined three pounds. The herds of swine were placed under the care of +a swineherd, whose sole employment was to keep them together, and they +formed a staple part of the riches of the country. But when the Norman +kings began to rule, they brought with them a passionate love of hunting +and took possession of the forests as preserves for their favorite +sport. The herds of swine were forbidden to roam about as heretofore, +and their owners were reduced to poverty in consequence." + +"Wasn't that wicked, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm. + +"Yes; it was both unjust and cruel, and it was one of the great +grievances of the nation. Even at this day the laws for the protection +of game are one of the grounds of ill-feeling on the part of the poor +toward the nobles. In Spain the acorns have the taste of nuts, and are +sold in the markets as an article of food. They grow abundantly in the +woods and forests. Once, in time of war, a foreign army subsisted almost +entirely on them. Herds of swine range the forests in Spain and feed +luxuriously upon acorns, and the salted meats of Malaga, that are famous +for their delicate flavor, are thought to owe it to this cause. Some of +our American Indians depend upon acorns and fish for their winter food; +and when the acorns drop from the tree, they are buried in sand and +soaked in water to draw out the bitter taste." + +"I shouldn't like them," said Clara, with a wry face at the thought of +such food. + +"Well, dear," replied her governess, laughing, "as you are not an +Indian, you will probably not be called upon to like them; but it would +be better to eat acorns than to starve. You may have noticed the trunk +and branches of the oak are often gnarled and knotted, and this helps to +give the tree its appearance of great strength. It is just as strong as +it looks, and for building-purposes it lasts longer than any other +wood. Beams and rafters of oak are found in old English houses, showing +among the brick-work, and many of these half-timbered houses, as they +are called, were built hundreds of years ago. + +"Bedsteads and other articles of furniture, too, were 'built' in those +days, rather than made, for they were not expected to be moved about; +and a heavy oak bedstead is still in existence which is said to have +belonged to King Richard III. It is curiously carved, and the king +rested upon it the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, where he +was killed. Clumsy as the bedstead was, he took it about with him from +place to place; but after the fatal battle it passed into the hands of +various owners, and nothing remarkable was discovered about it until the +king had been dead a hundred years. By that time the bedstead had come +into the possession of a woman who found a fortune in it. One morning, +says the story, as she was making the bed, she heard a chinking sound, +and saw, to her great delight, a piece of money drop on the floor. Of +course she at once set about examining the bedstead, and found that the +lower part of it was hollow and contained a treasure. Three hundred +pounds--a fortune in those days--was brought to light, having remained +hidden all those years. As King Richard was not there to claim his gold, +the woman quickly possessed herself of it. But, as it happened, she had +better have remained in ignorance and poverty. As soon as the matter +became known one of her servants robbed her of the gold, and even caused +her death. Thus it was said in the neighborhood that 'King Richard's +gold' did nobody any good." + +The children were very much pleased with this story, and Malcolm said +that he always liked to hear about people who found gold and things. + +"I think that I do, myself," replied Miss Harson, "although, as in this +poor woman's case and in many others, gold is not the best thing to +find. It often brings with it so much sorrow and sin as to be a curse to +its owner. The only safe treasure is that laid up in heaven, where +'neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break +through nor steal,' + +"From the very earliest times the oak has been used for shipbuilding. +The Saxons, we are told, kept a formidable fleet of vessels with curved +bottoms and the prow and poop adorned with representations of the head +and tail of some grotesque and fabulous creature. King Alfred had many +vessels that carried sixty oars and were entirely of oak. A vessel +supposed to be of his time has been discovered in the bed of a river in +Kent, and after the lapse of so many centuries it is as sound as ever +and as hard as iron." + +"Do oak trees ever have apples on 'em?" asked Clara. "In a story that I +read there was something about 'oak-apples.'" + +[Illustration: THE OAK-GALL INSECT (_Cynips_).] + +"They are not apples such as we eat, or fruit in any sense," said her +governess. "They are the work of a species of fly called _Cynips_, which +is very apt to attack the oak. 'The female insect is armed with a sharp +weapon called an _ovipositor_, which she plunges into a leaf and makes +a wound. Here she lays her eggs; and when she has done so, she flies +away and we hear no more of her. But the wound she has made disturbs the +circulation of the sap. It flows round and round the eggs as though it +had met with some foreign body it would fain remove. Very soon the eggs +are in the midst of a ball-like and fleshy chamber--the most suitable +provision for them, and one which the parent-insect had provided by +means of puncturing the leaf. As the eggs are hatched the grubs will +find themselves safely housed and in the midst of an abundance +of food.'" + +[Illustration: OAK-APPLES.] + +"Well," exclaimed Malcolm, in great disgust, "_apple_ is a queer name +for a ball full of little flies!" + +"It's a very pretty ball, though," said Miss Harson, "with a smooth skin +and tinged with red or yellow, like a ripe apple. If it is cut open, a +number of granules are seen, each containing a grub embedded in a +fruit-like substance. The grub undergoes its transformation, and in due +course emerges a perfect insect. These pretty pink-and-white apples used +to be gathered by English boys on the twenty-ninth of May, which was +called 'Oak-Apple Day.'" + +"Did they eat 'em?" asked Edith. + +"I do not see how they could, dear," was the reply; "they were probably +gathered just to look at. Yet 'May-apples,' which grow, you will +remember, on the wild azalea and the swamp honeysuckle, are often eaten, +and they are formed in the same way; so we will not be too positive +about the oak-apples." + +"What are oak-_galls_, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm. "Are they the same +as oak-apples?" + +"Not quite the same," was the reply, although both are produced by the +same insect. This is what one of our English books says of them: 'When +the acorn itself is wounded, it becomes a kind of monstrosity, and +remains on the stalk like an irregularly-shaped ball. It is called a +"nut-gall," and is found principally on a small oak, a native of the +southern and central parts of Europe. All these oak-apples and nut-galls +are of importance, but the latter more especially, and they form an +important article of commerce. A substance called "gallic acid" resides +in the oak; and when the puncture is made by the cynips, it flows in +great abundance to the wound. Gallic acid is one of the ingredients used +in dyeing stuffs and cloths, and therefore the supply yielded by the +nut-gall is highly welcome. The nut-galls are carefully collected from +the small oak on which they are found, the Pyreneean oak. It is easily +known by the dense covering of down on the young leaves, that appear +some weeks later than the leaves of the common oak. The galls are +pounded and boiled, and into the infusion thus made the stuffs about to +be dyed are dipped,'" + +"I should think," said Clara, "that people would plant oak trees +everywhere, when they are so useful. Is anything done with the bark?" + +"Yes," said her governess; "the bark, which is very rough, is valuable +for tanning leather and for medicine. The element which has the effect +of turning raw hide or skin into leather is called _tannin_; it is also +found in the bark of some other trees and in tropical plants." + +"Didn't people use to worship oak trees," asked Malcolm--"people who +lived ever so long ago?" + +"You are thinking of the Druids, who lived in old times in Britain and +Gaul," replied Miss Harson, "and whose strange heathen rites were +practiced in oak-groves; and they really did consider the tree sacred. +These Druids have left their traces in some parts of England and France +in rows of huge stones set upright; and wherever an immense stone was +found lying on two others, in the shape of a table, there had been a +Druid altar, where the priest offered sacrifices, often of human beings. +So horrible may be a so-called religion that men themselves devise, +and that has not come from the true God. + +[Illustration: DRUIDIC SACRIFICE.] + +"It was an article in the Druids' creed, and one to which they strictly +adhered, that no temple with a covered roof was to be built in honor of +the gods. All the places appointed for public worship were in the open +air, and generally on some eminence from which the moon and stars might +be observed; for to the heavenly bodies much adoration was offered. But +to afford shelter from wind or rain, and also to ensure privacy and shut +out all external objects, the place fixed upon, either for teaching +their disciples or for carrying out the rites of their idolatrous +worship, was in the recess of some grove or wood. An oak-grove was +supposed to be the favorite of the gods whom they ignorantly worshiped, +and therefore the Druids declared the oak to be a sacred tree. The Druid +priest always bound a wreath of oak-leaves on his forehead before he +would perform any religious ceremony. One of these ceremonies was to go +in search of the mistletoe, which sometimes grows on the oak and was +considered as sacred as the tree itself, being much used in their +worship. One priest would climb to the branch on which the misletoe was +growing and cut it with a golden knife, while another priest stood below +and held out his white robe to receive it. + +"These sacred groves were all cut down by the Romans, who waged fierce +war against the Druids, and nothing is left of them now but the circles +of stones that formed their temples. At a place called Stonehenge, +'cromlechs,' or altar-tables, are still standing, and very ancient oaks +stood in a circle round these stones for many centuries after the Druids +were swept away." + +"Miss Harson," said Clara when all had expressed their horror of the +Druids and rejoiced that they _were_ swept away, "are there any oak +trees in the Bible?" + +"Look and see," was the reply; "and first you may find Genesis xxxv. 4." + +Clara read: + +"'And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their +hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid +them under the _oak_ which was by Shechem.'" + +"In the eighth verse of the same chapter," said Miss Harson, "we read +that Rebekah's nurse was buried under an oak at Bethel. We are told in +the book of Joshua[2] that 'Joshua took a great stone and set it up +there under an _oak_, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord;' and in +Judges[3], 'There came an angel of the Lord and sat under an _oak_ which +was in Ophrah.'--Malcolm, you may read Second Samuel, eighteenth +chapter, ninth verse." + +[2] Josh. xxiv. 26. + +[3] Judg. vi. II. + +Malcolm read: + +"'And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, +and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great _oak_, and his head +caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the +earth; and the mule that was under him went away.'" + +"Poor Absalom!" said Edith, softly. "Wasn't that dreadful?" + +"Yes, dear," replied her governess, "it _was_ dreadful; but it is still +more dreadful that Absalom was such a wicked man. In Isaiah[4] we read +of the oaks of Bashan, that, like the cedars of Lebanon, were 'high and +lifted up,' and the oaks of Bashan are mentioned again in Zechariah[5]. +Several varieties of the oak are found in Palestine. + +[4] Isa. ii. 13. + +[5] Zech. xi. 2. + +[Illustration: ABRAHAM'S OAK, NEAR HEBRON.] + +"In his _Ride Through Palestine_, Dr. Dulles tells of a great oak near +Hebron known as 'Abraham's oak,' supposed to occupy the ground where the +patriarch pitched his tent under the oaks of Mamre. It is an aged tree, +and a grand one. Here is a picture of it, from the _Ride_[6]. The crests +and sides of the hills beyond the Jordan are still clothed, as in +ancient times, with magnificent oaks. + +[6] See page 85 + +"We get a good idea of the strength and durability of this wood from the +fact that there is an old wooden church near Ongar, in Essex, the nave +of which is composed of half logs of oak roughly fastened by wooden +pegs. The ancient fabric dates back to the time of King Edmund, who was +slain by the robber Leolf in the year A.D. 946. The oaken church was +hurriedly put together--according to report--in order to make a +temporary receptacle for the body of the murdered prince on its way to +burial. Be that as it may, it was afterward used as a parish church, +and, though the oaken logs are corroded by the weather, they are still +sound, and, having been beaten by the storms of a thousand winters, bid +fair to defy those of a thousand more." + +"I should think, then," said Malcolm, "that people would always build +their houses with oak if it lasts so long." + +"Yet they do not do this even in England," was the reply, "where the +trees grow to such an immense size and the ancient buildings still in +existence prove the great endurance of the oak. Now brick and stone and +iron are used, which outlast any wood. And now," continued Miss Harson, +"I am going to tell you something about a foreign species of this tree +which I am sure will surprise you. It is found in the South of Europe +and in Algeria, and is called the _cork oak_." + +"'The _cork_ oak'!" exclaimed Clara, quite as much surprised as she was +expected to be. "Do the corks that come in bottles grow on it?" + +"Not just in that shape, dear, but they are made from its bark. The +outside bark, or _epidermis_, consists of a thin, transparent, +tissue-like substance, which covers not only the bark, but the whole of +the tree, stem, leaves and branches, and beneath the epidermis is found +a layer of cellular tissue, generally green. It covers the trunk and +branches, fills up the spaces between the veins of the leaves and +contains the sap, which flows in canals arranged for it in the most +beautiful and wonderful manner. In one species of oak this layer--which +is called the _suber_--assumes a peculiar character and is of remarkable +thickness. When the tree is some five years old, its whole energy is +directed toward the increase of the suber. A mass of cells is formed +with great rapidity, and layer upon layer is added, until that part of +the trunk grows so unwieldy that it would crack and split of its own +accord. But such a thing is rarely allowed to happen: the suber is of +too much value to man. After it is taken from the tree and has undergone +due preparation, it appears in our shops and houses under the name +of _cork_" + +"I should like to see how they get it," said Malcolm. + +"The trunk is regularly marked around in deep cuts, which begin close +to the branches and go down almost to the roots. A ladder is used to +mount to the upper part of the trunk, and the cuts, or incisions, are +made with a long knife or with an axe. Then they strip off the sheets of +cork between the circles. This operation is a very delicate one, and +requires much care and skill lest the inner part should be injured. If +the operation is carried out successfully, the cork-like substance will +grow again and become as abundant as ever. + +"The next thing to be done to the pieces of bark is partially to burn, +or char, them, and also to make them quite flat, as they come from the +trunk in a rounded shape. The burning makes the pores close up, so that +the liquid in a vessel for which it is used as a stopper cannot come +through; and this is done over a brisk fire, in what is called a +_burning-yard_. Another process, called _rounding_, removes every trace +of the fire, unless the cork has been too much burned, and then, having +already been flattened by the pressure of heavy stones, it is ready for +the cork-maker, who cuts the material first into strips and then into +squares according to the size of corks wanted. + +"Cork is very light and elastic, and can be used successfully in +contrivances for the rescue of men from the perils of the deep. The cork +jacket and the lifeboat have been the means of saving many lives, for +cork will float on the surface of the water and bear up the person +wearing the jacket and the shipwrecked people in the lifeboat. 'The +shallowness of the boat and the bulk of cork within allow but little +room for water; so that even when filled it is in no danger of +overturning or sinking, like other crafts. Also, the lifeboat can move +across the waves with perfect safety, and can make its way from one +object to another in a broken sea as easily as an ordinary boat can pass +from one ship to another.'" + +The children declared that the cork-oak was the best tree of all, but +they agreed with their governess that the entire oak family was made up +of grand and useful trees. + +"Our American oaks," said Miss Harson, "are very handsome in autumn +because of their brilliant foliage; the _scarlet oak_, which turns to a +deep crimson and keeps its leaves longer than any of the other forest +trees, is the most showy of the species. But we have no cork oaks, and +no oaks that we know to be a thousand years old. There was once a famous +oak in this country, called the 'Charter Oak,' which fell to the ground +in August, 1856, before any of us were born. I wonder if you would like +to hear the story about it?" + +This question was thought extremely funny by three such devourers of +stories as the little Kyles, and they eagerly assured their governess +that they would like it. + +"If that is really the case," continued Miss Harson, smiling at the +excited faces, "I must tell you the history of + +"THE CHARTER OAK. + +"This tree grew in Hartford, Connecticut, and it is said that before the +English governor Wyllis went there to live his steward, whom he had +sent on before to get a house ready for him, came near cutting down this +very oak. He was clearing away the trees around it on the hillside when +a party of Indians appeared and begged him to leave that particular +tree, because, they said, 'it had been the guide of their ancestors for +centuries.' So the oak was spared; even then it was old and hollow. + +"King Charles II. granted the people of Connecticut a very liberal +charter of rights, which was publicly read in the Assembly at Hartford +and declared to belong for ever to them and their successors. A +committee was appointed to take charge of it, under a solemn oath that +they would preserve this palladium of the rights of the people. + +"When James II., the tyrannical brother of Charles II., came to the +throne, he changed the government of New England and ordered the people +of Connecticut to give up their charter. This they refused to do; and +when a third command from the king had been sent to them, they called a +special meeting of the Assembly, under their own governor, Treat, and +resolved to hold on to the charter which had been given them. + +"On the 31st of October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros, attended by members of +his council and a bodyguard of sixty soldiers, entered Hartford to take +the charter by force. The General Assembly was in session; he was +received with courtesy, but with coldness. He entered the assembly-room +and publicly demanded the charter. Remonstrances were made, and the +session was protracted till evening. The governor and his associates +appeared to yield. The charter was brought in and laid upon the table. +Sir Edmund thought that he had succeeded, when suddenly the lights were +all put out, and total darkness followed. There was no noise, no +conflict, but all was quiet. When the candles were again lighted, _the +charter was gone_! Sir Edmund was disconcerted. He declared the +government of Connecticut to be in his own hands, and that the colony +was annexed to Massachusetts and the other New England colonies, and +proceeded to appoint officers. Captain Jeremiah Wadsworth, a patriot of +those times, had hidden the charter in the hollow of Wyllis's oak, +whence it was afterward known as the Charter Oak." + +"Then the English governor couldn't get it!" exclaimed Malcolm, +delightedly. "Wasn't that splendid?" + +"It was a grand hiding-place, certainly, for no one would think of +looking inside a tree for such a thing as that, and they were grand men +who preserved their country's liberties in those trying times. But more +peaceful years were at hand. About eighteen months after the charter had +disappeared so mysteriously, the tyrant James II. was compelled to give +up his throne to his daughter and son-in-law, the prince and princess of +Orange, and Governor Treat and his associates again took the government +of Connecticut under the old charter, which the hollow oak had +faithfully kept from harm. No tree in our whole country has received +more attention than this historic Hartford oak; and when, at last, its +mere shell of a trunk was laid low by a storm, it seemed as if a large +part of the city had been swept away. + +"Ancient oaks are apt to be almost entirely without branches; the huge +trunk, with an opening at the top, and often with one also at the +bottom, stands like a maimed giant, just tottering, perhaps, to its +fall, because of the decay going on within, while outside all seems fair +and sound. It was so with the Charter Oak; and when this monarch of the +forest was unexpectedly laid low, rich and poor, great and small, were +gathered to mourn its loss. A dirge was played and all the bells in the +city were tolled at sundown, for this monument of the past was a link +gone that could not be replaced." + +"Thank you, Miss Harson," said Clara; "_true_ stories are so nice! But I +wish I had seen the Charter Oak before it was blown down." + +"You could not have done that, dear," was the reply, "unless you had +been born about thirty years sooner." + + + +CHAPTER V. + +_BEAUTY AND GRACE: THE ASH_. + +"What tree comes next, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, on an April day that +was mild enough for the piazza. "You told us so many interesting things +about the oak that I suppose we needn't expect to hear of another tree +like that." + +"No," was the reply; "not just like that, perhaps, for the oak is grand +and venerable above all our familiar trees, but the ash, which is more +especially an American tree, belongs to a large and interesting family, +and I am quite sure that you will very much like to hear something about +it. I have put it next to the oak because there is a sort of rivalry +between the two as to which can get on its spring dress the soonest, and +an old English rhyme says, + + "'If the oak's before the ash, + Then you may expect a splash; + But if the ash is 'fore the oak, + Then you must beware a soak.'" + +"That must mean," said Malcolm, after considering this rather puzzling +verse, "that it'll rain any way." + +"I think it does," replied Miss Harson, with a smile at Malcolm's air of +deep thought, "and it is quite safe to say that in England. But, as 'a +soak' sounds more serious than 'a splash,' it is to be hoped that the +ash will not get ahead of the oak. I do not know what they are doing in +England this year, but here the oak is a day or two ahead. The foliage +of the ash is entirely different, as it has _pinnate_ leaves, which +means leaves arranged in two rows, one on each side of a common stem, or +_petiole_, like--What, Clara?" + +"Rose-leaves," was the prompt reply. + +"And leaves of the locust trees on the other side of the road," added +Malcolm. + +[Illustration: THE COMMON ASH.] + +"And the sumac," said their governess, "and a number of others that +might be mentioned. This kind of foliage is always graceful, and the +ash is one of our largest and handsomest trees. It is said to be more +common in America than in any other part of the globe. In Europe, +because of its beauty, it is called the painter's tree. It is a +particularly neat and regular-looking tree, and its smooth gray trunk +is higher than that of most trees before any branches appear. Where is +there a tree on the grounds answering this description, Malcolm?" + +"Down at the end of the vegetable-garden," was the reply, "and close +beside the laundry." + +[Illustration: AMERICAN WHITE ASH.] + +"Yes; you are really learning to distinguish trees very well. There are +several species--the white, red, black and mountain ash. The white ash +is a graceful tree, rising in the forest to the height of seventy or +eighty feet, with a straight trunk and a diameter of three feet or more +at the base. On an open plain it throws out its branches, with a gentle +double curvature, to a distance on every side, and forms a broad, round +head of great beauty. The flowers of the ash are greenish white in color +and appear with the leaves in loose clusters. 'The trunk of our largest +American ash is covered with a whitish bark which in very young trees is +nearly smooth; on older trees it is broken by deep furrows into +irregular plates, and on very old stems it becomes smooth again, from +the rough plates scaling off. The branches are grayish green dotted with +gray or white.' Now who can tell _me_ something about this tree?" + +"I know that furniture is made of the wood," said Clara, "because that +pretty set in the large spare-room is ash. And it is very +light-colored." + +"The wood is used for a great many things," replied Miss Harson, "and +the ash has been called the husbandman's tree because the timber is so +much in demand for farming-implements, and for articles that need to be +both strong and light. It does not last so long as the oak, but it is +more elastic and can better resist sudden shocks and jerks; it is +therefore particularly desirable for the spokes of wheels and ladders +and the beams of floors. Staircases were made of it in olden times, and +they may still be found in some English halls and abbeys. The forest ash +makes better oars than any other wood, and the tree has so many good +qualities that an old English poet spoke of it as + + "'The ash for nothing ill.' + +"But Malcolm looks as if he had something to say, and I shall be very +happy to hear it." + +"It is only about the red berries that they bear in autumn, Miss Harson; +it looks queer to see berries growing on a tree." + +"The mountain ash is the only one that has berries," replied his +governess, "and the bloom is in clusters of white flowers. The berries +are sometimes dark red and often of a bright scarlet, and they remain on +the tree during the winter, to the great delight of the birds. We should +find them very sour, although pretty to look at; but the little +feathered wanderers eat them with great relish when the snows of winter +make bird-food scarce and the bright-red berries gleam out most +invitingly. In some parts of Europe the berries are dried and ground +into flour. The rowan, or roan, tree is the English name of the mountain +ash, and in some parts of Great Britain it is called _witchen_, because +of its supposed power against witches and evil spirits and all their +spells. In old times branches of it were hung about houses and stables +and cow-sheds, for it was thought that + + "'witches have no power + Where there is roan-tree wood.'" + +"But that isn't true, is it?" asked Edith. + +"No, dear, not true of either the witches or the wood. But ignorant +people believe a great many foolish things, and the leaves and twigs of +the ash tree were thought to have peculiar virtue. In some places it was +once the practice to pluck an ash-leaf in every case where the leaflets +were of even number, and to say, + + "'Even ash, I do thee pluck, + Hoping thus to meet good luck; + If no luck I get from thee, + Better far be on the tree.'" + +"It sounds like what children say on finding a four-leafed clover," said +Clara. + +"It is on the same principle," was the reply, "for clover-leaves grow +naturally in threes and ash-leaves in sevens. Both rhymes are equally +silly where luck is concerned, and those who believe God's words--that +even 'the hairs of our head are all numbered'--will have no faith in +'luck.' In old times the ash was believed to perform wonderful cures of +various kinds, and in remote parts of England a little mouse called the +shrew-mouse bore a very bad character. If a horse or cow had pains in +its limbs, they were said to be caused by a shrew-mouse running over it. +Our forefathers provided themselves with what they called a shrew-ash, +in order to meet the case. The shrew-ash was nothing more than an ash +tree in the trunk of which a hole had been bored and a poor little +shrew-mouse put in, with many charms and incantations happily long since +forgotten." + +"And couldn't the poor little mouse get out again?" asked Edith. + +"I am afraid not, dear; and we can only rejoice that we did not live in +those dark days. Among other beliefs in its virtues, the leaves and +wood of the ash were regarded throughout Northern Europe as a protection +from all manner of snakes, and in harvest-time children were suspended +in their cradles from the branches of tall ash trees while their mothers +were working in the harvest-field below. Even now serpents are said to +dislike the tree so much that they will not come near it, and the leaf +is considered a cure for the bite of a poisonous snake. I have been told +that an ash-leaf rubbed on a mosquito-bite will at once take out the +sting and itching, and no better remedy can be found for the sting of a +bee or a wasp." + +"It's ever so much nicer than mud," said Clara, who had rather a talent +for getting into hornets' nests. + +"But the mud, you see, is always to be had," replied Miss Harson, "while +ash-leaves do not grow everywhere; and I do not know that they have any +power to cure the sting. + +"The other species of ash found in this country are not so important as +the white, but the black ash is remarkable as the slenderest deciduous +tree of its height to be found in the forest. It is often seventy or +eighty feet tall, with a trunk not more than a foot around. The color of +the trunk is a dark granite-gray and the bark is rough. The wood is +remarkable for its toughness, and for making baskets the Indians prefer +it to any other, except the trunk of a young white oak. + +"The red ash is very much like the white, but the wood is less valuable. +It is a spreading, broad-headed tree, and the trunk is erect and +branching. It is not so tall as the black ash, yet its trunk is three +times as thick. + +"A species of ash grows in Sicily that yields a substance called _manna_ +which used to be valuable as a medicine, and this manna is obtained in +the same way as maple-sap--by making holes or incisions in the bark of +the tree. At the proper season the persons whose business it is to +collect manna begin to make incisions, one after the other, up the stem. +The manna flows out like clear water, but it soon congeals and becomes +a solid substance. It has a sweet taste, and while in a liquid state +runs into a leaf of the tree that has been inserted in the wound. +Afterward it flows into a vessel placed below, from which it is carried +away and shipped off to other countries." + +"Is there any story about the ash?" asked Malcolm. + +"Not much of a story, dear," was the reply--"only a little legend of the +manna trees; but, such as it is, you shall have it: + +"The king of Naples, it is said, fenced a number of trees round and +forbade any to collect the store they yielded unless they paid a +tribute. By this means the royal revenue would be largely increased. +But, according to the story, the manna trees, as if they disapproved of +this ungenerous arrangement, refused to yield any manna, and suddenly +became bare and barren. Upon this the king, finding his scheme a +failure, revoked the tax and took away the fence. Then the trees poured +out their manna, as usual, in the greatest abundance; so that it was +said, 'When the king found he could not make a gain of what Providence +had freely bestowed, he gave up the attempt and left the manna as free +as God had given it.' + +[Illustration: THE SWING.] + +"There, now!" said Miss Harson; "after this long talk, you had better +run off and see if there is not a tree somewhere on the grounds, with +two ropes attached to it, that will bear better fruit than any tree we +have studied yet." + +The trio laughed and raced for the swing, which was first reached by +Clara, who seated herself all ready for the push which Malcolm would not +grudge, for he pronounced his sister sweeter than apple or peach; and +so she was. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +_THE OLIVE TREE_. + +"The ash," said Miss Harson, "has some relations of which, I think, you +will be rather surprised to hear. These relations are both trees and +shrubs, and the lilac, for instance, is one of them." + +"Why, they don't look a bit alike," exclaimed Clara. + +"No, they certainly do not; for, although this fragrant shrub often +grows as large as a tree, it is quite different from the ash tree. Yet +both belong to the olive family." + +"The kind of olives that papa likes to eat at dinner, and that you and I +_don't_ like, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm. + +"The very same," replied his governess; "only that we are speaking now +of the tree on which the olives grow. It is well said that the very name +of 'olive' suggests the idea of Palestine and the sunny lands of the +East. The olive tree is one of the most prominent trees of the Bible. It +is mentioned in the very earliest part of the Scriptures, in the book of +Genesis. I wonder if some one can tell me about it?" + +"I remember: a dove found a leaf when it was raining and brought it to +Noah in the ark," said little Edith, quickly. + +"The rain had stopped falling, dear, after the deluge, and the waters +were receding, or falling, when Noah sent forth the dove a second time +to see what it would find. Here is the verse: 'And the dove came in to +him in the evening; and lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off; +so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth[7].' For +this reason the olive-branch is a common emblem of peace. The olive tree +is often mentioned in other parts of the Bible, and was considered one +of the most valuable trees of Palestine, which is described as 'a land +of oil-olive and honey.' It is not nearly so handsome as some other +trees of the Holy Land, nor is it grand-looking or graceful. The +leaves, which are long for the width, and smooth, are dark green on the +upper side and silvery beneath; they generally grow in pairs. The fruit +is shaped like a plum; it is green when first formed, then paler in +color; and when quite ripe, it is black." + +[7] Gen. viii. 9. + +"But those that papa eats are olive-color," said Clara. + +"Yes," replied Miss Harson, smiling, "but all these hues I have +mentioned are olive-color in some stage of the fruit; and it is in the +green stage, before it is quite ripe, that it is gathered for +preserving." + +"But that isn't _preserves_, is it?" asked Malcolm, drawing up his mouth +at the recollection of an olive he had once tried to eat. "I thought +preserves were always sweet." + +"That is the shape in which you are accustomed to them, Malcolm; but to +preserve a thing means to keep it from decay, and salt and vinegar will +do this as well as sugar. Preserves of this kind are what _you_ call +'puckery.'--As to the color, Clara, 'olive-green' is a color by itself, +because of its peculiar tint. It is a gray green instead of a blue or +yellow green, and it has a very dull effect. The fruit is produced only +once in two years, and in bearing-season the tree is loaded with white +blossoms that drop to the ground like flakes of snow. It is said that +not one in a hundred of these numerous flowers becomes an olive. Here," +continued Miss Harson, pointing to a page of a book in her hand, "is a +representation of an olive-branch with some of the plum-shaped fruit. +The branch, you see, is hard and stiff-looking." + +[Illustration: OLIVE-BRANCH WITH FRUIT.] + +"I should think the tree would be prettier when all those white flowers +are on it," said little Edith. + +"It is--much prettier," replied her governess--"but not so useful. The +fruit of the olive is so valuable that numbers of people depend upon it +for their support. The wood, too, is very hard and durable, and, as it +takes a fine polish, it is used for making many ornamental articles." + +"And where does the olive-oil come from?" asked Clara. "Do they make +holes in the tree for it, as they do for maple-sap?" + +Malcolm was about to exclaim at this idea, but he remembered just in +time that, should Miss Harson happen to question him, he himself could +not tell where the oil came from. + +"The oil is pressed from the olives," was the reply; "a large, vigorous +tree is said to yield a thousand pounds of it. It is such an important +article of commerce in the regions where it is prepared that every one +desires to get as much as he can out of his olive trees, but those who +are too greedy of gain will spoil the quality of the oil to make a +larger quantity. The small olive of Syria is considered the most +delicate, and Italian olives also are very fine; those of Spain are +larger and coarser. The best olive-oil comes from the south-eastern +portion of France and is a clear, pure liquid; it is obtained from the +first pressing of the fruit. This must be only a gentle squeeze, to get +the purest oil: the quality usually sold is made by a heavier pressure; +and then, when the olives are worked over again, come the dregs, which +are not fit for table-use." + +"Do they mash 'em, like making apples into cider?" asked Malcolm. + +"Something like that; and the olive-farmers take the most anxious care +of their orchards, for they know that the more olives the more oil. +This with the Italians means a living, and one of their proverbs says, +'If you wish to leave a competency to your grandchildren, plant an +olive.' The poorest of the fruit is eaten in their own families, 'to +save it,' and, as it does not taste so well, it will go much farther. +They do not eat olives, though, as we see them eaten--one or two as a +relish; but a respectable dishful is provided for each person, instead +of the bread and potatoes which they do not have." + +"I'd rather have the bread and potatoes," said Clara, "and I'm glad that +I don't have to eat a whole plate of olives." + +"If you had always been accustomed to having olives, as the Italians +are," replied Miss Harson, "you would think them very nice. I do not +suppose that their children ever think how much more inviting are the +olives that are kept for sale. Olives intended for exportation are +gathered while still green, usually in the month of October. They are +soaked for some hours in the strongest lye, to get rid of their +bitterness, and are afterward allowed to stand for a fortnight in +frequently-changed fresh water, in order to be perfectly purified of the +lye. It only then remains to preserve them in common salt and water, +when they are ready for export." + +"That's what they taste of," exclaimed Malcolm--"salt; and I don't like +salt things." + +"I think," said his governess, with a smile, "that I have seen a boy +whom I know enjoying sliced ham and tongue very much indeed." + +"So I do, Miss Harson," was the eager reply; "but ham and tongue, you +know, don't taste like olives." + +"No, because they are ham and tongue. But they certainly taste salty, +and that is what you object to. It is generally found that sweeping +assertions are not very safe ones. But to come back to our olive tree: +it is an evergreen, and it grows very easily. The readiness with which a +twig will take root reminds us of the willow. A fine grove of olive +trees at Messa, in Morocco, was accidentally planted. It is said that +one of the kings of the dynasty of Saddia, being on a military +expedition, encamped here with his army. The pegs with which the cavalry +picketed their horses were cut from olive trees in the neighborhood, +and, some sudden cause of alarm leading to the abandonment of the +position, the pegs were left in the ground. Making the best of the +situation, the pegs developed into the handsomest group of olive trees +in the district." + +The children wondered if any trees had ever been planted in such a +strange way before, and little Edith said thoughtfully, + +"But, Miss Harson, why don't good people go around and plant trees +wherever there aren't any? It would be so nice!" + +"Some good people do plant trees, dear, wherever they can," replied her +governess, "thinking, as they say, of those who are to come after them; +a great many roadside trees have grown in this way. But no one is +allowed to meddle with other people's property; waste-places might +easily be beautified with trees if the owners cared for anything but for +their own present interests. But here is something you will like to +hear about the olives of Palestine: 'They are all planted together in +the grove like the trees in a forest, and it would seem scarcely +possible for the owners to distinguish their own property. But when the +fruit is getting ripe, watchmen are appointed to guard the grove and +prevent a single olive from being touched even by the person who has a +right to the tree.'--You do not look as if you would like +that, Malcolm." + +[Illustration: OLIVE TREE.--GATHERING THE FRUIT.] + +"Indeed I wouldn't!" replied the boy. "I rather think I'd take my own +olives whenever I wanted 'em." + +"Not if you lived where all were agreed on this point, as they seem to +be in Palestine.--'Days pass on, and the autumn is at hand before the +governor of the district issues the wished-for proclamation; then the +watchmen are removed. Immediately the scene becomes a most animated one. +The grove is alive with an eager throng of men, women and children +shaking down the precious fruit. It is, however, scarcely possible to +bring every berry down, nor would it seem desirable, since after this +great harvest comes the gleaning-time, when the poor, who have no olive +trees, are permitted to come into the grove and shake down what +is left.'" + +"Isn't there something about that in the Bible, Miss Harson?" asked +Clara. + +"Yes; it is in the book of the prophet Isaiah, 'Yet gleaning grapes +shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three +berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost +fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel[8].' This is a +prophecy about God's people, but the Jews were told by God to leave +something, when they were harvesting, for the poor to glean. Does it not +seem wonderful that the mighty Ruler of the universe should condescend +to such small things? But nothing is small with him, and we see that his +loving care extends to the poorest and the meanest." + +[8] Isa. xvii. 6. + +"Miss Harson," asked Edith, with great earnestness, "has each of our +hairs got a number on it? I couldn't find any." + +The young lady could scarcely keep from smiling, but she was obliged to +call Malcolm to order, and even Clara seemed amused at her little +sister's queer interpretation of the loving words, "The very hairs of +your head are all numbered." + +Miss Harson took her youngest pupil on her knee and explained to her the +meaning of our Saviour's words in Luke xii. 7, where it is added, "Fear +not,", because the heavenly Father's loving care is always around us. + +"It was a natural mistake," she continued, "for a very little girl to +make; but we must not try to find amusement in mistakes about God's +word. Many grown people are irreverent in this way without knowing it: +perhaps they were not properly taught when they were children. But _my_ +children must not have this excuse, and I want them all to promise me +that they will never utter nor listen to words from the Bible in any +other but a reverent manner." + +All promised, Malcolm with a flushed face and subdued tone; and Edith +felt that one of the great puzzles of her small existence had +been solved. + +"Oil is the most important product of the olive tree," said Miss Harson, +"and it has well been called its richness and fatness. The great demand +for it in Europe and Asia prevents the best quality from being sent +abroad, and it is said that even the most wealthy foreigners seldom get +it pure. It is a most important article of food, taking the place held +by butter and lard with us. Innumerable lamps, too, are kept burning by +means of this oil, and so varied are its uses in the East that it was a +greater thing than we can understand for the prophet Habakkuk to say, +'Although the labor of the olive shall fail, ... yet will I rejoice in +the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' Job says, 'The rock +poured me out rivers of oil[9];' this means the oil of the olive, which +will thrive on the sides and tops of rocky hills where there is scarcely +any earth. It is a very long-lived tree, as well as an evergreen; the +Psalmist says, 'I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.'" + +[9] Job xxiii. 6. + +"What does a _wild_ olive tree mean, Miss Harson?" asked Clara. + +"It means, dear, one that has grown without being cultivated, like our +wild cherry and plum trees. The wild olive is smaller than the other, +and inferior to it in every way. There are a great many olive trees in +Palestine, and a place where they must have been very plentiful is +called by a name which we often see in the Bible.--What is it, Malcolm?" + +"Is it 'the Mount of Olives'?" said Malcolm. + +"Yes, and it is sometimes called 'Olivet.' It is mentioned in the Old +Testament as well as in the New. In Second Samuel it is written: 'And +David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and +had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was +with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they +went up[10].'" + +[10] 2 Sam. xv. 30. + +"What was the matter?" asked Edith. + +"King David's wicked son Absalom had risen up against his father because +he wished to be king in his stead. You remember how he was caught by the +head in the boughs of an oak during the very battle that he was fighting +for this purpose; so we know that he did not succeed in his wicked plan, +but lost his life instead.--The Mount of Olives is described as 'a +ridge running north and south on the east side of Jerusalem, its summit +about half a mile from the city wall and separated from it by the valley +of the Kidron. It is composed of a chalky limestone, the rocks +everywhere showing themselves. The olive trees that formerly covered it +and gave it its name are now represented by a few trees and clumps of +trees. There are three prominent summits on the ridge; of these, the +southernmost, which is lower than the other two, is now known as 'the +Mount of Offence,' originally 'the Mount of Corruption,' because Solomon +defiled it with idolatrous worship. Over this ridge passes the road to +Bethany, the most frequented route to Jericho and the Jordan. The side +of the Mount of Olives toward the west contains many tombs cut in the +rock. The central summit rises two hundred feet above Jerusalem and +presents a fine view of the city, and, indeed, of the whole region, +including the mountains of Ephraim on the north, the valley of the +Jordan on the east, a part of the Dead Sea on the south-east, and beyond +it Kerak, in the mountains of Moab. Perhaps no spot on earth unites so +fine a view with so many memorials of the most solemn and important +events. Over this hill the Saviour often climbed in his journeys to and +from the Holy City. Gethsemane lay at its foot on the west, and Bethany +on its eastern slope.'" + +During the reading of this description of the Mount of Olives, Miss +Harson showed the children pictures of the different spots mentioned, +and thus they were not likely soon to forget what had been told them. + +"Who can repeat some words from the New Testament about this mountain?" +asked Miss Harson. + +"'Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives,'" said Clara, who had learned +this verse in her Sunday lesson, "and it is the first verse of the +eighth chapter of St. John." + +"And the verse just before it, at the end of the seventh chapter," +replied her governess, "says that 'every man went unto his own house,' +but 'Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives.' In another place it is said +that 'at night he went out and abode in the Mount of Olives,' and in +still another that he 'continued all night in prayer to God,' probably +on the same mountain." + +"And can people really go and see the very same Mount of Olives now?" +asked Malcolm, eagerly. + +"The very same," was the reply, "except, as I just read to you, many of +the olive trees that gave it its name are no longer there. The Garden of +Gethsemane, too, the most sacred spot near the mountain, is much +changed, and a traveler who saw it lately says: + +"'At the foot of the Mount of Olives is a garden enclosed by a wall. +There are paths and there are plots of flowers, the work of loving hands +in recent years. The flowers speak of to-day, but there are olive trees +in the garden that testify of the history of far-away years. Their +venerable trunks, gnarled and rugged, are like the rough, marred binding +of old books, shutting in a history going back to a far-off date. + +"'On one side of this garden slope upward the terraces of the Mount of +Olives--terraces that are cultivated to-day even as the slopes of Olivet +have been cultivated for generations and centuries. The other side of +the garden looks toward the eastern wall of Jerusalem. Deep down in its +shadowy bed, between the wall and the garden, lies the ravine of +the Kedron. + +[Illustration: GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE.] + +"'If you visit that garden and look upon its old olive trees, the +keeper of the place will tell you that you are in Gethsemane, the spot +of our Saviour's betrayal. He will point out the "Grotto of the Agony," +the place where the disciples slumbered, and that where Judas, before +his brethren, ceased publicly to be a follower and became the betrayer +of Jesus. Some things you very naturally may question as the guardian of +the enclosure tells his story. Whether any one of the venerable olive +trees ever threw its shadow across the prostrate form of Jesus is more +than doubtful, but that these trees are burdened with the history of +centuries all must concede. "Gethsemane" means "oil-press," and olive +trees long ago gave Olivet its name. That somewhere in this neighborhood +the Saviour suffered cannot be doubted, and within that closed wall may +have been the very spot where he bowed in his agony, and where he heard +the tongue of Judas utter his treacherous "Rabbi!" and where he felt the +serpent-breath of the traitor as that traitor kissed him.'" + +Miss Harson read of this solemn spot in a low, reverent tone; and the +little audience were very quiet, until at last Clara said, + +"Whenever we see an ash tree or olives, how much there will be to think +of!" + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +_THE USEFUL BIRCH_. + +"Oh, Miss Harson!" called out Clara, in great excitement, as she caught +up with her governess on a run; "hasn't Edie poisoned herself? She has +been eating this twig." + +Edith, of course, at once began to cry. + +"You are not poisoned, dear," said Miss Harson, very quickly, after +trying the twig herself; "for this is birch-wood, and it cannot possibly +hurt you. But remember, Edie, that this must not happen again; _never_ +put anything to your mouth unless you know it to be harmless. The birds +and squirrels and other animals that are obliged to pick up their own +living as soon as they are able to use their limbs have the faculty +given them of knowing what is good for them to eat, but little girls are +not intended to live in the woods, and they cannot tell whether or not +the things they find there are fit to eat." + +"I took only a little bit," sobbed Edith; "Clara snatched it away as +soon as it tasted good." + +Malcolm laughingly tossed his little sister into a sort of evergreen +cradle where the branches grew low--for they were enjoying an afternoon +in the woods--and held her there securely, while their governess +replied, + +"'A little bit' is too much of a thing that might be harmful. You must +remember to 'touch not, taste not, handle not,' until you have asked +permission. But I am going to let you all chew as many birch-shoots as +you want, and I too shall chew some; for when I was a little girl, I +used to think they were 'puffickly d'licious.'" + +The children were much amazed to think that Miss Harson had ever talked +like Edith--indeed, the two older ones could scarcely believe that they +once did so themselves; but all soon had their hands full of +birch-twigs, and they began gnawing like so many squirrels. All approved +of the "birchskin," as Edith called it, and Malcolm declared that "it +would be grand fun to live in the woods all the time." + +"Couldn't we have a tent, Miss Harson," asked Clara, "and try it?" + +"I have no doubt," was the reply, "that your indulgent papa would have a +tent put up here for you if he thought it would make you happier, but I +have my doubts as to whether it would do so. In the first place, I +should object very much to living in the tent with you, and how could +you possibly live there alone?" + +Clara and Edith were quite sure that they could not get along without +their friend and governess, but Malcolm thought he would like to try +being a hermit or an Indian, he was not quite ready to say which. + +"While you are deciding," said Miss Harson, with a smile, "it may be as +well for us to go on as usual; but I think that a little tent could be +put up here somewhere, which we might enjoy for an hour or so on +pleasant days. I will see about it." + +The little girls were delighted, and Malcolm finally condescended to be +pleased with the idea. + +"This is a very young birch," continued their governess, "and you see +how slender and graceful it is; also that the bark, or 'skin,' is very +dark. For this reason it is called the black, or cherry, birch, and also +because the tree is very much like the black cherry. It is also called +sweet birch and mahogany birch; the _sweet_ part you can probably +understand, and it gets its other name from the color of the wood, which +often resembles mahogany and at one time was much used for furniture. +There are larger trees of the same kind all around us, and I should like +to know if anything else has been noticed besides the twigs of this +little one." + +"_I_ see something," replied Malcolm: "there are flowers--purple and +yellow." + +"And what is the particular name for these tree-blossoms?" asked Miss +Harson. + +"Isn't it _catkins_?" inquired Clara, timidly. + +"Yes, catkins, or aments. They hang, as you see, like long tassels of +purple and gold, and are as fragrant as the bark. Bryant's line, + + "'The fragrant birch above him hung her tassels in the sky,' + +"was written of this same black birch. Some of these trees are sixty or +seventy feet high, and all are very graceful, this species being +considered the most beautiful of the numerous birch family. The leaves, +which are just coming out, are two or three inches long and about half +as wide; they taper to a point and have serrate, or sawlike, edges. The +wood is firm and durable, and is much used for cattle-yokes as well as +for bedsteads and chairs. The large trees yield a great quantity of +sweetish sap, which makes a pleasant drink. The trees are tapped just as +the sugar-maples are, and in some parts of the country gathering this +sap, which is sometimes used to make vinegar, is quite an +important event." + +"Oh! oh! _oh_!" screamed Edith, and began to run. + +"Oh! oh! oh!" echoed Clara; and Malcolm declared that she was just like +"Jill," who "came tumbling after." + +"What is the matter, children?" asked their governess, in dismay; but +she stood perfectly still. + +"Only a poor little garter-snake," said Malcolm, "putting his head out +to see if it's warm enough for him yet. But he has gone back into his +hole frightened to death at such dreadful noises. Hello! what's the +matter with Edie now?" + +The little sister had fallen, tripped up by some rough roots, and, +expecting the poor startled garter-snake to come and make a meal off +her, she was calling loudly for help. + +Miss Harson had her in her arms in a moment, and it was soon found that +one foot had quite a bad bruise. + +"If only you had not run away!" said her governess. "He was such an +innocent little snake to make all this fuss about, and very pretty too, +if you had stopped to look at him." + +"Are snakes ever pretty?" asked Edith, in great surprise. + +"Certainly they are, dear, and this one had lovely stripes. I wish you +could have seen him." + +The little girl began to wish so too, it was so funny to think of a +snake being pretty, and she felt quite ashamed that she had scampered +away in such a silly fashion. + +"What a goose I was!" said Clara, doing her thinking aloud. "But I +thought it must be something dreadful, when Edie screamed so." + +"How much better it would have been to have found out before you +screamed!" replied Miss Harson.--"But come, Edith; see what a nice cane +Malcolm has just cut to help your lame foot with. He is offering you his +arm, too, on the other side, and between the two I think you will get +along finely." + +Edith thought the same thing, and enjoyed being helped home in this +fashion. Her foot was quite painful, though, and considerably swollen; +and Clara bathed it with arnica when the little girl had been +comfortably established on the schoolroom sofa. + +"Perhaps," said Miss Harson, "our little invalid will not care to hear +about trees this evening?" + +But the little invalid did care, and it was decided to take a further +ramble among the birches. + +"I want to hear about birch-bark," said Malcolm--"not the kind we've +been eating, but the kind that canoes and things are made of." + +[Illustration: THE CUT-LEAVED WHITE BIRCH.] + +"You have already heard about the black birch," replied his governess, +"and, besides this, we have the white, or gray, birch, the bark of which +is white, chalky and dotted with black; the red birch, with bark of a +reddish or chocolate color; the yellow birch, bark yellowish, with a +silvery lustre; and the canoe birch, which has a white bark with a +pearly lustre. There is also a dwarf, or shrub, birch. The list, you +see, is quite a long one." + +"What kind grow in _our_ woods?" asked Clara. + +"You certainly know of one kind," was the reply--"the black, or sweet, +birch, which we have all tried and like so well. Besides this, there is +the white, or little gray, birch, which is seldom over twenty-five or +thirty feet high. It is, however, a graceful and beautiful object, +enjoying to an eminent decree the lightness and airiness of the birch +family, and spreading out its glistening leaves on the ends of a very +slender and often pensile spray with an indescribable softness. An +English poet has called this tree the + + "'most beautiful + Of forest-trees, the lady of the woods.'" + +The children laughed at the idea of calling a tree a _lady_, it seemed +so comical; but Miss Harson said that she thought this was a very good +description of a slender, graceful tree. + +[Illustration: WHITE-BIRCH LEAF.] + +"Four or five inches," she continued, "will span its waist, or trunk, +and this seems a very good reason for calling it _little_. Another name +for this tree is poplar birch, because the triangular-shaped leaves, +which taper to a very long, slender point, have a habit of trembling +like those of the poplars. The branches are of a dark chocolate color +which contrasts very prettily with the grayish-white trunk, and their +extreme slenderness causes them to droop somewhat like those of the +willow. The white birch will spring up in the poorest kind of soil, and +it is found in the highest latitude in which any tree can live. Its leaf +is 'deltoid' in shape and indented at the edge. The bark of this species +is said to be more durable than any other vegetable substance, and a +piece of birch-wood was once found changed into stone, while the outer +bark, white and shining, remained in its natural state," + +"I don't see how it could," said Malcolm. "What kept it from turning +into stone too?" + +"Its peculiar nature," was the reply, "which is a thing that we cannot +explain, and we shall have to take the story just as it is. We certainly +know that the wood has been proved to be very strong, and it is much +used for timber." + +"Is the red birch really red, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, who thought +that this promised to be the prettiest member of the family. + +"The bark has a reddish tinge, and it is so loose and ragged-looking +that it has been said to roll up its bark in coarse ringlets, which are +whitish with a stain of crimson. The red birch, which is more rare than +any of the other kinds, is a much larger tree than the white birch, but, +like all its relations, it is very graceful. The wood is white and hard +and makes very good fuel, while the twigs are made into brooms for +sweeping streets and courtyards." + +"But there isn't very much red about it, after all," said Malcolm. + +"It wasn't red," murmured Edith; "it was green;" and the next moment +"the baby" was fast asleep, but Miss Harson was afraid that she had +taken the snake with her to the land of Nod, so restless was her sleep. + +"I hope the yellow birch is yellow," said Clara again. + +"We will see what is said of its color," replied her governess, "and +here it is: 'Distinguished by its yellowish bark, of a soft silken +texture and silvery or pearly lustre,' It is a large tree, and has been +named _excelsa_--'lofty'--because of its height. The slender, flowing +branches are very graceful, and the tree is often as symmetrical as a +fine elm, but droops less. The roots of the yellow birch seem to enjoy +getting above the ground and twisting themselves in a very fantastic +manner, and, taken altogether, it is a strikingly handsome and +ornamental tree. The wood was at one time much liked for fuel, and many +of the logs were of immense size." + +"Now," said Malcolm, gleefully, "the canoe birch has _got_ to come next, +because there isn't anything else to come." + +"That is an excellent reason," replied Miss Harson, "and the canoe birch +it shall be. There is more to be said of it than of any of the others, +and it also grows in greater quantities. Thick woods of it are found in +Maine and New Hampshire--for it loves a cold climate--and in other +Northern portions of the country. The tall trunks of the trees resemble +pillars of polished marble supporting a canopy of bright-green foliage. +The leaves are something of a heart-shape, and their vivid summer green +turns to golden tints in autumn. The bark of the canoe birch is almost +snowy white on the outside, and very prettily marked with fine brown +stripes two or three inches long, which go around the trunk. This bark +is very smooth and soft, and it is easily separated into very thin +sheets. For this reason the tree is often called the paper birch, and +the smooth, thin layers of bark make very good writing-paper when none +other can be had." + +"Oh, Miss Harson!" exclaimed Clara; "did you ever see any that was +written on?" + +"Yes," was the reply; "I once wrote a letter on some myself." + +"Did you _really_?" cried two eager voices. "How _could_ you? Oh, do +tell us about it!" + +"I was making a visit at a village in Maine," said their governess, +"where the beautiful trees are to be seen in all their perfection, and I +thought it would be appropriate to write a letter from there on birch +bark. So I split my bark very thin and got a respectable sheet of it +ready; then I cut another piece, to form an envelope, and gummed it +together. I had quite a struggle to write on it decently with a steel +pen, because the pen would go through the paper; but I persevered, and +finally I accomplished my letter. It seemed odd to put a postage-stamp +on birch bark, and I smiled to think how surprised the home-people +would be to get such a letter. They _were_ surprised, and they told me +afterward that the postman laughed when he delivered it." + +The children thought this very interesting, and they wished that there +were canoe-birch trees growing at Elmridge, that they might be enabled +to try the experiment for themselves. + +"Now," continued Miss Harson, "I am going to read you an account of +canoe-making, and of some other uses to which the bark is put: + +"'In Canada and in the district of Maine the country-people place large +pieces of the bark immediately below the shingles of the roof, to form a +more impenetrable covering for their houses. Baskets, boxes and +portfolios are made of it, which are sometimes embroidered with silk of +different colors. Divided into very thin sheets, it forms a substitute +for paper, and placed between the soles of the shoes and in the crown of +the hat it is a defence against dampness. But the most important purpose +to which it is applied, and one in which it is replaced by the bark of +no other tree, is in the construction of canoes. To procure proper +pieces, the largest and smoothest trunks are selected. In the spring two +circular incisions are made, several feet apart, and two longitudinal +ones on opposite sides of the tree; after which, by introducing a wooden +wedge, the bark is easily detached. These plates are usually ten or +twelve feet long and two feet nine inches broad. To form the canoe, they +are stitched together with fibrous roots of the white spruce about the +size of a quill, which are deprived of the bark, split and suppled in +water. The seams are coated with resin of the balm of Gilead. + +"'Great use is made of these canoes by the savages and by the French +Canadians in their long journeys into the interior of the country; they +are very light, and are easily transported on the shoulders from one +lake or river to another, which is called the _portage_. A canoe +calculated for four persons, with their baggage, weighs from forty to +fifty pounds; some of them are made to carry fifteen passengers.' + +"And now let me show you a picture of the Kentucky pioneer in a +birch-bark canoe." + +"Why, Miss Harson, the Indians are trying to kill him!" exclaimed +Malcolm. + +"Yes," she replied; "when you read the history of the United States, you +will find that not only Daniel Boone, but the most of the early settlers +of these Western lands, had trouble with the Indians. Nor is this +strange. These pioneers were often rough men, and were looked upon by +the natives as invaders of their country and treated as enemies. But to +come back to the uses of the bark of the birch: + +"'In the settlements of the Hudson Bay Company tents are made of the +bark of this tree, which for that purpose is cut into pieces twelve feet +long and four feet wide. These are sewed together by threads made of the +white-spruce roots; and so rapidly is a tent put up that a circular one +twenty feet in diameter and ten feet high does not occupy more than half +an hour in pitching. Every traveler and hunter in Canada enjoys these +"rind-tents," as they are called, which are used only during the hot +summer months, when they are found particularly comfortable.'" + +[Illustration: IN THE BIRCH-BARK CANOE] + +"Well, that's the funniest thing yet!" exclaimed Malcolm. "'Rind-tents'! +I wish I could see one. Did they have any in Maine where you were, +Miss Harson?" + +"No," was the reply, "I did not even hear of such a thing there, and to +see it you would probably have to go far to the north. The English +birch, which is found also in many parts of Europe, is put to a great +many uses; the leaves produce a yellow dye, and the wood, when mixed +with copperas, will color red, black and brown. An old birch tree that +is supposed to be giving an account of itself says, + +"'How many are the uses of my bark! Thrifty men who sit beside the +blazing hearth when my branches throw up a clear bright flame, and +follow the example of their fathers in making their own shoes and those +of their families, tan the hides with my bark. Kamschadales construct +from it both hats and vessels for holding milk, and the Swedish +fisherman his shoes. The Norwegian covers with it his low-roofed hut +and spreads upon the surface layers of moss at least three or four +inches thick, and, having twisted long strips together, he obtains +excellent torches with which to cheer the darkness of his long nights. +Fishermen, in like manner, make great use of them in alluring their +finny prey. For this purpose they fit a portion of blazing birch in a +cleft stick and spear the fish when attracted by its flickering light.'" + +The children exclaimed at this queer way of fishing, but Malcolm was +very much taken with the idea of doing it by night with blazing torches, +and he thought that he would like to be a Norwegian fisherman even +better than a hermit or an Indian. + +"The old tree goes on to say," continued Miss Harson, "that 'Finland +mothers form of the dried leaves soft, elastic beds for their children, +and from me is prepared the _mona_, their sole medicine in all diseases. +My buds in spring exhale a delicious fragrance after showers, and the +bark, when burnt, seems to purify the air in confined dwellings.' + +"In Lapland the twigs of the birch, covered with reindeer-skins, are +used for beds, but they cannot be so comfortable, I should think, as the +leaves. The fragrant wood of the tree makes the fires which have to be +kept up inside the huts even in summer to drive away the mosquitoes, and +the people of those Northern regions would find it hard to get along +without the useful birch." + +"I like to hear about it," said Clara. "Can you tell us something more +that is done with it, Miss Harson?" + +"There is just one thing more," replied her governess, with a smile, +"which I will read out of an old book; and I desire you all to pay +particular attention to it." + +Little Edith was wide awake again by this time, and her great blue eyes +looked as if she were ready to devour every word. + +"Birch rods," continued Miss Harson, "are quite different from birch +_twigs_, and the uses to which they were put were not altogether +agreeable to the boys who ran away from school or did not get their +lessons. 'My branches,' says the birch, 'gently waving in the wind, +awakened in those days no feelings of dread with truant urchins--for +_all_ might be truants then, if so it pleased them--but at length a +scribe arose who thus wrote concerning my ductile twigs: "The civil uses +whereunto the birch serveth are many, as for the punishment of children +both at home and abroad; for it hath an admirable influence upon them to +quiet them when they wax unruly, and therefore some call the tree +_make-peace_"'" Malcolm and Clara both laughed, and asked their young +governess when the birch rods were coming; but Edith did not feel quite +so easy, and, with her bruised foot and all, it took a great deal of +petting that night to get her comfortably to bed. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +_THE POPLARS_. + +The bruised foot was not comfortable to walk on for two or three days, +and Edith was settled in the great easy arm-chair with dolls and toys +and picture-books in a pile that seemed as if it would not stop growing +until every article belonging to herself and Clara had been gathered +there. "We can go on with our trees," said Miss Harson, "even if we do +not see them just yet; and this evening I should like to tell you +something about the poplar, a large tree with alternate leaves which is +often found in dusty towns, where it seems to flourish as well as in its +favorite situation by a running stream. An old English writer calls the +poplars 'hospitable trees, for anything thrives under their shade.' They +are not handsomely-shaped trees, but the foliage is thick and pretty. In +the latter part of this month--April--the trees are so covered with +their olive-green catkins that large portions of the forests seem to be +colored by them." + +[Illustration: IN THE EASY CHAIR] + +"Are there any poplars at Elmridge?" asked Malcolm. + +"Not nearer than the woods," was the reply, "where we must go and look +for them when Edith's foot is quite well again, though there are a good +many in the city. The poplar is often planted by the roadside because it +grows so rapidly and makes a good shade. The _Abele_, or silver poplar, +is an especial favorite for this purpose. + +"The balm of Gilead, or Canada poplar, is the largest of the species, +and really a handsome tree, often growing to the height of fifty or +sixty feet, with a trunk of proportionate size. It has large leaves of a +bright, glossy green, which grow loosely on long branches, A peculiarity +of this tree is that before the leaves begin to expand the buds are +covered with a yellow, glutinous balsam that diffuses a penetrating but +very agreeable odor unlike any other. The balsam is gathered as a +healing anodyne, and for many ailments it is a favorite remedy in +domestic medicine. All the poplars produce more or less of this +substance. + +"The river poplaris found on the banks of rivers and brooks and in wet +places, and is a noble and graceful tree. The trunk is light gray in +color, and the young trees have a smooth, leather-like bark. The broad +leaves, of a very rich green, grow on stems nearly as long as +themselves, and the flowering aments are of a light-red color. The +leaf-stalks and young branches are also brightly tinted. Another of +these trees has a very singular name: it is called the necklace poplar." + +[Illustration: LOMBARDY POPLAR.] + +"Do the flowers grow like real necklaces?" asked Clara. + +"Not quite," replied her governess, "but the reason given is something +like it. The tree is so called from the resemblance of the long ament, +before opening, to the beads of a necklace. In Europe it is known as the +Swiss poplar and the black Italian poplar. Its timber is much valued +there for building. There are also the black poplar and that queer, +stiff-looking tree the Lombardy poplar. Cannot one of you tell me where +there are some tall, narrow trees that look almost as if they had been +cut out of wood and stuck there?" + +"I know where there are some," said Malcolm: "right in front of Mrs. +Bush's old house; and I think they're miserable-looking trees." + +"When old and rusty, they are not in the least cheerful," replied Miss +Harson; "and it is so long since Lombardy poplars were admired that few +are found except about old places. The tree is shaped like a tall spire, +and in hot, calm weather drops of clear water trickle from its leaves +like a slight shower of rain. It was once a favorite shade-tree, and a +century ago great numbers of Lombardy poplars were planted by village +waysides, in front of dwelling-houses, on the borders of public +grounds, and particularly in avenues leading to houses that stand at +some distance from the high-road. + +[Illustration: A GROUP OF POPLARS IN CASHMERE] + +"The poplar is found in many lands. The Lombardy poplar, as its name +indicates, was brought from Italy, where it grows luxuriantly beside the +orange and the myrtle; but after one of our cold winters many of its +small branches will decay, and this gives it a forlorn appearance. When +fresh and green, the Lombardy poplar is quite handsome. Some one wrote +of it long ago: 'There is no other tree that so pleasantly adorns the +sides of narrow lanes and avenues, and so neatly accommodates itself to +limited enclosures. Its foliage is dense and of the liveliest verdure, +making delicate music to the soft touch of every breeze. Its +terebinthine odors scent the vernal gales that enter our open windows +with the morning sun. Its branches, always turning upward and closely +gathered together, afford a harbor to the singing-birds that make them a +favorite resort, and its long, tapering spire that points to heaven +gives an air of cheerfulness and religious tranquillity to village +scenery.'" + +"I wish we had some," said Edith, "with singing-birds in 'em." + +"Why, my dear child," replied her governess, "have we not the beautiful +elms, in which the birds build their nests and where they fly in and out +continually? They are the very same birds that build in the +Lombardy poplars." + +"I thought that singing-birds always lived in cages," said the little +queen in the easy-chair. + +"And did you think they were hung all over the Lombardy poplars?" asked +Malcolm, in a broad grin. + +Edith laughed too, and Miss Harson said smilingly. + +"I thought that the birds about Elmridge did a great deal of singing, +and the blue-birds and robins kept it up all day. But I should not like +to see the old Lombardy poplars hung with gilded cages, and the birds +which should happen to be prisoners in the cages would like it +still less." + +"Well," said Edith, contentedly, as she settled herself again to +listen. + +"The poplar," continued Miss Harson, "has a great many insect enemies, +and the Lombardy is not often seen now, because a great many of these +trees were destroyed on account of a worm, or caterpillar, by which they +were infested. Poplar-wood is soft, light and generally of a pale-yellow +color; it is much used for toy-making and for boarded floors, 'for which +last purpose it is well adapted from its whiteness and the facility with +which it is scoured, and also from the difficulty with which it catches +fire and the slowness with which it burns. A red-hot poker falling on a +board of poplar would burn its way without causing more combustion than +the hole through which it passed.'" + +"I should think, then," said Malcolm, "that all wooden things would be +made of poplar." + +"It is generally thought not to be durable," was the reply, "but it is +said that if kept dry the wood will last as long as that of any tree. +Says the poplar plank, + + "'Though heart of oak be ne'er so stout, + Keep me dry and I'll see him out.' + +"The poplar has been highly praised, for every part of this tree answers +some good purpose. The bark, being light, like cork, serves to support +the nets of fishermen; the inner bark is used by the Kamschadales as a +material for bread; brooms are made from the twigs, and paper from the +cottony down of the seeds. Horses, cows and sheep browse upon it. + +"And now," said Miss Harson, when the children were wondering if that +were the end, "we have come to the most interesting tree of the whole +species--the aspen, or trembling poplar. It is a small, graceful tree +with rounded leaves having a wavy, toothed border, covered with soft +silk when young, which remains only as a fringe on the edge at maturity, +supported by a very slender footstalk about as long as the leaf, and +compressed laterally from near the base. They are thus agitated by the +slightest breath of wind with that quivering, restless motion +characteristic of all the poplars, but in none so striking as this. 'To +quiver like an aspen-leaf has become a proverb. The foliage appears +lighter than that of most other trees, from continually displaying the +under side of the leaves. + +"The aspen has been called a very poetical tree, because it is the only +one whose leaves tremble when the wind is apparently calm. It is said, +however, to suggest fickleness and caprice, levity and irresolution--a +bad character for any tree. The small American aspen, which is quite +common, has a smooth, pale-green bark, which gets whitish and rough as +the tree grows old. The foliage is thin, but a single leaf will be +found, when examined, uncommonly beautiful. A spray of the small aspen, +when in leaf, is very light and airy-looking, and the leaves produce a +constant rustling sound. 'Legends of no ordinary interest linger around +this tree. Ask the Italian peasant who pastures his sheep beside a grove +of _Abele_ why the leaves of these trees are always trembling in even +the hottest weather when not a breeze is stirring, and he will tell you +that the wood of the trembling-poplar formed the cross on which our +Saviour suffered.'" + +"Oh, Miss Harson!" said Clara, in a low tone. "Is that _true_?" + +"We do not know that it is, dear, nor do we know that it is not. Here +are some verses about it which I like very much: + + "'The tremulousness began, as legends tell, + When he, the meek One, bowed his head to death + E'en on an aspen cross, when some near dell + Was visited by men whose every breath + That Sufferer gave them. Hastening to the wood-- + The wood of aspens--they with ruffian power + Did hew the fair, pale tree, which trembling stood + As if awestruck; and from that fearful hour + Aspens have quivered as with conscious dread + Of that foul crime which bowed the meek Redeemer's head. + + "'Far distant from those days, oh let not man, + Boastful of reason, check with scornful speech + Those legends pure; for who the heart may scan + Or say what hallowed thoughts such legends teach + To those who may perchance their scant flocks keep + On hill or plain, to whom the quivering tree + Hinteth a thought which, holy, solemn, deep, + Sinks in the heart, bidding their spirits flee + All thoughts of vice, that dread and hateful thing + Which troubleth of each joy the pure and gushing spring?'" + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +_ALL A-BLOW: THE APPLE TREE_. + +It certainly was a beautiful sight, and the children exclaimed over it +in ectasy. It was now past the middle of April, and Miss Harson had +taken her little flock to visit an apple-orchard at some distance from +Elmridge, and the whole place seemed to be one mass of pink-and-white +bloom. + +"And how deliciously _sweet_ it is!" said Malcolm as he sniffed the +fragrant air. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Edith, turning up her funny little nose to get the full +benefit of all this fragrance; "I can't breathe half enough at once." + +"That is just my case," said her governess, laughing, "but I did not +think to say it in that way. Get all you can of this deliciousness, +children; I wish that we could carry some of it away with us." + +"And so you shall," replied a hearty voice as Mr. Grove, the owner of +the orchard, came up with a knife in his hand and began cutting off +small branches of apple--blossoms. "I like to see folks enjoy things." + +"I hope you don't mind our trespassing on your grounds?" said Miss +Harson. "I can engage that my little friends will do no injury, and I +particularly wished them to see your beautiful orchard in bloom; it is +almost equal to a field of roses." + +"Don't mind it at all, miss," was the reply--"quite the contrary; and I +think, myself, it's a pretty sight. Smells good, too. Now, here's a +nosegay big enough for you three young ladies, and Bub there can +carry it." + +Malcolm, who was quite proud of his name, felt so indignant at being +called "Bub" that he almost forgot the farmer's generosity; but his +governess acknowledged it, very much to the worthy man's satisfaction. + +Edith, however, was rather shocked. + +"I thought it was wicked," said she, "to cut off flowers from fruit +trees? Won't these make apples?" + +"Not them particular ones, Sis," replied Mr. Grove, with a laugh; +"they're done for now. But it ain't wicked to cut off your own apple +blows when there's too many on the tree to make good apples, and there's +plenty to spare yet." He was very much amused at the little girl's +serious face over this wholesale destruction of infant apples, and he +invited them all to come to the house and get a drink of fresh milk. The +children thought this a very pleasant invitation, and Miss Harson was +quite willing to gratify them. + +The farmer led his guests into a very cheerful and wonderfully clean +kitchen, where Mrs. Groves was busy with her baking, and the loaves of +fresh bread looked very inviting. She was as pleasant and hospitable as +her husband, and after shaking up a funny-looking patchwork cushion in a +rocking-chair for the young lady to sit down on she told the little +girls that she would get them a couple of crickets if they would wait a +minute, and disappeared into the next room. + +The two little sisters looked at each other in dismay and wondered what +they could do with these insects, but before they could consult Miss +Harson good Mrs. Grove had returned carrying in each hand a small flat +footstool. The girls sat down very carefully, for they were not +accustomed to such low seats; but the whole party were tired with their +walk and glad to rest for a short time. Malcolm, being a boy, was +expected to sit where he could, and he speedily established himself in +the corner of a wooden settle. + +In spite of the apple-blossoms, the kitchen fire was very comfortable; +and, as the baking was just coming to an end, Mrs. + +Grove said that "she would be ready to visit with them in a minute:" she +did not seem to allow herself more than a "minute" for anything. Besides +the milk, some very nice seed-cakes in the shape of hearts were +produced, and Edith thought them the most delightful little cakes she +had ever tasted. Clara and Malcolm, too, were quite hungry, and Miss +Harson enjoyed her glass of milk and seed-cake as well as did the young +people. The farmer and his wife seemed really sorry to part with their +guests when they rose to go, but Miss Harson said that it was time for +them to be at home, and the children were obedient on the instant. + +"Well," said the worthy couple, "you know now where to come when you +want more apple-blows and a drink of milk." + +Malcolm was quite laden with the mass of rosy flowers which Mr. Grove +piled up in his arms, and he enjoyed the delicious scent all the +way home. + +"I must get out the big jar," said Miss Harson as she surveyed their +treasures, "and there are so many buds that I think we may be able to +keep them for some days.--What would you say, Edith, if I told you that +people cut off not only the blossoms, but even the fruit itself, while +it is green, to make what is left on the tree handsomer and better?" + +Edith looked her surprise, and the other children could not understand +why all the fruit that formed should not be left on the tree to ripen. + +"It is very often left," replied their governess, "but, although the +crop is a large one, it will be of inferior quality; and those who +understand fruit-raising thin it out, so that the tree may not have more +fruit than it can well nourish. But now it is time for papa to come, and +after dinner we will have a regular apple-talk." + +"How nice it was at Mrs. Grove's to-day!" said Clara, when they were +gathered for the talk. "I think that kitchens are pleasanter to sit in +than parlors and school-rooms." + +"So do I," chimed in Edith; "but I was afraid about the crickets at +first. I thought we'd have to hold 'em in our hands, and I didn't +like that." + +Why _would_ people always laugh when there was nothing to laugh at? The +little girl thought she had a very funny brother and sister, and Miss +Harson, too, was funny sometimes. + +"Have you so soon forgotten about the real insect-crickets, dear?" asked +her governess, kindly. "Why, it will be months yet before we see one. +Besides, I thought I told you that in some places a little bench is +called a 'cricket'?--Do you know, Clara, why you thought Mrs. Grove's +kitchen so pleasant? It is larger and better furnished than kitchens +usually are, there were pleasant people in it, and you were tired and +hungry and ready to enjoy rest and refreshments; but I am quite sure +that, on the whole, you would like your own quarters best, because you +are better fitted for them, as Mrs. Grove is for hers. We had a very +pleasant visit, though, and some day we may repeat it--perhaps when the +apples are ripe." + +"Good! good!" cried the children, clapping their hands; and Malcolm +added that he "would like to be let loose in that apple-orchard." + +"Perhaps you would like it better than Farmer Grove would," was the +reply. "But we haven't got to the apples yet; we must first find out a +little about the tree. We learn in the beginning that it was one of the +very earliest trees planted in this country by the settlers, because it +is both hardy and useful. There is a wild species called the Virginia +crab-apple, which bears beautiful pink flowers as fragrant as roses, but +its small apples are intensely sour. The blossoms of the cultivated +apple tree are more beautiful than those of any other fruit; they are +delicious to both sight and scent." + +"And do look, Miss Harson," said Clara, "at these lovely half-open buds! +They are just like tiny roses, and _so_ sweet!" + +Down went Clara's head among the clustered blossoms, and then Edith had +to come too; and Malcolm declared that between the two they would smell +them to death. + +"It seems," continued Miss Harson, "that the apple tree grows wild in +every part of Europe except in the frigid zone and in Western Asia, +China and Japan. It is thought to have been planted in Britain by the +Romans; and when it was brought here, it seemed to do better than it had +done anywhere else. It is said that 'not only the Indians, but many +indigenous insects, birds and quadrupeds, welcomed the apple tree to +these shores. The butterfly of the tent-caterpillar saddled her eggs on +the very first twig that was formed, and it has since shared her +affections with the wild cherry; and the canker-worm also, in a measure, +abandoned the elm to feed on it. As it grew apace the bluebird, robin, +cherry-bird, king-bird, and many more, came with haste and built their +nests and warbled in its boughs, and so became orchard-birds and +multiplied more than ever. It was an era in the history of their race in +America. The downy woodpecker found such a savory morsel under its bark +that he perforated it in a ring quite round the tree before he left it. +It did not take the partridge long to find out how sweet its buds were, +and every winter eve she flew, and still flies, from the wood to pluck +them, much to the farmer's sorrow. The rabbit, too, was not slow to +learn the taste of its twigs and bark; and when the fruit was ripe, the +squirrel half rolled, half carried, it to his hole. Even the musquash +crept up the bank from the brook at evening, and greedily devoured it, +until he had worn a path in the grass there; and when it was frozen and +thawed, the crow and the jay were glad to taste it occasionally. The owl +crept into the first apple tree that became hollow, and fairly hooted +with delight, finding it just the place for him; so, settling down into +it, he has remained there ever since.' + +"Speaking of these buds, Clara," said her governess, "I think I forgot +to tell you that the apple tree belongs to the family Rosaceae, and +therefore the half-opened blossoms have a right to look like roses. The +tree is not a handsome one, being a small edition of the oak in its +sturdy outline, but it is less graceful or picturesque-looking, being +often broader than it is high and resembling in shape a half globe. The +leaves are not pretty except when first unfolded, and their color is +then a beautiful light tint known as apple-green. But the foliage soon +becomes dusty and shabby-looking. An old apple tree, with its gnarled, +and often hollow, trunk, is generally handsomer than a young one, unless +in the time of blossoms; for only a young apple-orchard is covered with +such a profusion of bloom as that we saw to-day." + +"I am glad," said Clara, "that it belongs to the rose family, for now +the dear little buds seem prettier than ever." + +"The apples are prettier yet," observed + +Malcolm; "if there's anything I like, it's apples." + +"I am afraid that you eat too many of them for your good," replied his +governess; "I shall have to limit you to so many a day." + +"I have eaten only six to-day," was the modest reply, "and they were +little russets, too." + +"Oh, Malcolm, Malcolm!" said Miss Harson, laughing; "what shall I do +with you? Why, you would soon make an apple-famine in most places. Three +apples a day must be your allowance for the present; and if at any time +we go to live in an orchard, you may have six." + +"Why, _we_ have only one," exclaimed little Edith, "and we don't want +any more.--Do we, Clara?" + +[Illustration: Apple Blossoms.] + +"If you don't want 'em," said Malcolm, "there's no sense in eating +'em.--But I'll remember, Miss Harson. I suppose three at one time ought +to be enough." + +Malcolm's expression, as he said this, was so doleful that every one +laughed at him; and his governess continued: + +"The apple tree is said to produce a greater variety of beautiful fruit +than any other tree that is known, and apples are liked by almost every +one. They are a very wholesome fruit and nearly as valuable as bread and +potatoes for food, because they can be used in so many different ways, +and the poorer qualities make very nourishing food for nearly +all animals." + +"Rex fairly snatches the apple out of my hand when I go to give him +one," said Malcolm. + +"So does Regina," added Clara, who trembled in her shoes whenever she +offered these dainties to the handsome carriage-horses. + +Edith had not dared to venture on such a feat yet, and therefore she had +nothing to say. + +"All horses are fond of apples," said Miss Harson, "and the fruit is +very thoroughly appreciated. Ancient Britain was celebrated for her +apple-orchards, and the tree was reverenced by the Druids because the +mistletoe grew abundantly on it. In Saxon times, when England became a +Christian country, the rite of coronation, or crowning of a king, was in +such words as these: 'May the almighty Lord give thee, O king, from the +dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn and wine +and oil! Be thou the lord of thy brothers, and let the sons of thy +mother bow down before thee. Let the people serve thee and the tribes +adore thee. May the Almighty bless thee with the blessings of heaven +above, and the mountains and the valleys with the blessings of the deep +below, with the blessings of grapes and _apples_! Bless, O Lord, the +courage of this prince, and prosper the work of his hands; and by thy +blessing may his land be filled with _apples_, with the fruit and dew of +heaven from the top of the ancient mountains, from the _apples_ of the +eternal hills, from the fruit of the earth and its fullness!' You will +see from this how highly apples were valued in England in those +ancient times." + +"I should like to pick them up when they are ripe," said Clara, and +Malcolm expressed a desire to hire himself out by the day to Mr. Grove +when that time arrived. + +"An apple-orchard in autumn," continued their governess, "is often a +merry scene. Ladders are put against the trees, and the finest apples +are carefully picked off, but such as are to be used for cider-making +are shaken to the ground. Men and boys are at work, and even women and +children are there with baskets and aprons spread out to catch the +fruit; and they run back and forth wherever the apples fall thickest, +with much laughter at the unexpected showers that come down upon their +heads and necks. Large baskets filled with these apples are carried to +the mill, where, after being laid in heaps a while to mellow, they are +crushed and pressed till their juice is extracted; and this, being +fermented, becomes cider. From this cider, by a second fermentation, the +best vinegar is made." + +[Illustration: THE APPLE-HARVEST.] + +"Miss Harson," asked Edith, as the talk seemed to have come to an end, +"isn't there any more about apple trees? I like 'em." + +"Yes, dear," was the reply; "there is more. I was just looking over, in +this little book, some queer superstitions about apple trees in England, +and here is a strange performance which is said to take place in some +very retired parts of the country: + +"'Scarcely have the merry bells ushered in the morning of Christmas than +a troop of people may be seen entering the apple-orchard, often when the +trees are powdered with hoarfrost and snow lies deep upon the ground. +One of the company carries a large flask filled with cider and +tastefully decorated with holly-branches; and when every one has +advanced about ten paces from the choicest tree, rustic pipes made from +the hollow boughs of elder are played upon by young men, while Echo +repeats the strain, and it seems as if fairy-musicians responded in low, +sweet tones from some neighboring wood or hill. Then bursts forth a +chorus of loud and sonorous voices while the cider-flask is being +emptied of its contents around the tree, and all sing some such words +as these: + + "'"Here's to thee, old apple tree! + Long mayest thou grow. + And long mayest thou blow, and ripen the apples that hang on + thy bough! + + "'"This full can of apple wine, + Old tree, be thine: + It will cheer thee and warm thee amid the deep snow; + + "'"Till the goldfinch--fond bird!-- + In the orchard is heard + Singing blithe 'mid the blossoms that whiten thy bough."'" + +"But what did they do it for?" asked Malcolm, who enjoyed the account as +much as the others. "There doesn't seem to be any sense in it." + +"There _is_ no sense in it," replied his governess, "but these ignorant +people had inherited the custom from their fathers and grandfathers, and +they really believed--and perhaps still believe--that this attention +would be sure to bring a fine crop of apples. We are distinctly told, +though, that 'it is God that giveth the increase;' and to him alone +belong the fruits of the earth. Sometimes the crop is so great that the +trees fairly bend over with the weight of the fruit, and there is an old +English saying: 'The more apples the tree bears, the more she bows to +the folk.'" + +"How funny!" laughed Edith. "Does the apple tree move its head, Miss +Harson?" + +"It cannot go quite so far as that," was the reply; "it just stays bent +over like a person carrying a heavy burden. The branches of overladen +fruit trees are sometimes propped up with long poles to keep them from +breaking. There is another strange custom, which used to be practiced on +New Year's eve. It was called 'Apple-Howling,' and a troop of boys +visited the different orchards--which would scarcely have been desirable +when the apples were ripe--and, forming a ring around the trees, +repeated these words: + + "'Stand fast, root! bear well, top! + Pray God send us a good howling crop-- + Every twig, apples big; + Every bough, apples enow.' + +"All then shouted in chorus, while one of the party played on a cow's +horn, and the trees were well rapped with the sticks which they carried. +This ceremony is thought to have been a relic of some heathen sacrifice, +and it is quite absurd enough to be that." + +"What is 'a howling crop,' Miss Harson?" asked Clara. "That name sounds +so queer!" + +"I don't know what it can be," replied her governess, "unless it refers +to the strange expression sometimes used, 'howling with delight.' We +hear more commonly of 'howling with pain,' but 'a howling crop' must be +one that makes the owner scream, as well as dance for joy." + +"Why, _I_ scream only when I'm frightened," said Edith, who began to +think that there were much sillier people in the world than herself. + +"At garter-snakes," added Malcolm, giving his sister a sly pinch; but +Edith did not mind his pinches, because he always took good care not +to hurt her. + +Miss Harson said that the best way was not to scream at all, as it was +both a silly and a troublesome habit, and the sooner her charges broke +themselves of it the better she should like it. Clara and Edith both +promised to try--just as they had promised before, when the ants were so +troublesome; but they were nine months older now, and seemed to be +getting a little ashamed of the habit. + +"Are apples mentioned anywhere in the Bible?" asked Miss Harson, +presently. + +Clara and Malcolm were busy thinking, but nothing came of it, until +their governess said, + +"Turn to the book of Proverbs, Clara, and find the twenty-fifth chapter +and the eleventh verse." + +Clara read very carefully: + +"'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.' But +what does it mean?" she asked. + +"It probably means 'framed in silver' or 'in silver frames[11],'" was +the reply; "and then it is easy to understand how important our words +are, and that 'fitly-spoken' ones are as valuable and lasting as golden +apples framed in silver. The apple tree is mentioned in Joel, where it +is said that 'all the trees of the field are withered[12],' and both +apple trees and apples are mentioned in several places of the Old +Testament. But, to tell the whole truth, scholars are not agreed as to +whether the Hebrew word denotes the apple or some other fruit that grew +in the land of Israel." + +[11] The Revised Version renders the phrase "in baskets of silver." + +[12] Joel i. 12. + +The children had all enjoyed the "apple-talk," and they felt that the +fruit which they were so accustomed to seeing would now have a new +meaning for them. + + + +CHAPTER X. + +_A FRUITFUL FAMILY: THE PEACH, ALMOND, PLUM AND CHERRY_. + +Snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths and tulips were blooming out of doors and +in-doors; the grass looked green and velvety, and the fruit trees were, +as John expressed it, "all a-blow." The peach trees, without a sign of a +leaf, looked, as every one said of them, like immense bouquets of pink +flowers, while pear, cherry and plum trees seemed as if they were +dressed in white. + +One cloudy, windy day, when the petals fell off in showers and strewed +the ground, Edith declared that it was snowing; but she soon saw her +mistake, and then began to worry because there would be no blossoms left +for fruit. + +"If the flowers stayed on, there would be no fruit," said Miss Harson. +"Let me show you just where the little green germ is." + +"Why, of course!" said Malcolm; "it's in the part that stays on the +tree." + +Edith listened intently while her governess showed her the ovary of a +blossom safe on the twig where it grew, and explained to her that it was +this which, nourished by the sap of the tree, with the aid of the sun +and air, would ripen into fruit, while the petals were merely a fringe +or ornament to the true blossom. + +At Elmridge, scattered here and there through garden and grounds, as Mr. +Kyle liked to have them, there were some fruit trees of every kind that +would flourish in that part of the country, but there was no orchard; +and for this reason Miss Harson had taken the children to see the grand +apple-blossoming at Farmer Grove's. Two very large pear trees stood one +on either side of the lawn, and there were dwarf pear trees in +the garden. + +"I think pears are nicer than apples," said Clara as they stood looking +at the fine trees, now perfectly covered with their snowy blossoms. + +But Malcolm, who found it hard work to be happy on three apples a day, +stoutly disagreed with his sister on this point, and declared that +nothing was so good as apples. + +"How about ice-cream?" asked his governess, when she heard this sweeping +assertion. + +The young gentleman was silent, for his exploits with this frozen luxury +were a constant subject of wonder to his friends and relatives. + +"You will notice," said Miss Harson, "that the shape of these trees is +much more graceful than that of the apple tree. They are tall and +slender, forming what is called an imperfect pyramid. Standard pear +trees, like these, give a good shade, and the long, slender branches are +well clothed with leaves of a bright, glossy green. This rich color +lasts late into the autumn, and it is then varied with yellow, and often +with red and black, spots; so that pear-leaves are not to be despised in +gathering autumn-leaf treasures. The pear is not so useful a fruit as +the apple, nor so showy in color; but it has a more delicate and spicy +flavor, and often is of an immense size." + +"Yes, indeed!" said Clara. "Don't you remember, Miss Harson, that +sometimes Edith and I can have only one pear divided between us at +dessert because they are so large?" + +"Yes, dear; and I think that half a duchess pear is as much as can be +comfortably managed at once." + +"Well," observed Malcolm, "I don't want half an apple.--But, Miss +Harson, do they ever have 'pear-howlings' in England?" + +"I have never read of any," was the reply, "and I think that strange +custom is confined to apple trees. And there is no mention made of +either pears or pear trees in the Scriptures." + +"What are prickly-pears?" asked Clara. "Do they have thorns on 'em?" + +"There is a plant by this name," replied her governess, "with large +yellow flowers, and the fruit is full of small seeds and has a crimson +pulp. It grows in sandy places near the salt water; it is abundant in +North Africa and Syria, and is considered quite good to eat; but neither +plant nor fruit bears any resemblance to our pear trees: it is +a cactus." + +"Won't you have a story for us this evening, Miss Harson?" asked Edith, +rather wistfully. + +"Perhaps so, dear--I have been thinking of it--but it will not be about +pear trees." + +"Oh, I don't care," with a very bright face; "I'd as soon have it about +cherry trees, or--'Most anything!" + +Miss Harson laughed, and said, + +"Well, then, I think it will be about cherries; so you must rest on +that. This morning we will go around among the fruit trees and see what +we can learn from seeing them." + +Of course it was Saturday morning and there were no lessons, or they +would not have been roaming around "promiscuous," as Jane called it; for +the young governess was very careful not to let the getting of one kind +of knowledge interfere with the getting of another. + +"How do you like these pretty quince trees?" asked Miss Harson as they +came to some large bushes with great pinkish flowers. + +"I like 'em," replied Edith, "because they're so little. And oh what +pretty flowers!" + +"Some more relations of the rose," said her governess. "And do you +notice how fragrant they are? The tree is always low and crooked, just +as you see it, and the branches straggle not very gracefully. The under +part of the dark-green leaves is whitish and downy-looking, and the +flowers are handsome enough to warrant the cultivation of the tree just +for their sake, but the large golden fruit is much prized for preserves, +and in the autumn a small tree laden down with it is quite an ornamental +object. The quince is more like a pear than an apple. As the book says, +'it has the same tender and mucilaginous core; the seeds are not +enclosed in a dry hull, like those of the apple; and the pulp of the +quince, like that of the pear, is granulated, while that of the apple +displays in its texture a firmer and finer organization.' The fruit, +however, is so hard, even when ripe, that it cannot be eaten without +cooking. It is said to be a native of hedges and rocky places in the +South of Europe." + +[Illustration: PEACH-BLOSSOM.] + +"These peach trees," said Clara, "look like sticks with pink flowers all +over 'em." "They are remarkably bare of leaves when in bloom," was the +reply: "the leaves burst forth from their envelopes as the blossoms pass +away; but how beautiful the blossoms are! from the deepest pink to that +delicate tint which is called peach-color. But do you know that we have +left the apple and rose family now, and have come to the almond family?" + +The children were very much surprised to hear this, and they looked at +the peach trees with fresh interest. + +"Yes," continued Miss Harson, "the family consists of the almond tree, +the peach tree, the apricot tree, the plum tree and the cherry tree; and +one thing that distinguishes them from the other families is the gum +which is found on their trunks.--Look around, Malcolm, at the peach, +plum and cherry trees, which are the only members of the family that we +have at Elmridge, and you will find gum oozing from the bark, especially +where there are knotholes." + +Malcolm not only found the gum, but succeeded in helping himself to some +of it, which he shared with his sisters. It had a rather sweet taste, +and the children seemed to like it, having first obtained permission of +their governess to eat it. + +"That is another of the things that I thought 'puffickly d'licious' when +I was a child," said the young lady, laughing. "But there is another +peculiarity of this family of trees which is not so innocent, and that +is that in the fruit-kernel, and also in the leaves, there is a deadly +poison called prussic acid." + +"O--h!" exclaimed the children, drawing back from the trees as though +they expected to be poisoned on the spot. + +"But, as we do not eat either the kernels or the leaves," continued +their governess, "we need not feel uneasy, for the fruit never yet +poisoned any one. Here are the cherry trees, so covered with blossoms +that they look like masses of snow; and the smaller plum trees are also +attired in white. We will begin this evening with the almond tree, and +see what we can find out about the family." + +"Do almond trees and peach trees look alike?" asked Clara, when they +were fairly settled by the schoolroom fire; for the evenings were too +cool yet for the piazza. + +"Very much alike," was the reply; "only the almond tree is larger and it +has white instead of pink blossoms. Then it is the _fruit_ of the peach +we eat, but of the almond we eat the kernel of the stem. I will read you +a little account of it: + +"'The common almond is a native of Barbary, but has long been +cultivated in the South of Europe and the temperate parts of Asia. The +fruit is produced in very large quantities and exported in to northern +countries; it is also pressed for oil and used for various domestic +purposes. There are numerous varieties of this species, but the two +chief kinds are the bitter almond and the sweet almond. The sweet almond +affords a favorite article for dessert, but it contains little +nourishment, and of all nuts is the most difficult of digestion. The +tree has been cultivated in England for about three centuries for the +sake of its beautiful foliage, as the fruit will not ripen without a +greater degree of heat than is found in that climate. The distilled +water of the bitter almond is highly injurious to the human species, +and, taken in a large dose, produces almost instant death.' The prussic +acid which can be obtained from the kernel of the peach is found also in +the bitter almond." + +[Illustration: THE ALMOND.--BRANCH AND FRUIT.] + +"But what do they want to find it for," asked Malcolm, "when it kills +people?" + +"Because," replied his governess, "like some other noxious things, it +can be made valuable when used moderately and in the right way. But it +is often employed to give a flavor to intoxicating liquors, and this is +_not_ a right way, as it makes them even more dangerous than before. But +we will leave the prussic acid and return to our almond tree. It +flourishes in Palestine, where it blooms in January, and in March the +ripe fruit can be gathered." + +This seemed wonderfully strange to the children--flowers in January and +fruit in March; and Miss Harson explained to them that in that part of +the world they do not often have our bitter cold weather with its ice +and snow to kill the tender buds. + +"This tree," continued Miss Harson, "is occasionally mentioned in the +Old Testament. In Jeremiah the prophet says, 'I see a rod of an almond +tree[13];' also in Ecclesiastes it is said that 'the almond tree shall +flourish[14].'" + +[13] Jer. i. II. + +[14] Eccl. xii. 5. + +"Are there ever many peach trees growing in one place," asked Clara, +"like the apple trees in Mr. Grove's orchard?" + +"Yes," was the reply, "for in some places there are immense +peach-orchards, covering many acres of ground; and when the trees in +these are in blossom, the spring landscape seems to be pink with them. +These great peach-fields are found in Delaware and Maryland, where the +fruit grows in such perfection, and also in some of the Western States. +We all know how delicious it is, but, unfortunately, so does a certain +green worm, who curls up in the leaves which he gnaws in spite of the +prussic acid. This insect will often attack the finest peaches and lay +its eggs in them when the fruit is but half grown. In this way the young +grubs find food and lodging provided for them all in one, and they +thrive, while the peach decays." + +"What a shame it is," exclaimed Malcolm, in great indignation, "to have +our best peaches eaten by wretched little worms who might just as well +eat grass and leave the peaches for us!" + +"Perhaps they think it a shame that they are so often shaken to the +ground or washed off the trees," replied Miss Harson; "and, as to their +eating grass, they evidently prefer peaches. 'Insects as well as human +beings have discriminating tastes, and the poor plum tree suffers even +more than the peach from their attentions. In some parts of the country +it has been entirely given up to their depredations, and farmers will +not try to raise this fruit because of these active enemies. The whole +almond family are liable to the attacks of insects. Canker-worms of one +or of several species often strip them of their leaves; the +tent-caterpillars pitch their tents among the branches and carry on +their dangerous depredations; the slug-worms, the offspring of a fly +called _Selandria cerasi_, reduce the leaves to skeletons, and thus +destroy them; the cherry-weevils penetrate their bark, cover their +branches with warts and cause them to decay; and borers gnaw galleries +in their trunks and devour the inner bark and sap-wood.' So you see +that, with such an army of destroyers, we may be thankful to get any +fruit at all." + +"I'm glad to know the name of that fly," said Malcolm, who considered it +an additional grievance that it should have such a long name, "but I +won't try to call him by it if I meet him anywhere." + +"I think it's pretty," said Clara, beginning to repeat it, and making a +decided failure. + +"Fortunately," continued their governess, after reading it again for +them, "there are other things much more important for you to remember +just now, and I could not have said it myself without the book. And now +let us see what else we can learn about the plum. It is a native, it +seems, of North America, Europe and Asia, and many of the wild species +are thorny. The cultivated plums, damsons and gages are varieties of +the _Prunus domestica_, the cultivated plum tree. These have no thorns; +the leaves are oval in shape, and the flowers grow singly. The most +highly-valued cultivated plum trees came originally from the East, where +they have been known from time immemorial. In many countries of Eastern +Europe domestic animals are fattened on their fruits, and an alcoholic +liquor is obtained from them; they also yield a white, crystallizable +sugar. The prunes which we import from France are the dried fruit of +varieties of the plum which contain a sufficient quantity of sugar to +preserve the fruit from decay." + +"Do prunes really grow on trees, Miss Harson?" asked Edith, who was +rather disposed to think that they grew in pretty boxes. + +"Yes, dear," was the reply; "they grow just as our plums do, only they +are dried and packed in layers before they reach this country. We have +two species of wild plum in North America--the beach-plum, a low shrub +found in New England, the fruit of which is dark blue and about the +size of damsons; while the other is quite a large tree, and very showy +when covered with its scarlet fruit. In Maine it is called plum-granate, +probably from its red color," "I know what's coming next," said +Clara--"cherries; because all the rest have been used up. And then we're +to have the story." + +"But they're all interesting," replied Malcolm, gallantly, "because Miss +Harson makes them so." + +"I hope that is not the only reason," said his governess, laughing, "for +trees are always beautiful and interesting and it is a privilege to be +able to learn something of their habits and history.--Like most fruit +trees, the cherry has many varieties, but it is always a handsome tree, +and less spoiled by insects than others of the almond family. The black +cherry is the most common species in the United States, and is both wild +and cultivated. The garden cherry has broad, ovate, rough and serrate +leaves, growing thickly on the branches, and this, with the height of +the tree, makes a fine shade. Some old cherry trees have huge trunks, +and their thick branches spread to a great distance. The branches of the +wild cherry are too straggling to make a beautiful tree, and the leaves +are small and narrow. The blossoms of the cultivated cherry are in +umbels, while those of the wild cherry are borne in racemes." + +"I remember that, Miss Harson," said Clara, pleased with her knowledge. +"'Umbel' means 'like an umbrella,' and 'raceme' means 'growing along +a stem.'" + +"Very well indeed!" was the reply; "I am glad you have not forgotten +it.--Of our cultivated cherries, we have here at Elmridge, besides the +large black ones, which are so very sweet about the first of July, the +great ox-hearts, which look like painted wax and ripen in June, and +those very acid red ones, often called pie-cherries, which are used for +pies and preserves. The cherry is a beautiful fruit, and one that is +popular with birds as well as with boys. The great northern cherry of +Europe, which was named by Linnaeus the 'bird-cherry,' is encouraged in +Great Britain and on the Continent for the benefit of the birds, which +are regarded as the most important checks to the over-multiplication of +insects. The fact not yet properly understood in America--that the birds +which are the most mischievous consumers of fruit are the most useful as +destroyers of insects--is well known by all farmers in Europe; and while +we destroy the birds to save the fruit, and sometimes cut down the +fruit-trees to starve the birds, the Europeans more wisely plant them +for the food and accommodation of the birds." + +"Isn't it wicked to kill the poor little birds?" asked Edith. + +"Yes, dear; it is cruel to kill them just for sport, as is often done, +and very foolish, as we have just seen, to destroy them for the sake of +the fruit, which the insects make way with in much greater quantities +than the birds do." + +"Miss Harson," asked Clara, "do people cut down real cherry trees to +make the pretty red furniture like that in your room?" + +"It is the wood of the wild cherry," replied her governess, "that is +used for this purpose. It is of a light-red or fresh mahogany color, +growing darker and richer with age. It is very close-grained, compact, +takes a good polish, and when perfectly seasoned is not liable to shrink +or warp. It is therefore particularly suitable, and much employed, for +tables, chests of drawers, and other cabinet-work, and when polished and +varnished is not less beautiful for such articles than are inferior +kinds of mahogany." + +"'Cherry' sounds pretty to say," continued Clara. "I wonder how the tree +got that name?" + +"That wonder is easily explained," said Miss Harson, "for I have been +reading about it, and I was just going to tell you. 'Cherry comes from +'Cerasus,' the name of a town on the Black Sea from whence the tree is +supposed to have been introduced into Italy, and it designates a genus +of about forty species, natives of all the temperate regions of the +northern hemisphere. They are trees or shrubs with smooth serrated +leaves, which are folded together when young, and white or reddish +flowers growing in bunches, like umbels, and preceding the leaves or in +terminal racemes accompanying or following the leaves. A few species, +with numerous varieties, produce valuable fruits; nearly all are +remarkable for the abundance of their early flowers, sometimes rendered +double by cultivation. And now," added the young lady, "we have arrived +at the story, which is translated from the German; and in Germany the +cherries are particularly fine. A plateful of this beautiful fruit was, +as you will see, the cause of some remarkable changes." + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +_THE CHERRY-STORY._ + +On the banks of the Rhine, in the pleasant little village of Rebenheim, +lived Ehrenberg, the village mayor. He was much respected for his +virtues, and his wife was greatly beloved for her charity to the poor. +They had an only daughter--the little Caroline--who gave early promise +of a superior mind and a benevolent heart. She was the idol of her +parents, who devoted their whole care to giving her a sound religious +education. + +Not far from the house, and close to the orchard and kitchen-garden, +there was another little garden, planted exclusively with flowers. The +day that Caroline was born her father planted a cherry tree in the +middle of the flower-garden. He had chosen a tree with a short trunk, in +order that his little daughter could more easily admire the blossoms +and pluck the cherries when they were ripe. + +When the tree bloomed for the first time and was so covered with +blossoms that it looked like a single bunch of white flowers, the father +and mother came out one morning to enjoy the sight. Little Caroline was +in her mother's arms. The infant smiled, and, stretching out her little +hands for the blossoms, endeavored at the same time to speak her joy, +but in such a way as no one but a mother could understand: + +"Flowers! flowers! Pretty! pretty!" + +The child engaged more of the parents' thoughts than all the +cherry-blossoms and gardens and orchards, and all they were worth. They +resolved to educate her well; they prayed to God to bless their care and +attention by making Caroline worthy of him and the joy and consolation +of her parents. As soon as the little girl was old enough to understand, +her mother told her lovingly of that kind Father in heaven who makes the +flowers bloom and the trees bud and the cherries and apples grow ruddy +and ripe; she told her also of the blessed Son of God, once an infant +like herself, who died for all the world. + +The cherry tree in the middle of the garden was given to Caroline for +her own, and it was a greater treasure to her than were all the flowers. +She watched and admired it every day, from the moment the first bud +appeared until the cherries were ripe. She grieved when she saw the +white blossoms turn yellow and drop to the earth, but her grief was +changed into joy when the cherries appeared, green at first and smaller +than peas, and then daily growing larger and larger, until the rich red +skin of the ripe cherry at last blushed among the interstices of the +green leaves. + +"Thus it is," said her father; "youth and beauty fade like the blossoms, +but virtue is the fruit which we expect from the tree. This whole world +is, as it were, a large garden, in which God has appointed to every man +a place, that he may bring forth abundant and good fruit. As God sends +rain and sunshine on the trees, so does he send down grace on men to +make them grow in virtue, if they will but do their part." + +In the course of time war approached the quiet village which had +hitherto been the abode of peace and domestic bliss, and the battle +raged fearfully. Balls and shells whizzed about, and several houses +caught fire. As soon as the danger would permit, the mayor tried to +extinguish the flames, while his wife and little daughter were praying +earnestly for themselves and for their neighbors. + +In the afternoon a ring was heard at the door, and, looking out of the +window, Madame Ehrenberg saw an officer of hussars standing before her. +Fortunately, he was a German, and mother and daughter ran to open +the door. + +"Do not be alarmed," said the officer, in a friendly tone, when he saw +the frightened faces; "the danger is over, and you are quite safe. The +fire in the village, too, is almost quenched, and the mayor will soon be +here. I beg you for some refreshment, if it is only a morsel of bread +and a drink of water. It was sharp work," he added, wiping the +perspiration from his brow, "but, thank God, we have conquered," +Provisions were scarce, for the village had been plundered by the enemy, +but the good lady brought forth a flask of wine and some rye bread, with +many regrets that she had nothing better to offer. But the visitor, as +he ate the bread with a hearty relish, declared that it was enough, for +it was the first morsel he had tasted that day. + +Caroline ran and brought in on a porcelain plate some of the ripest +cherries from her own tree. + +"Cherries!" exclaimed the officer. "They are a rarity in this district. +How did they escape the enemy? All the trees in the country around are +stripped." + +"The cherries," said the mother, "are from a little tree which was +planted in Caroline's flower-garden on her birthday. It is but a few +days since they became ripe; the enemy, perhaps, did not notice the +little tree." + +"And is it for me you intend the cherries, my dear child?" asked the +officer. "Oh no; you must keep them. It were a pity to take one of them +from you." + +"How could we refuse a few cherries," said Caroline, "to the man that +sheds his blood in our defence? You must eat them all," said she, while +the tears streamed down her cheeks. "Do, I entreat you! Eat them all." + +He took some of the cherries and laid them on the table, near his +wine-glass; but he had scarcely placed the glass to his lips when the +trumpet sounded. He sprang up and girded on his sword. + +"That is the signal to march," said he. "I cannot wait one instant." + +Caroline wrapped the cherries in a roll of white paper and insisted that +he should put them in his pocket. + +"The weather is very warm," said she, "and even cherries will be some +refreshment." + +"Oh," said the officer, with emotion, "what a happiness it is for a +soldier, who is often obliged to snatch each morsel from unwilling +hands, to meet with a generous and benevolent family! I wish it were in +my power, my dear child, to give you some pledge of my gratitude, but I +have nothing--not so much as a single groat. You must be content with my +simple thanks." With these words, and once more bidding Caroline and her +mother an affectionate farewell, he took his departure, and walked +rapidly out of sight. + +The joy of the good family for their happy deliverance was, alas! of +short continuance. Some weeks after, a dreadful battle was fought near +the village, which was reduced to a heap of ruins. The mayor's house was +burned to the ground and all his property destroyed. Alas for the +horrors of cruel war! Father, mother and daughter fled away on foot, and +wept bitterly when they looked back on their once happy village, now but +a mass of blazing ruins. + +The family retired to a distant town, and lived there in very great +distress. The mayor endeavored to obtain a livelihood as a scrivener, or +clerk; his wife worked at dressmaking and millinery, and Caroline, who +soon became skillful in such matters, faithfully assisted her. + +A lady in town--the Countess von Buchenhaim--gave them much employment, +and one day Caroline went to this lady's house to carry home a bonnet. +She was taken to the garden, where the countess was sitting in the +summer-house with her sister and nieces, who had come to visit her. The +young ladies were delighted with the bonnet, and their mother gave +orders for three more, particularly praising the blue flowers, which +were the work of Caroline's own hands. + +The Countess von Buchenhaim spoke very kindly of the young girl to her +sister, and related the sad story of the worthy family's misfortunes. +The count was standing with his brother-in-law, the colonel, at some +little distance from the door of the summer-house, and the colonel, a +fine-looking man in a hussar's uniform and with a star on his breast, +overheard the conversation. Coming up, he looked closely at Caroline. + +"Is it possible," said he, "that you are the daughter of the mayor of +Rebenheim? How tall you have grown! I should scarcely have recognized +you, though we are old acquaintances." + +Caroline stood there abashed, looking full in the face of the stranger, +her cheeks covered with blushes. Taking her by the hand, the colonel +conducted her to his wife, who was sitting near the countess. + +"See, Amelia," said he; "this is the young lady who saved my life ten +years ago, when she was only a child." + +"How can that be possible?" asked Caroline, in amazement. + +"It must indeed appear incomprehensible to you," answered the colonel, +"but do you remember the hussar-officer that one day, after a battle, +stood knocking at the door of your father's house in Rebenheim? Do you +remember the cherries which you so kindly gave him?" + +"Oh, was it you?" exclaimed Caroline, while her face beamed with a smile +of recognition. "Thank God you are alive! But how I could have done +anything toward saving your life I cannot understand." + +"In truth, it would be impossible for you to guess the great service +you did me," said he, "but my wife and daughters know it well; I wrote +to them of it at once. And I look upon it as one of the most remarkable +occurrences of my life." + +"And one that I ought to remember better than any other event of the +war," said his lady, rising and affectionately embracing Caroline. + +"Well," said the countess, "neither I nor my husband ever heard the +story. Please give us a full account of it." + +"Oh, it is easily told," said the colonel. "Hungry and thirsty, I +entered the house in which Caroline and her parents dwelt, and, to tell +the plain truth, I begged for some bread and water. They gave me a share +of the best they had, and did not hesitate to do so, though their +village and themselves were in the greatest distress. Caroline robbed +every bough on her cherry tree to refresh me. Fine cherries they +were--the only ones, probably, in the whole country. But the enemy did +not give me time to eat them; I was obliged to depart in a hurry. +Caroline insisted, with the kindest hospitality, that I should take them +with me, but that was no easy matter: my horse had been shot under me +the day before. I took from my knapsack whatever articles I could in a +hurry, and, thrusting them into my pockets, I fought on foot until a +hussar gave me his horse. All that I was worth was in my pockets, so +that to make room for the cherries I was obliged to take the pocket-book +out of my pocket and place it here beneath my vest. The enemy, who had +been driven back, made a feint of advancing on us, and I led down my +hussars in gallant style. But suddenly we found ourselves in front of a +body of infantry concealed behind a hedge. One of them fired at me, and +the fellow had taken good aim, for the ball struck me here on the +breast. But it rebounded from the pocket-book; otherwise, I should have +been shot through the body and fallen dead on the spot. Tell me," said +he, in a tone of deep emotion; "was not that little child an instrument +in the hand of God to save me from death? Am I right or not when I give +Caroline the credit, under God, of having saved my life? Her must I +thank that my Amelia is not a widow and my daughters orphans." + +All agreed with him. His wife, who had Caroline's hand locked in her own +during the whole narrative, now pressed it affectionately and with tears +in her eyes. + +"You, then," said she, "were the good angel that averted such a terrible +misfortune from our family?" + +Her two daughters also gazed with pleasure at Caroline. + +"Every time we ate cherries," said the younger, "we spoke of you without +knowing you." + +All had kind and grateful words for the young girl, but the colonel soon +bade her farewell for the present, and said that he had some business to +attend to with his brother-in-law. This business was to urge the count +to appoint Ehrenberg his steward in place of the one who had died a few +months before. A better man, he said, could not be found; for when he +had visited Rebenheim to make inquiries for the family, although none +could tell where they had gone, all were loud in their praise, and the +mayor was pronounced a pattern of justice, honor and charity. + +The count drew out the order, signed it, and gave it to his +brother-in-law, who wished himself to take it to Mr. Ehrenberg; and he +went at once to the house and saluted him as "master-steward of +Buchenhaim." + +"Read that," he said to the astonished man as he handed him the paper in +which he was duly appointed steward of Buchenhaim, with a good salary of +a thousand thalers and several valuable perquisites. + +"And you," said the colonel to Caroline and her mother, "must prepare to +remove at once. Your lodgings are so confined! But you will find it very +different in the house which you are to occupy in Buchenhaim. The +dwelling is large and commodious, with a fine garden attached, well +stocked with cherry trees. Next Monday you will be there, and this very +day you must start. What a happy feast we shall have there!--not like +the hasty meal you gave the hussar-officer amid the thunder of cannon +and the blazing roofs of Rebenheim. Do not forget to have cherries, dear +Caroline, for dessert; I think they will be fully ripe by that time." + +With these words the colonel hurried away to escape the thanks of this +good family, and, in truth, to conceal his own tears. So rapidly did he +disappear that Ehrenberg could scarcely accompany him down the steps. + +"Oh, Caroline," said the happy father when he returned, "who could have +imagined that the little cherry tree I planted in the flower-garden the +day you were born would ever produce such good fruit?" + +"It was the providence of God," exclaimed the mother, clasping her +hands. "I remember distinctly the first time the blossoms appeared on +that tree, when you and I went out to look at it, and little Caroline, +then an infant in my arms, was so much delighted with the white flowers. +We resolved then to educate our daughter piously, and prayed fervently +to God that she, who was then as full of promise as the blossoms on the +tree, might by his grace one day be the prop of our old age. That prayer +is now fulfilled beyond our fondest anticipations. Praise for ever be to +the name of God!" + +Edith declared that this was one of the very sweetest stories Miss +Harson had ever told them, and Clara and Malcolm were equally well +pleased with it. + +"Were those cherries like ours?" asked Clara. + +"They were larger and finer than ours generally are, I think," was the +reply, "being the great northern cherry, or bird-cherry, of Europe, +which grows in Germany to great perfection. And the little German girl's +plate of cherries, which she so generously urged upon a stranger when +food of any kind was so scarce, is a beautiful illustration of the first +verse of the eleventh chapter of Proverbs: 'Cast thy bread upon the +waters; for thou shalt find it after many days.'" + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +_THE MULBERRY FAMILY_. + +"There is a fruit tree," said Miss Harson, "belonging to an entirely +different family, which we have not considered yet; and, although it is +not a common tree with us, one specimen of it is to be found in Mrs. +Bush's garden, where you have all enjoyed the fruit very much. What +is it?" + +"Mulberry," said Clara, promptly, while Malcolm was wondering what it +could be. + +"Oh yes," said Edith, very innocently; "I like to go and see Mrs. Bush +when there are mulberries." + +Mrs. Bush was not a cheerful person to visit, as she was quite old and +rather hard of hearing, and she lived alone in the gloomy old house with +the Lombardy poplars in front, where everything looked dark and shut up. +A queer woman in a sunbonnet, nearly as old as Mrs. Bush, lived close +by, and "kept an eye on her," as she said. + +Mrs. Bush's great enjoyment was to have visitors of all ages, to whom +she talked a great deal, and cried as she talked, about a daughter who +had died a few years ago. The little Kyles did not care to go there +except when, as Edith said, there were ripe mulberries; but Mrs. Bush +liked very much to have them, and Miss Harson took her little charges +there occasionally, because, as she explained to them, it gave pleasure +to a lonely old woman, and such visits were just as much charity, though +of a different kind, as giving food and clothes to those who need them. +The children delighted in the mulberries just because they did not have +them at home, although they had fruit that was very much nicer; but Miss +Harson never wished even to taste them, although she too had liked them +when a little girl. + +"The mulberry tree," continued their governess, "belongs to the +bread-fruit family, but the other members of this remarkable family, +except the Osage orange, are found only in foreign countries. The +bread-fruit tree itself, the fig, the Indian fig, or banyan tree, and +the deadly upas tree, are all relations of the mulberry." + +"Well, trees are queer things," exclaimed Malcolm, "to belong to +families that are not a bit alike." + +"They are alike in important points, when we examine them carefully," +was the reply. "The bread-fruit genus consists, with a single exception, +of trees and shrubs with alternate, toothed or lobed or entire leaves +and milky juice. This reminds me that the famous cow tree of South +America, which yields a large supply of rich and wholesome milk, is one +of the members; and you see what a number of famous trees we have on +hand now. There are several kinds of mulberries--the red, black, white +and paper mulberry, which are all occasionally found in this country, +and they were once quite popular here for their shade. The fruit is +unusually small for tree-fruit, and very soft when ripe, as you all +know; it is not unlike a long, narrow blackberry, and forms, like it, a +compound fruit, as though many small berries had grown together. The +tree in Mrs. Bush's garden is the black mulberry, as any one might know +by the stained lips and hands that sometimes come from there; and it has +been cultivated from ancient times for its fine appearance and shade. It +is found wild in the forests of Persia, and is thought to have been +taken from there to Europe. The tree is more beautiful than useful, for +the silkworms do not thrive well on the leaves and the wood is neither +strong nor durable." + +"Why, I thought," said Clara, "that silkworms always lived on +mulberry-leaves?" + +"The white mulberry is their favorite food; and another species, called +the _Morus multicaulis_--for _Morus_ is the scientific name of the +family--has more delicate leaves than any other, and produces a finer +quality of silk. These trees are natives of China, and the white +mulberry grows very rapidly to the height of thirty or forty feet. The +paper mulberry is so called because in China and Japan--of which it is a +native--its bark is manufactured into paper. In the South-Sea Islands, +where it is also found, the bark is made into the curious dresses which +we sometimes see imported thence. It is a low, thick-branched tree with +large light-colored downy leaves and dark-scarlet fruit." + +"I wonder," said Malcolm, "if the bark is like birch-bark?" + +"It does not look like it," replied Miss Harson, "but it seems to be +very much of the same nature. The red mulberry and black mulberry are +the most hardy of these trees, and the red mulberry will thrive farther +north than any of the family. The wood is valuable for many purposes for +which timber is used, and especially in boat-building. And now, as we +learned something about silkworms and their cocoons in our talks about +insects[15], there is little more to be said of the mulberry tree which +any but learned people would care to know." + +[15] See _Flyers and Crawlers_. Presbyterian Board of Publication. + +"I want to hear about the bread tree," said little Edith, "and how the +loaves of bread grow on it." + +"Do they, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, not exactly seeing how this could +be. + +"I don't believe they're very hot," remarked Malcolm, who was puzzled +over the bread-fruit tree himself, but who laughed at his little +sister's idea in a very knowing way. It was not an ill-natured laugh, +though, and a glance from his governess always quieted him. + +"No, dear," replied Miss Harson, answering Clara; "loaves of bread do +not grow on any tree. But I will tell you about the bread-fruit +presently; let us finish the _Morus_ family and their kindred in our own +country before we go to their foreign relations. The Osage orange is so +much used in the United States, and in this part of it, for hedges, on +account of its rapid growth and ornamental appearance, that we really +ought to know something about it. 'It is a beautiful low, spreading, +round-headed tree with the port and splendor of an orange tree. Its +oval, entire, polished leaves have the shining green of natives of +warmer regions, and its curiously-tesselated, succulent compound fruit +the size and golden color of an orange. It was first found in the +country of the Osage Indians, from whom it gets its name, and it has +since been cultivated in many parts of this country and in Europe. The +Osages belonged to the Sioux, or Dacotah, tribe of Indians, and their +home was in the south-western part of the old United States. The Osage +orange--a tree from thirty to forty feet high with leaves even more +bright and glossy than those of the ordinary orange--was first found +growing wild near one of their villages." + +"But what a very high hedge it would make!" said Malcolm. + +"Yes, if left to its natural growth, it would be a very absurd fence +indeed. But this is not the case; the branches spread out very widely, +and by cutting off the tops and trimming the remainder twice in a season +a very handsome thickset hedge is produced, with lustrous leaves and +sharp, straight thorns. Another name for this tree is yellow-wood, or +bow-wood, because the wood is of a bright-yellow color, and the grain is +so fine and elastic that the Southern Indians have been in the habit of +using it to make their bows. The experiment of feeding silkworms upon +the leaves has been tried, but it was not very successful." + +"I suppose the worms didn't know that it belonged to the mulberry +family," said Clara, "and I don't see now why it does." + +For reply, her governess read: + +"'The sap of the young wood and of the leaves is _milky_ and contains a +large proportion of caoutchouc.'" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Malcolm; "that sounds just like sneezing. What is it, +Miss Harson?" + +"Something that you wear on your feet and over your shoulders in wet +weather; so now guess." + +"Overshoes!" replied Clara, in a great hurry. + +"How many of them do you wear over your shoulders at once?" asked her +brother. "And it must be a queer kind of sap that has overshoes in it. +Why couldn't you say 'India-rubber'?" + +"And why couldn't _you_ say it before Clara put it into your head by +saying 'Overshoes?" asked Miss Harson. "Clara has the right idea, only +she did not express it in the clearest way. The sap of the caoutchouc, +or India-rubber, tree is the most valuable yet discovered, and, as it is +of a milky nature, it can very properly be brought into the present +class of trees." + +"Is _that_ a mulberry too?" asked Clara, who thought that the size of +the family was getting beyond all bounds. + +"It is not really set down as belonging to the bread-fruit family," was +the reply, "but it certainly has the peculiarity of their milky sap. +However, as I know that you are all eager to hear about the bread-fruit +tree, we will take that next. This tree is found in various tropical +regions, but principally in the South-Sea Islands, where it is about +forty feet high. The immense leaves are half a yard long and over a +quarter wide, and are deeply divided into sharp lobes. The fruit looks +like a very large green berry, being about the size of a cocoanut or +melon, and the proper time for gathering it is about a week before it is +ripe. When baked, it is not very unlike bread. It is cooked by being +cut into several pieces, which are baked in an oven in the ground. It is +often eaten with orange-juice and cocoanut-milk. Some of the South-Sea +islanders depend very much upon it for their food. The large seeds, when +roasted, are said to taste like the best chestnuts. The pulp, which is +the bread-part, is said to resemble a baked potato and is very white and +tender, but, unless eaten soon after the fruit is gathered, it grows +hard and choky." + +[Illustration: THE BREAD-FRUIT.] + +"So Edie's 'loaves of bread' are green?" said Malcolm, rather +teasingly. + +"That's because they grow on a tree," replied Clara. "Our loaves of +bread are raw dough before they're baked, and they are grains of wheat +before they are dough." + +"That is quite true, dear," replied her governess, laughing, "and we +must teach Malcolm not to be quite so critical.--The bread-fruit is a +wonderful tree, and it certainly does bear uncooked loaves of bread, at +least, for they require no kneading to be ready for the oven. The fruit +is to be found on the tree for eight months of the year--which is very +different from any of our fruits--and two or three bread-fruit trees +will supply one man with food all the year round." + +"Put what does he do when there is no fresh fruit on them?" asked +Malcolm. "You told us that it was not good to eat unless it was fresh." + +"We should not think it good, but the native makes it into a sour paste +called _mahe_, and the people of the islands eat this during the four +months when the fresh fruit is not to be had. The bread-fruit is said +to be very nourishing, and it can be prepared in various ways. The +timber of this tree, though soft, is found useful in building houses and +boats; the flowers, when dried, serve for tinder; the viscid, milky +juice answers for birdlime and glue; the leaves, for towels and packing; +and the inner bark, beaten together, makes one species of the +South-Sea cloth." + +"What a very useful tree!" exclaimed Clara. + +"It is indeed," replied Miss Harson; "and this is the case with many of +the trees found in these warm countries, where the inhabitants know +little of the arts and manufactures, and would almost starve rather than +exert themselves very greatly. There is another species of bread-fruit, +called the jaca, or jack, tree, found on the mainland of Asia, which +produces its fruit on different parts of the tree, according to its age. +When the tree is young, the fruit grows from the twigs; in middle age it +grows from the trunk; and when the tree gets old, it grows from +the roots." + +[Illustration: JACK-FRUIT TREE.] + +There was a picture of the jack tree with fruit growing out of the +trunk and great branches like melons, and the children crowded eagerly +around to look at it. All agreed that it was the very queerest tree they +had yet heard of. + +"The fruit is even larger than that of the island bread-fruit," +continued their governess, "but it is not so pleasant to our taste, nor +is it so nourishing. It often weighs over thirty pounds and has two or +three hundred seeds, each of which is four times as large as an almond +and is surrounded by a pulp which is greatly relished by the natives of +India. The seeds, or nuts, are roasted, like those of smaller fruit, and +make very good chestnuts. The fruit has a strong odor not very agreeable +to noses not educated to it." + +"Miss Harson," said Malcolm, "what is the upas tree like, and why is it +called _deadly_?" + +"It is a tree eighty feet high, with white and slightly-furrowed bark; +the branches, which are very thick, grow nearly at the top, dividing +into smaller ones, which form an irregular sort of crown to the tall, +straight trunk. There is no reason for calling it _deadly_ except a +foolish notion and the fact that a very strong poison is prepared from +the milky sap. The tree grows in the island of Java, and for a long time +many fabulous stories were told of its dangerous nature. Travelers in +that region would send home the wildest and most improbable stories of +the poison tree, until the very name of the upas was enough to make +people shudder. It is said that a Dutch surgeon stationed on the island +did much to keep up the impression. He wrote an account of the valley in +which the upas was said to be growing alone, for no tree nor shrub was +to be found near it. And he declared that neither animal nor bird could +breathe the noxious effluvia from the tree without instant death. In +fact, he called this fatal spot 'The Valley of Death.'" + +"And wasn't it true, Miss Harson?" + +"Not all true, Clara; some one who had spent many years in Java proved +these stories to be entirely false. Instead of growing in a dismal +valley by itself, the graceful-looking upas tree is found in the most +fertile spots, among other trees, and very often climbing plants are +twisted round its trunk, while birds nestle in the branches. It can be +handled, too, like any other tree; and all this is as unlike the Dutch +surgeon's account as possible. One of his stories was that the criminals +on the island were employed to collect the poison from the trunk of the +tree; that they were permitted to choose whether to die by the hand of +the executioner or to go to the upas for a box of its fatal juice; and +that the ground all about the tree was strewed with the dead bodies of +those who had perished on this errand." + +"Oh," exclaimed Edith, "wasn't that dreadful?" + +"The story was dreadful, dear, but it was only a story, you know: the +upas tree did not kill people at all; and to turn the milky juice into a +dangerous poison took a great deal of time and trouble. It was mixed +with various spices and fermented; when ready for use, it was poured +into the hollow joints of bamboo and carefully kept from the air. Both +for war and for the chase arrows are dipped in this fatal preparation, +and the effect has been witnessed by naturalists on animals, and also on +man. The instant it touches the blood it is carried through the whole +system, so that it may be felt in all the veins and causes a burning +sensation, especially in the head, which is followed by sickness +and death." + +"Well," said Clara, drawing a long breath, "I'm glad that I don't live +in Java." + +"The poisoned arrows are not constantly flying about in Java, dear," +replied her governess, with a smile, "and I do not think you would be in +any danger from them; but there are a great many other reasons why it is +not pleasant, except for natives, to live in Java. There are a number of +Dutch settlers there, because the island was conquered by the Dutch +nation, but while war with the natives was going on they suffered +terribly from these poisoned arrows; so that the very name of upas +caused them to tremble. The word 'upas,' in the language of the natives, +means poison, and there is in the island a valley called the upas, or +poison, valley. It has nothing, however, to do with the tree, which does +not grow anywhere in the neighborhood. That valley may literally be +called 'The Valley of Death.' We are told that it came to exist in this +way: The largest mountain in Java was once partly buried in a very +dreadful manner. In the middle of a summer night the people in the +neighborhood perceived a luminous cloud that seemed wholly to envelop +the mountain. They were extremely alarmed and took to flight, but ere +they could escape a terrific noise was heard, like the discharge of +cannon, and part of the mountain fell in and disappeared. At the same +moment quantities of stones and lava were thrown to the distance of +several miles. Fifteen miles of ground covered with villages and +plantations were swallowed up or buried under the lava from the +mountain; and when all was over and people tried to visit the scene of +the disaster, they could not approach it on account of the heat of the +stones and other substances piled upon one another. And yet as much as +six weeks had elapsed since the catastrophe. This upas valley is about +half a mile in circumference, and the vapor that escapes through the +cracks and fissures is fatal to every living thing. Here, indeed, are to +be seen the bones of animals and birds, and even the skeletons of human +beings who were unfortunate enough to enter and were overpowered by the +deadly vapor. And now," added Miss Harson, "I have given you this +account to make you understand that the famous upas valley of Java is +not a valley of upas trees, but one of poisonous vapors." + +"And the deadly upas," said Malcolm, "is not deadly, after all! I think +I shall remember that." + +"And I too," said Clara and Edith, who had listened with great interest +to the description. + +"Shall we have some figs now, by way of variety?" was a question that +caused three pairs of eyes to turn rather expectantly on the speaker; +for figs were very popular with the small people of Elmridge. + +[Illustration: THE BANYAN TREE.] + +"Not in the way of refreshments, just at present," continued their +governess, "but only as belonging to the mulberry family; and we will +begin with that curious tree the banyan, or Indian fig. This stately and +beautiful tree is found on the banks of the river Ganges and in many +parts of India, and is a tree much valued and venerated by the Hindu. He +plants it near the temple of his idol; and if the village in which he +resides does not possess any such edifice, he uses the banyan for a +temple and places the idol beneath it. Here, every morning and evening, +he performs the rites of his heathen worship. And, more than this, he +considers the tree, with its out-stretched and far-sheltering arms, an +emblem of the creator of all things." + +"Is that only one tree?" asked Malcolm as Miss Harson displayed a +picture that was more like a small grove. "Why, it looks like two or +three trees together." + +"Does it grow up from the ground or down from the air?" asked Clara. +"Just look at these queer branches with one end fast to the tree and the +other end fast to the ground!" + +Edith thought that the branches which had not reached the ground looked +like snakes, but, for all that, it was certainly a grand tree. + +"The peculiar growth of the banyan," continued Miss Harson, "renders it +an object of beauty and produces those column-like stems that cause it +to become a grove in itself. It may be said to grow, not from the seed, +but from the branches. They spread out horizontally, and each branch +sends out a number of rootlets that at first hang from it like slender +cords and wave about in the wind.--Those are your 'snakes,' Edith.--But +by degrees they reach the ground and root themselves into it; then the +cord tightens and thickens and becomes a stem, acting like a prop to the +widespreading branch of the parent plant. Indeed, column on column is +added in this manner, the books tell us, so long as the mother-tree can +support its numerous progeny." + +"How very strange!" said Clara. "The mulberry seems to have some very +funny relations." + +"Such a great tree ought to bear very large figs," added Malcolm. + +"On the contrary," replied his governess, "it bears uncommonly small +ones--no larger than a hazel-nut, and of a red color. They are not +considered eatable by the natives, but birds and animals feed upon them, +and in the leafy bower of the banyan are found the peacock, the monkey +and the squirrel. Here, too, are a myriad of pigeons as green as the +leaf and with eyes and feet of a brilliant red. They are so like the +foliage in color that they can be seen only by the practiced eye of the +hunter, and even he would fail to detect them were it not for their +restless movements. As they flutter about from branch to branch they are +apt to fall victims to his skill in shooting his arrows." + +"If they would only keep still!" exclaimed Edith, who felt a strong +sympathy for the green pigeons. "Poor pretty things! Why don't they, +Miss Harson, instead of getting killed?" + +"They do not know their danger until it is too late, and it is quite as +hard for them to keep still as it is for little girls." + +Edith wondered if that meant her; she was a little girl, but she did not +think she was so very restless. However, Miss Harson didn't tell her, +and she soon forgot it in listening to what was said of the queer tree +with branches like snakes. + +"The leaves of the banyan tree are large and soft and of a very bright +green, and the deep shade and pillared walks are so welcome to the Hindu +that he even tries to improve on Nature and coax the shoots to grow just +where he wishes them. He binds wet clay and moss on the branch to make +the rootlet sprout." + +"Will it grow then?" asked Malcolm. + +"Yes, just as a cutting planted in the earth will grow, although it +seems a very odd style of gardening.--The sacred fig tree of +India--_Ficus religiosa_--is a near relative of the banyan, and very +much like it in general appearance; but the leaves are on such slender +stalks that they tremble like those of the aspen. It is known as the bo +tree of Ceylon, and is said to have been placed in charge of the priests +long before the present race of inhabitants had appeared in the island." + +"Where do the real figs grow?" asked Clara. + +"In a great many moderately warm or sub-tropical countries," was the +reply, "but Smyrna figs are the most celebrated. Immense quantities of +the fruit are dried and packed in Asiatic Turkey for exportation from +this city, and it is said that in the fig season nothing else is talked +about there." + +"I didn't know that they were dried," said Malcolm, in great surprise; +"I thought they were just packed tight in boxes and then sent off." + +[Illustration: LEAF AND FRUIT OF THE FIG TREE.] + +"'In its native country,'" read Miss Harson, "'and when growing on the +tree, the fig presents a different appearance from the dried and packed +specimens we see in this country. It is a firm and fleshy fruit, and +has a delicious honey-drop hanging from the point.' And here," she +added, "is a small branch from the fig tree, with fruit growing on it." + +"Why, it's shaped like a pear!" exclaimed Malcolm. + +"And what large, pretty leaves it has!" said Clara. + +"'The fig tree is common in Palestine and the East,'" Miss Harson +continued to read, "'and flourishes with the greatest luxuriance in +those barren and stony situations, where little else will grow. Its +large size and its abundance of five-lobed leaves render it a pleasant +shade-tree, and its fruit furnishes a wholesome food very much used in +all the lands of the Bible.' Figs were among the fruits mentioned in the +'land that flowed with milk and honey,' and it was a symbol of peace and +plenty, as you will find, Malcolm, by reading to us from First Kings, +fourth chapter, twenty-fifth verse." + +"'And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under +his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of +Solomon.'--That's what it means, then!" said Malcolm, when he had +finished reading the verse. "I've heard people say, 'Under your own vine +and fig tree,' and I couldn't tell what they meant." + +"Yes," replied his governess, "some persons make very free with the +words of Holy Scripture and twist them to suit meanings for which they +were not intended. Having a house of one's own is usually meant by this +quotation, and almost the same words are repeated in other parts of the +Old Testament. The fig is often mentioned in the Bible, and two kinds +are spoken of--the very early fig, and the one that ripens late in the +summer. The early fig was considered the best; and I think that Clara +will tell us what is said of it by the prophet Jeremiah." + +Clara read slowly: + +"'One basket had very good figs, _even like the figs that are first +ripe_; and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be +eaten, they were so bad[16].'" + +[16] Jer. xxiv. 2. + +"But can figs be naughty, Miss Harson?" asked Edith, with very +wide-open eyes. "I thought that only children were naughty," + +"There are 'naughty' grown people as well as naughty children," was the +reply, "and inanimate things like figs in old times were called naughty +too, in the sense of being bad.--The fruit of the fig tree appears not +only before the leaves, but without any sign of blossoms, the flowers +being small and hidden in the little buttons which first shoot out from +the points of the sterns, and around which the outer and firm part of +the fig grows. The leaves come out so late in the season that our +Saviour said, 'Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is +yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh[17].' +Did not our Lord say something else about a fig tree?" + +[17] Matt. xxiv. 32. + +"Yes," replied Clara; "the one that was withered away because it had no +figs on it." + +"The barren fig tree which was withered at our Saviour's word, as an +awful warning to unfruitful professors of religion, seems to have spent +itself in leaves. It stood by the wayside, free to all, and, as the time +for stripping the trees of their fruit had not come--for in Mark we are +told that 'the time of figs was not yet[18]'--it was reasonable to +expect to find it covered with figs in various stages of growth. Yet +there was 'nothing thereon, but leaves only.' Find the nineteenth verse +of the twenty-first chapter of Matthew, Malcolm, and read what is +said there." + +[18] Mark xi. 13. + +"'And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found +nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on +thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.'" + +"A fig tree having leaves," said Miss Harson, "should also have figs, +for these, as I have already told you, appear before the leaves, and +both are on the tree at the same time; so that, although unripe figs are +seen without leaves, leaves should not be seen without figs; and if it +was not yet the season for figs, it was not the season for leaves +either. The barren fig tree has often been compared to people who make a +show of goodness in words, but leave the doing of good works to others; +and when anything is expected of them, there is sure to be +disappointment. 'Nothing but leaves' has become a proverb; and when it +can be used to express the barren condition of those who profess to +follow the teachings of our Lord, it is sad indeed." + +"Do fig trees grow wild?" asked Clara, presently. + +"Yes," was the reply, "and very curious-looking things they are. 'Their +roots twist into all kinds of whimsical contortions, so as to look more +like a mass of snakes than the roots of a tree. They unite themselves so +closely to the substances that come in their way, such as the face of +rocks, or even the stems of other trees, that nothing can pull them +away. And in some parts of India these strong, tough roots are made to +serve the purpose of bridges and twisted over some stream or cataract. +The wild fig is often a dangerous parasite, and does not attain +perfection without completing some work of destruction among its +neighbors in the forest. A slender rootlet may sometimes be seen hanging +from the crown of a palm. The seed was carried there by some bird that +had fed upon the fruit of a wild fig, and it rooted itself with +surprising facility. The rootlet, as it descends, envelops the +column-like stem of the palm with a woody network, and at length reaches +the ground. Meanwhile, the true stem of the parasite shoots upward from +the crown of the palm. It sends out numberless rootlets, each of which, +as soon as it reaches the ground, takes root; and between them the palm +is stifled and perishes, leaving the fig in undisturbed possession. The +parasite does not, however, long survive the decline; for, no longer fed +by the juices of the palm, it also, in process of time, begins to +languish and decline.'" + +"What a mean thing it is!" exclaimed Malcolm--"as mean as the cuckoo, +that lays its eggs in other birds' nests. And I'm glad it dies when it +has killed the palm tree; it just serves it right. But don't figs ever +grow in this country, Miss Harson?" + +"Yes," replied his governess; "they are cultivated in the Southern +States and in California, like many other semi-tropical fruits, and are +principally eaten fresh, but for drying they are not equal to the +imported ones. No doubt the cultivation of figs in California will +become a prosperous trade, for the climate and circumstances there are +much like those of Syria." + +[Illustration: DWARF FIG TREE IN A POT.] + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +_QUEER RELATIONS: THE CAOUTCHOUC AND THE MILK TREE_. + +"What dark, strange-looking trees!" exclaimed the children while looking +at an illustration of caoutchouc trees in Brazil. "How thick and strong +they are! And what funny tops!--like pointed umbrellas." + +"The India-rubber tree is not likely to be mistaken for any other," said +their governess, "and it does not look very dark and gloomy in that +forest, where everything seems to be crowded close and in a tangle, +because South American vegetation grows so thickly and rapidly. This is +the country which supplies the largest quantity of India-rubber. Immense +cargoes are shipped from the town of Para, on the river Amazon, and +obtained from the _Siphonia elastica_." + +"Are the stems all made of India-rubber?" asked Edith, who thought that +was exactly what they looked like. + +"Are the stems of the maple trees made of maple-sugar?" replied Miss +Harson. "The India-rubber is got from its tree as the sugar is from the +maple tree. It is taken from the trunk in the shape of a very thick +milky fluid, and it is said that no other vital fluid, whether in animal +or in plant, contains so much solid material within it; and it is a +matter of surprise that the sap, thus encumbered, can circulate through +all the delicate vessels of the tree. Tropical heat is required to form +the caoutchouc; for when the tree is cultivated in hothouses, the +substance of the sap is quite different. The full-grown trees are very +handsome, with round column-like trunks about sixty feet high, and the +crown of foliage is said to resemble that of the ash." + +"Did people always know about India-rubber?" asked Clara. + +"No indeed! It is not more than a hundred and fifty years--perhaps not +so long--since it was a great curiosity; so that a piece half an inch +square would sell in London for nearly a dollar of our money, but now it +comes in shiploads, and a pound of it costs less than quarter of that +sum. It is used for so many purposes that it seems as if the world could +never have gone on without it. All sorts of outside garments to keep out +the rain are made of it. Waterproof cloaks are called macintoshes in +England because this was the name of the person who invented them. +India-rubber is also used for tents and many other things, and, as water +cannot get through it, there is a great saving of trouble and expense." + +"It must be splendid for tents," said Malcolm; "no one need care, when +snug under cover, whether or not it rained in the woods." + +"People do care, though," was the reply, "for they expect, when in the +woods, to live out of doors; but the India-rubber is certainly a great +improvement on tents that get soaked through." + +"I like it," said Edith, "because it rubs things out. When I draw a +house and it's all wrong, my piece of India-rubber will take it away, +and then I can make another one on the paper." + +"That is the very smallest of its uses," replied Miss Harson, smiling at +the little girl's earnestness, "and yet we find it a great convenience. +An English writer, speaking of it when it was first known in England, +said that he had seen a substance that would efface from paper the marks +of a black-lead pencil, and he thought it must be of use to those who +practiced drawing." + +"How funny that sounds!" exclaimed Malcolm. "Why, I couldn't get along +without my India-rubber when I make mistakes," + +"You might," said his governess, "if you had some stale bread to rub +with; for people _have_ gotten along without a great many things which +they now think necessary." + +"Miss Harson," said Clara, "won't you tell us, please, how they get the +caoutch--whatever it is--and make it into India-rubber?" + +"I will," was the laughing reply, "when you can say the word properly. +C-a-o-u-t-c-h-o-u-c--koochook." + +As Clara said, Miss Harson made things so easy to understand! and in a +very short time the hard word was mastered. + +"As I have never seen the sap gathered," continued the young lady, "I +shall have to read you an account of it, instead of telling you from my +own experience; but the description is so plain that I think we shall +all be able to understand it very well: 'At certain seasons of the year +the natives visit some islands in the river Amazon that for many months +are covered with water. As soon as the water subsides and a footing can +be obtained the Indians arrive in parties, to seek for the trees. The +Indian who comes every morning to collect the juice from the trunk has a +number of trees allotted to him, and goes the round of the whole. The +previous night he has made a long, deep cut in the bark of each and hung +an earthen vessel beneath, to receive the thick, creamlike substance +that trickles down. The vessel is filled by morning, and he pours the +contents into one much larger and carries it to his hut. He is provided +with a number of moulds of different shapes and sizes, and he dips them +into the juice and puts them aside to dry. They are then dipped again, +and the process is continued until the coat of India-rubber on the mould +is of sufficient thickness. It is made black by passing it through the +smoke of burning palm-nuts. The moulds are broken and taken out, leaving +the India-rubber ready for sale, and pretty much as we used to see it in +the shops before the people of this country had learned how to +work it.'" + +"That seems easy enough," said Malcolm, "but how do they make it into +gutta-percha?" + +"Gutta-percha is not made," replied his governess, "and it is taken from +an entirely different tree, the _Icosandra gutta_, which grows in +Southern Asia. The milky fluid is procured in the same way, but it is +placed in vessels to evaporate, and the solid substance left at the +bottom is the gutta-percha. It is not elastic, like India-rubber, and +is called 'vegetable leather' because of its toughness and leathery +appearance. It was discovered by an English traveler a long time before +it was supposed to have any useful properties, but now it is considered +a very valuable material. The wonderful submarine telegraph could not +convey its messages between the Old World and the New were not its wires +protected from injury by a coating of gutta-percha. Its unyielding +nature and its not being elastic render it the very material needed. The +long straps used in working machines are also made of gutta-percha, and +this is another instance where its non-elasticity gives it the +preference over India-rubber." + +"And what is vulcanite?" asked Clara. + +"It is caoutchouc mixed with sulphur. Unless a small quantity of +brimstone is added in the manufacture of overshoes, they become soft +when exposed to heat and hardened when exposed to cold; but it was +discovered that the sulphur will keep them from being affected by +changes in temperature. When a large amount of sulphur is used, the +India-rubber, becomes as hard as horn or wood, and this is the substance +called vulcanite. Now the gum is imported in masses, to be wrought over +by our skillful mechanics." + +The children were very much pleased to find that they had learned the +nature of three important articles--India-rubber, gutta-percha and +vulcanite--and they thought it would be quite easy to remember the +differences between them. + +"And now," said Miss Harson, "the last of these useful trees--the cow +tree, or milk tree--is the most curious one of all. Like the caoutchouc, +it is a native of South America; but the sap is a rich fluid that +answers for food, like milk. It is a fine-looking tree with oblong, +pointed leaves about ten inches in length and a fleshy fruit containing +one or two nuts. The sap is the most valuable part; and when incisions +are made in the trunk of the tree, there is an abundant flow of thick +milk-like sap, which is described as having an agreeable and balmv +smell. The German traveler Humboldt drank it from the shell of a +calabash, and the natives dip their bread of maize or cassava in it. +This milk is said to be very fattening; and when exposed to the air, it +thickens into a substance which the people call cheese." + +"Milk and cheese from a tree!" exclaimed Malcolm. "Do you think we'd +like them as well as ours, Miss Harson?" + +"No," was the reply, "I do not think we should; but if we had never +known any other kind, it would be quite a different matter, and the +traveler says that both smell and taste are agreeable. The sap, it +seems, is like curdled milk, and the natives say that they can tell, +from the thickness and color of the foliage, the trunks that yield the +most juice. This wonderful tree will be found growing on the side of a +barren rock, and its large, woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the +stone. For several months of the year not a single shower moistens its +foliage. Its branches then appear dead and dried; but when the trunk is +pierced, there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the +rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. The +negroes and natives are then seen hastening from all quarters, furnished +with large bowls to receive the milk, which grows yellow and thickens at +its surface. Some empty their bowls while under the tree itself; others +carry the juice home to their children." + +"Isn't it funny," said Edith, laughing, "to go and get their breakfasts +from a _tree_? I wish we had some milk trees here." + +"But you would not find it pleasant," replied their governess, "to have +some other things that are always found where the milk tree grows. The +intense heat and the swarms of mosquitoes and biting flies, the serpents +and jaguars and other disagreeable and dangerous creatures, make life in +that region anything but pleasant, and the curious vegetation and +delicious fruits are not worth the suffering inflicted by all these +torments." + +On hearing of these drawbacks the children soon decided that their own +dear home was the best, and no longer envied the possessors even of +the cow tree. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +_HOME AND ABROAD: LINDEN, CAMPHOR, BEECH_. + +"Now," said Miss Harson to her expectant flock, "it is to be hoped that +our foreign wanderings among such wonderful trees have not spoiled you +for home trees, as there are still a number of them which we have not +yet examined." + +"No indeed!" they assured her; "they liked to hear about them all, and +they were going to try and remember everything she told them about +the trees." + +Their governess said that would be too much to expect, and if they +remembered the most important things she would be quite satisfied, + +"We will take the linden, lime, or basswood, tree--for it has all three +of these names--this evening," she continued, "and there are nine or ten +species of the tree, which are found in America, Europe and Western +Asia. It is a very handsome, regular-looking tree with rich, thick +masses of foliage that make a deep shade. The leaves are heart-shaped +and very finely veined, have sharply-serrated edges and are four or five +inches long. The leaf-stalk is half the length of the leaf. It blooms +in July and August, and the flowers are yellowish white and very +fragrant; when an avenue of limes is in blossom, the whole atmosphere is +filled with a delightful perfume which can hardly be described." + +[Illustration: THE LINDEN OR LIME TREE (_Tilia_).] + +"There are no lime trees here, are there?" asked Clara. + +"No," was the reply, "I do not think there are any in this neighborhood; +but they grow abundantly not many miles away. Our native trees are not +so pretty as the English lime, which, clothed with softer foliage, has a +smaller leaf and a neater and more elegant spray. Ours bears larger and +more conspicuous flowers, in heavier clusters, but of inferior +sweetness. Both species are remarkable for their size and longevity. The +young leaves of the lime are of a bright fresh tint that contrasts +strongly with the very dark color of the branches; and these branches +are so finely divided that their beauty is seen to the greatest +advantage when winter has stripped them bare of leaves. + +"'The linden has in all ages been celebrated for the fragrance of its +flowers and the excellence of the honey made from them. The famous +Mount Hybla was covered with lime trees. The aroma from its flowers is +like that of mignonette; it perfumes the whole atmosphere, and is +perceptible to the inhabitants of all the beehives within a circuit of a +mile. The real linden honey is of a greenish color and delicious taste +when taken from the hive immediately after the trees have been in +blossom, and is often sold for more than the ordinary kind. There is a +forest in Lithuania that abounds in lime trees, and here swarms of wild +bees live in the hollow trunks and collect their honey from the lime.'" + +[Illustration: LEAF AND FLOWER OF LIME TREE _(Tilia)._] + +"What fun it would be, if we were there, to go and get it!" exclaimed +Malcolm. "But don't bees make honey from the lime trees that grow in +this country, too, Miss Harson?" + +"Certainly they do; and the beekeepers look anxiously forward to the +blossoming of the trees, because they provide such abundant supplies for +the busy swarms. The flowers have other uses, too, besides the making of +honey: the Swiss are said to obtain a favorite beverage from them, and +in the South of France an infusion of the blossoms is taken for colds +and hoarseness, and also for fever. 'Active boys climb to the topmost +branches and gather the fragrant flowers, which their mothers catch in +their aprons for that purpose. An avenue of limes has been ravaged and +torn in pieces by the eagerness of the people to gather the blossoms, +and they are often made into tea which is a soft sugary beverage in +taste a little like licorice.'" + +"How queer," said Clara, "to make tea from flowers!" + +"Is it any queerer," asked her governess, "than to make it from leaves? +I should think that the flowers might even be better, and yet I should +scarcely like lime-tea that tastes like licorice." + +The children, though, seemed to think that they would like it, and Miss +Harson had very little doubt that such would be the case. + +"Both the bark and the wood of the lime tree are valuable," she +continued. "The fibres of the bark are strong and firm, and make +excellent ropes and cordage. In Sweden and Russia they are made into a +kind of matting that is very useful for packing-purposes and in +protecting delicate plants from the frost. 'The manufacture of this +useful material is carried on in the summer, close by the woods and +forests where the lime trees grow in abundance. As soon as the sap +begins to ascend freely the bark parts from the wood and can be taken +away with ease. Great strips are then peeled off and steeped in water +until they separate into layers; the layers are still further divided +into smaller strips or ribbons, and are hung up in the shade of the +wood, generally on the very tree itself from which they have been taken. +After a time they are woven into the matting and sent to market for +sale. The Swedish fishermen also manufacture it into a coarse thread for +fishing-nets, and from the fibres of the young shoots the Russian +peasant makes the strong shoes he wears, using the outer bark for the +soles. In Italy the garments of the poorer people are often made of +cloth woven from this material." + +"Why, people can fairly _live_ on trees," said Malcolm. "I didn't know +that they were good for anything but shade--except the trees that have +fruit and nuts on 'em." + +"There is a great deal for us all to learn of the works of the Creator," +replied Miss Harson, "and the blessing of trees is not half known. The +wood of the lime is said never to be worm-eaten; it is very soft and +smooth and of a pale-yellow color. It is used for the famous Tunbridge +ware, and is called the carver's tree, because, as the poet says, + + "'Smooth linden best obeys + The carver's chisel--best his curious work + Displays in nicest touches.' + +"The fruits and flowers carved for the choir of St. Paul's cathedral in +London are done in lime-wood. + +"So numerous are the purposes to which the bark, wood, leaves and +blossoms of the lime, or linden, tree can be applied that centuries ago +it was called the tree of a thousand uses. Linden is the name by which +it is always known on the continent of Europe, and there it is indeed a +magnificent tree, forming the most delightful avenues and branching +colonnades. One of the principal streets in Berlin is called 'Unter den +Linden.' In the Middle Ages, when the Swiss and the Flemings were always +struggling for liberty, it was their custom to plant a lime tree on the +field of battle, and many of these old trees still remain and have been +the subject of ballads and poetical effusions: + + "'The stately lime, smooth, gentle, straight and fair.'" + +"Is there any story about it, Miss Harson?" + +"No," was the reply, "not much of a story; only descriptions of some +very large and very ancient trees. One of these, the old linden tree of +Soleure, in Switzerland, was spoken of by an English traveler two +hundred years ago as 'right noble and wondrous to behold. A bower +composed of its branches is capable of holding three hundred persons +sitting at ease; it has also a fountain set about with many tables +formed solely of the boughs, to which men ascend by steps; and all is +kept so accurately and thick that the sun never looks into it.'" + +"It is just like a tent," said Malcolm, "it must be pleasant to sit by +the fountain. Wouldn't you like it, Miss Harson?" + +"I am sure I should," replied his governess; "and I should also like to +see the famous lime tree of Zurich, the boughs of which will shelter +five hundred persons. At Augsburg, in Germany, feasts and weddings have +often been celebrated under the shade of some venerable limes that +branch out to an immense distance. In early times divine honors were +paid to them as emblems of immortality. And now," said Miss Harson, "the +last of these famous trees is a noble lime tree which grew on the farm +belonging to the ancestors of Linnaeus, the great naturalist, beneath +the shade of which he played in childhood, and from which his ancestors +derived their surname. That noble tree still blossoms from year to year, +beautiful in every change of seasons." + +"Lime, linden and basswood," said Clara--"three names to remember for +one tree. But didn't you say, Miss Harson, that it's always called +basswood in our country?" + +"Often, but not always. The name linden is quite common with us, and it +will be well for you to remember that it is also called lime, so that +when you go to Europe you will know what is meant by _lime_ and +_linden_." + +The children laughed at this idea, for it seemed very funny to think of +a little girl like Clara going to Europe, but, as their governess told +them, little girls did go constantly; besides, this was the time to +learn what would be of use to them when they were grown. + +"The fragrant lime," said Miss Harson, "has a relative in Asia whose +acquaintance I wish you to make, and you know it already in one of its +products, which is common in every household. It is also very +fragrant--or rather, I should say, it has a strong aromatic odor which +is very reviving in cases of faintness or illness, although it has quite +a contrary effect on insects, particularly on mosquitoes. I should like +to have some one tell me what this white, powerful substance is." + +This was quite a conundrum, and for a little while the children were +extremely puzzled over its solution; but presently Clara asked, + +"Do the moths hate it too, Miss Harson? And isn't it camphor?" + +"Camphor doesn't grow on a _tree_," said Malcolm, in a superior tone; +"it is dug out of the earth." + +"I have never read of any camphor-mines," replied his governess, +laughing, "and I think you will find that camphor--which is just what I +meant--is obtained from the trunk of a tree." + +"Like India-rubber?" asked Edith. + +"No, dear, not like India-rubber, for it grows in even a more curious +way than that, masses of it being found in the trunk of the camphor +tree--not in the form of sap, but in lumps, as we use it." + +"I thought it was like water," said Edith, in a puzzled tone. + +"So it is when dissolved in alcohol, as we generally have it; but it is +also used in lumps to drive away moths and for various other purposes. +But I will tell you all about the tree, which grows in the islands of +Sumatra and Borneo and bears the botanical name _Dryobalanops camphora_. +The camphor is also called _barus_ camphor, to distinguish it from the +_laurus_, of which I will tell you afterward, and it is of a better +quality and more easily obtained. The tree grows in the forests of +these East Indian islands and is remarkable for its majestic size, dense +foliage and magnolia-like flowers. The trunk rises as high as ninety +feet without a single branch, and within it are cavities, sometimes a +foot and a half long, which cannot be perceived until the bark is split +open. These cavities contain the camphor in clear crystalline masses, +and with it an oil known as camphor oil, that is thought by some to be +camphor in an immature form. But the oil, even when crystallized by +artificial means, does not produce such good camphor as that already +solidified in the tree." + +"To think," exclaimed Clara, "of camphor growing in that way! But how do +they get it out, Miss Harson? Do they cut great holes in the trunk of +the tree?" + +"No, dear; I have just read to you that the camphor cannot be seen until +the bark is split open, and the grand trees have to be cut down. But to +do this is no easy matter. The hard, close-grained timber requires days +of hewing and sawing to get it severed. The masses of roots are as +unyielding as iron, and run twisting through the soil to the distance +of sixty yards. Even at their farthest extremity they are as thick as a +man's thigh." + +"I shouldn't think the camphor was worth all that trouble," said +Malcolm; "it don't seem to amount to much, any wary." + +"It is more valuable than you suppose," replied Miss Harson; "for, +besides preserving furs and woolen fabrics from the devouring moth, it +protects the contents of cabinets and museums from the attacks of the +minute creatures that prey upon the dried specimens of the naturalist. +Not any of the insect tribe can endure the powerful scent of the +camphor, and they either retreat before it or are killed by it. But its +principal value is in medicine. It is used both internally and +externally. It acts as a nervous stimulant, and is a favorite domestic +remedy.--So you see, Malcolm, that camphor really amounts to a great +deal, and we could not very well do without it." + +"How can people tell when there is any camphor inside the tree?" asked +Clara. + +"They cannot tell," was the reply, "until the trunk is split open, +although a tribe of men in Sumatra say that they know before-hand, by a +kind of magic, which is the right tree to cut down. But the beautiful, +stately tree is often wasted in vain, and after all their hard work the +camphor-seekers find the cavities of the split-up trunk filled with a +thick black substance like pitch instead of the pure white camphor." + +"Poor things!" said Edith, pityingly; "that's too bad." + +"Camphor is found in many trees and shrubs," continued her governess, +"but in all others except the camphor tree of Sumatra and Borneo it has +to be distilled from the wood and roots. The camphor-laurel, which is +about the size of an English oak, is the most important of these trees. +It grows abundantly in the Chinese island of Formosa, and 'camphor +mandarin' is the title of a rich Chinaman who pays the government for +the privilege of extracting all the camphor, which he sends to other +countries at a large profit. Every part of this tree is full of camphor, +and the tree gives out, when bruised, a strong perfume. + +"The European bay tree, which is more like an immense shrub, is also a +member of this singular tribe, and its leaves have the strong family +flavor. They were used in medicine, as well as the berries, before the +camphor-laurel became known in Europe; in the time of Queen Elizabeth +the floors of the better sort of houses were strewed with bay-leaves +instead of being carpeted as now. The bay was an emblem of victory in +old Roman times, and victorious generals were crowned with it. A wreath +of this laurel, with the berries on, was placed on the head of a +favorite poet in the Middle Ages, and in this way came the title +'poet-laureate'--_laureatus_,' crowned with laurel.' + +"Do you remember," continued Miss Harson, "the tall, straight tree that +I showed you yesterday when we were out in the woods--the one with a +fluted trunk? What was its name?" + +"I know!" said Malcolm, quite excited. "Think of the seashore! Beach! +That's what I told myself to remember." + +[Illustration: AMERICAN BEECH.] + +"A very good idea," replied his governess, laughing; "only you must not +spell it with an _a_, like the seashore, for it is _b-e-e-c-h._--The +fluted, or ribbed, shaft of this grand-looking tree is often sixty or +seventy feet high, and, although it is found in its greatest perfection +in England, it is a common tree in most of the woods in this country. +For depth of shade no tree is equal to the beech, and its long beautiful +leaves, with their close ridges and serrated edges, are very much like +those of the chestnut. The leaves are of a light, fresh green and very +neat and perfect, because they are so seldom attacked by insects; they +remain longer on the branches than those of any deciduous tree, and +give a cheerful air to the wood in winter. In the autumn they change to +a light yellow-brown, which makes a pretty contrast to the reds and +greens and purples of other trees. The branches start out almost +straight from the tree, but they very soon curve and turn regularly +upward. Every small twig turns in the same direction, making the long +leaf-buds at the end look like so many little spears. I showed you these +'stuck-up' buds when we were looking at the tree, and you noticed how +different they were from the other trees." + +Yes, the children remembered it; and it always seemed to them +particularly nice to have part of the talk out of doors and the rest in +the house. + +"Doesn't the beech tree have nuts?" asked Malcolm. "John says it does." + +"Yes," replied Miss Harson; "it has tiny three-cornered nuts which seem +particularly small for so large a tree. But these nuts are eagerly +devoured by pigeons, partridges and squirrels. Bears are said to be very +fond of them, and swine fatten very rapidly upon them. Most varieties +are so small as not to repay the trouble of gathering, drying and +opening them. Fortunately, this is not the case with all, as it is a +delicious nut. In France the beech-nut is much used for making oil, +which is highly valued for burning in lamps and for cooking. In parts of +the same country the nuts, roasted, serve as a substitute for coffee." + +"I'd like to find some when they're ripe," said Clara, "if they _are_ +little." + +"We will have a search for them, then," was the reply, "when the time +comes.--The flowers which produce these little nuts are very showy and +grow in roundish tassels, or heads, which hang by thread-like, silky +stalks, one or two inches long, from the midst of the young leaves of a +newly-opened bud. A traveler says of these leaves, 'We used always to +think that the most luxurious and refreshing bed was that which prevails +universally in Italy, and which consists entirely of a pile of +mattresses filled with the luxuriant spathe of the Indian corn; which +beds have the advantage of being soft as well as elastic, and we have +always found the sleep enjoyed on them to be particularly sound and +restorative. But the beds made of beech-leaves are really no whit behind +them in these qualities, whilst the fragrant smell of green tea, which +the leaves retain, is most gratifying. The objection to them is the +slight crackling noise which the leaves occasion as the individual turns +in bed, but this is no inconvenience at all; or if so in any degree, it +is an inconvenience which is overbalanced by the advantages of this most +luxurious couch." + +"But how funny," said Malcolm, "to sleep on leaves! That's what the +Babes in the Wood did." + +"No," replied Clara, very earnestly, "they didn't sleep _on_ leaves, you +know; but when they had laid down and gone to sleep, the robins came and +covered them with leaves." + +"Yes," chimed in little Edith; "I like that way best, because they'd be +so cold in the woods." + +"And that really was the case," said Miss Harson, after listening with a +smile to this discussion, "although there were probably leaves on the +ground for the children to lie upon. A bed of leaves is not a bad thing +where there are no mattresses, and such a bed is often used as a matter +of course. You will remember my reading to you about the beds which the +Finland mothers make for their children of the leaves of the +canoe-birch. 'Leafy beds' are no strange thing--not mere poetry." + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +_THE TENT AND THE LOCUSTS_. + +There came a bright balmy day in May when the children found a +delightful surprise awaiting them. The tent in the woods, which had been +proposed on the day when birch-twigs were found to be eatable, was +almost forgotten--or if thought of, it was as a thing that could not +possibly be--when, on the day in question, Miss Harson took her charges +out as usual, and led them to a very pretty cleared space with a fringe +of rocks and trees all around it. But on this spot, which hitherto had +been quite bare, there now stood some sort of a little house different +from other houses and quite pretty. + +"It's a tent!" exclaimed Malcolm. "Who put it there, I should like to +know, on _our_ land?" + +"Are there gypsies here, Miss Harson?" whispered Clara, rather +fearfully. + +But the young lady walked deliberately up to the entrance of the tent +and invited her little flock to come inside. + +"I know the gentleman who had it put here," she said, "and he is quite +willing that we should use it; but he will not give any one else +this liberty." + +"I think I know him too," said Malcolm as he walked in after Miss +Harson. + +"And I!"--"And I!" exclaimed the little girls. "It is our own papa. How +very kind of him!" + +"Yes," replied their governess; "he said, when I spoke of a tent, that +it would be a good thing for the wood-ramblers to have a place of +shelter when they were over-taken by a sudden shower, and also a place +in which to rest comfortably when they were tired; and this pretty tent, +you see, is all ready for us at any time." + +It was a very nice tent indeed, having a long cushioned seat inside, two +little rocking-chairs that were at once appropriated, a small table, and +a bracket with books on it. On the table there was a round basket of +oranges, which made every one thirsty at once. + +"I do believe," said Malcolm, suddenly, "that it's made of +India-rubber." + +"Not the orange, I hope?" replied Miss Harson, while the little sisters +looked up in surprise. + +An India-rubber orange was a thing to be laughed at, though not to be +eaten, and the children were in such a state of glee over this pleasant +surprise that they were ready to laugh almost at nothing. + +Presently their governess said, + +"Malcolm means the tent, of course; and he is quite right, for the +covering is India-rubber cloth." + +"But why isn't it dark and ugly, like the waterproofs?" was the next +question. + +"Simply because it need not be so, and it is prettier to have it white +or of this pale gray. But these shades are too conspicuous for overshoes +or waterproof cloaks, so the latter are made as dark as possible. The +caoutchoue, you know, is naturally white or very light colored." + +"How do they make the cloth?" asked Malcolm. + +"It is first made as cloth," was the reply; "then a thin coating of +India-rubber is spread over two layers of it. The cloth is then put +together and pressed between rollers, so that the two pieces firmly +adhere, with the caoutchoue between them. No rain can penetrate such a +screen as this," + +It was delightful to know that they would be safe and dry in case of a +shower, and the children thought it must be just the prettiest tent that +ever was made. The cushioned seat was covered with scarlet, and so were +the little chairs, which Clara and Edith knew were meant for them; the +edges of the cloth were scalloped with the same bright color, and there +was even a rug to match spread in front of the "divan," as Miss Harson +laughingly said the cushioned seat must be called. + +"Haven't we 'most come to the end of the trees?" asked Clara. "I never +thought that there were so many different kinds," + +"Look around and see if you feel acquainted with them all," replied her +governess. + +They had left the tent after quite a long "sitting," and were now on +their way to the house. + +Clara's first glance, on doing as she had been directed, fell on three +trees by the side of a fence, that were different from any they had +yet studied. + +"What do you notice about them?" continued Miss Harson; "for I wish you +to use your own eyes and thoughts as much as possible." + +"Why, the trunk is dark gray, and it isn't smooth, but it looks as if +some one had dug out long, thin pieces of bark." + +"We will call it 'deeply furrowed,'" said her governess, "as that is a +better expression; but your description is very good indeed." + +"The leaves are ever so pretty," said Malcolm--"so many of 'em on one +stem!--and the green looks as if it was just made." + +"You mean by that, I suppose," replied Miss Harson, "that it is a very +fresh tint; and we are seeing it in its first beauty now. This is the +locust tree, and May is its time for leafing out in the tenderest of +greens. The pinnate--from _pinna_, Latin for feather'--leaves are +composed of from nine to twenty-five leaflets, which are egg-shaped, +with a short point, very smooth, light green above and still lighter +beneath. These leaves are much liked by cattle, and they are said to be +very nutritious to them." + +[Illustration: FOLIAGE OF HONEY-LOCUST.] + +"How can you remember everything so, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm, lost +in wonder, as the young lady, looking up at the trees, said these things +as if they had been written there. John had declared that she talked +like a book, and this seemed more like it than ever. + +"Oh no," was the laughing reply; "I do not remember _everything_, +Malcolm, and perhaps it is just as well that I do not. But I will not +tax my memory any more about the locust just now; we can take it up +again this evening." + +"I should like to know," exclaimed Clara, after some thought, "why a +tree is called _locust_, when a locust is such a disagreeable insect?" + +"I am afraid that I cannot tell you," replied Miss Harson, "unless the +color of the leaves is similar to that of the 'disagreeable insect,' +which is really very handsome, or unless the insects are very partial to +the tree; I have seen no explanation of it. But the tree itself is very +much admired, with its profusion of pinnate leaves and racemes of +flowers that fill the air with the most agreeable odors." + +"What color are the flowers, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm. + +"This description will tell you," was the reply. "The tree is not pretty +in winter, and has no promise of beauty until 'May hangs on these +withered boughs a green drapery that hides all their deformity; she +infuses into their foliage a perfection of verdure that no other tree +can rival, and a beauty in the forms of its leaves that renders it one +of the chief ornaments of the groves and waysides. June weaves into this +green foliage pendent clusters of flowers of mingled brown and white, +filling the air with fragrance and enticing the bee with odors as sweet +as from groves of citron and myrtle.'" + +"That sounds pretty," said Clara, who liked imposing sentences, "but +brown and white are not very handsome colors for flowers." + +"The white is certainly prettier without the mixture of brown," replied +her governess, "but we have to take our flowers ready-made, and can +hardly expect them to be beautiful and fragrant too. The separate +blossoms are shaped like those of the pea and bean; they hang in long +clusters somewhat resembling bunches of grapes. The leaves--or, rather, +leaflets--are very sensitive and have a habit of folding over one +another in wet and dull weather, and also in the night--a habit that is +peculiar to all the members of the acacia family, to which the +locust belongs." + +"I should think it ought to belong to the pea family," said Malcolm, "if +the flowers are shaped like pea-blossoms." + +"So it does," replied Miss Harson--"or, rather, to the bean family, of +which the pea is a member, on account of its blossoms; but the acacia, +like many others, is a brother, or sister, on account of its leaves as +well as its blossoms. The peculiar distinction of this family is that +its flowers are butterfly-shaped or its fruit in pods, and it often +possesses both these characters. By one or the other all the plants of +the family are known, and the butterfly-shaped flowers are of a +character not to be mistaken, as they are found in no other family. It +includes herbs, shrubs and trees--an immense and perfectly natural +family, distributed throughout almost every part of the globe. There are +at present in all not less than thirty-seven hundred species. So you see +that the locust tree is certainly rich in relations." + +The children thought that it must have some family claim on almost +every plant in the world. + +[Illustration: CAROB TREE AND FRUIT.] + +"Do you remember that in the story of the Prodigal Son, told by our +Lord, it is said that the bad son became so poor that he wanted to eat +the 'husks' that the swine ate? Those 'husks' were the fruit of a Syrian +member of this family. The tree is the carob tree, of which you have +here a picture--a fine large tree bearing a sweet pod containing the +seeds. I have seen these pods for sale in this country, and foolishly +called St. John's bread, as if the 'locusts' eaten by John the Baptist +were pods of a locust tree, and not insect locusts." + +"Yes," said Malcolm, "I have tasted those pods, and they are real sweet; +but I wouldn't care to make a breakfast from them." + +"I like calling the flowers 'butterfly-shaped,'" said Clara, "because +that is just what the pea and bean-blossoms look like; though Kitty +calls 'em 'little ladies in hoods.' Isn't that funny, Miss Harson?" + +"It is very quaint, I think, but I do not dislike it: it is like seeing +faces in pansies; and some people are full of these odd imaginations. +There is a kind of locust, called the clammy-barked, found in the +Southern parts of the United States, which is a smaller tree than the +common locust and has large pale-pink flowers, while the rose acacia is +a very beautiful flowering shrub. The sweet, or honey, locust is +another variety, which is also called the three-thorned acacia, because +the thorns consist of one long spine with two shorter ones projecting +out of it, like little branches, near its base. This is said to display +much of the elegance of the tropical acacia in the minute division and +symmetry of its compound leaves. These are of a light and brilliant +green and lie flat upon the branches, giving them a fan-like appearance +such as we observe in the hemlock." + +"But why is it called honey-locust?" asked Malcolm. "Do the bees make +honey in the trunk?" + +"No," replied his governess; "the name comes from the sweetness of the +pulp around the seeds, which ripen in large flat pods, and of which boys +and girls are fond. But the flowers of this species are only small +greenish aments. Locust-wood is very durable, and, as it will bear +exposure to all kinds of weather, it is much used in shipbuilding and as +posts for gates. It is thought that the shittah and shittim wood of the +Bible, of which Moses made the greater part of the tables, altars and +planks of the tabernacle, was the same as the black acacia found in the +deserts of Arabia and about Mount Sinai and the mountains which border +on the Red Sea, and is so hard and solid as to be almost incorruptible. + +"And now," added Miss Harson, "reading of the numerous relations of the +locust, considering that 'the acacia, not less valued for its airy +foliage and elegant blossoms than for its hard and durable wood; the +braziletto, logwood and rosewoods of commerce; the laburnum; the furze +and the broom, both the pride of the otherwise dreary heaths of Europe; +the bean, the pea, the vetch, the clover, the trefoil, the lucerne--all +staple articles of culture by the farmer--are so many species of +Leguminosae, and that the gums Arabic and Senegal, kino and various +precious medicinal drugs, not to mention indigo, the most useful of all +dyes, are products of other species,--it will be perceived that it would +be difficult to point out an order with greater claims upon the +attention.'" + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +_THE WALNUT FAMILY AND THE AILANTHUS_. + +"The walnut family," said Miss Harson, "with the ugly name +_Juglandaceae_, are distinguished by pinnate, or compound, leaves, which +have an aromatic odor when crushed, and by blossoms in catkins. Of these +trees, the black walnut is one of the handsomest and most +highly prized." + +"Are there any of them here?" asked Malcolm. + +[Illustration: THE WALNUT TREE.] + +"No," was the reply; "I do not think you have ever seen one. They are +more common in the western part of the Middle States and in the Western +States; in Ohio particularly they grow to a very large size. Solitary +trees are sometimes seen in this part of the country, and the branches, +extending themselves horizontally to a great distance, spread out into a +spacious head, which gives them a very majestic appearance. The trunk +is rough and furrowed, and the leaves have from six to ten pairs of +leaflets and an odd one. They are smooth, strongly serrated and rather +pointed; the color is a light, bright green. The catkins are green, from +four to seven inches long, and hang from the axils of the last year's +leaves. The leaves are much longer than those of the locust, and the +leaf-stalk is downy. The nut, which is very oily, is shaped like an +English walnut, but resembles it in no other way, as the shell is very +thick and dark-colored. When thoroughly dried, the black walnut is very +much liked--as I think some witnesses here could testify--and is used in +making candy." + +"And just the nicest kind of candy, too," said the children, with one +voice. + +Their governess smiled, for this was very much her own opinion. + +"You do not know," she continued, "how strangely these nuts grow. They +have an outer husk, or rind, which when green is hard and has a very +pleasant smell; the tree then seems to be covered with green balls. As +the nuts ripen this outer part becomes so dark that it is almost black +and grows soft and spongy. A rich brown dye is made from it. +Black-walnut wood has long been famous for its beauty, and it grows +deeper and darker with age. It is handsomely shaded and takes a fine +polish, and this, with its durability, makes it very valuable for +furniture. Posts made of it will last a long time, and it can be put to +almost any use for which hard-wood is available. + +"The walnut tree has a great variety of good qualities in addition to +its fine appearance and generous shade. From the kernel a valuable oil +may be obtained for use in cookery and in lamps. Bread has also been +made from the kernels. The spongy husk of the nuts is used as dyestuff. +It thus unites almost all the qualities desirable in a tree--beauty, +gracefulness and richness of foliage in every period of its growth; bark +and husks which may be employed in an important art; fruit valuable as +food; wood unsurpassed in durability and in elegance." + +"I like English walnuts," said Clara, "they have such thin, pretty +shells; and papa, you know, can open them in just two halves with +a knife." + +"Once," said Miss Harson, "I had a little bag sent to me made of two +very large walnut shells with blue silk between, and in this bag there +was a pair of kid gloves rolled up very tight." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the children. It sounded like a fairy-tale, but they +knew that it was true, because Miss Harson said that it had really +happened. They were very much surprised, though, that a bag could be +made of nutshells, and that a pair of gloves could be crowded into so +small a compass. + +"Did it come from England?" asked Malcolm. + +"No," replied his governess; "it was sent to me from the island of +Madeira, where these nuts grow so abundantly that they have often been +called Madeira-nuts. It also grows abundantly in Europe, and the nuts +are used for dessert, pickling, and many other purposes, while the +poorer classes often depend largely on them for food." + +"Do they eat 'em instead of bread?" asked Edith. "I'd like that; they're +ever so much nicer!" + +"Perhaps you would not think so if you had hardly anything else to eat; +you would get tired of them then. In many places on the continent of +Europe the roads are lined with walnut trees for miles together, and in +the proper season the people may feast upon the fruit as much as they +like. A person, it is said, once traveled from Florence to Geneva and +ate nothing by the way but walnuts; but I must say that I should not +like to do it. One species bears a nut as large as an egg; but if kept +any time, it will shrink to half its natural size. The shell of this +great walnut, we are told, is sometimes used for making little +ornamental boxes to hold gloves and small fancy-articles; so you see +that mine was not the only glove-bag made of two walnut-shells." + +"How pretty they must be!" said Clara. "I should like to see one." + +"I think that I can make one when I get a large nut, and I shall be glad +to show you how it is done." + +This was a delightful prospect, and the children volunteered to save for +that especial purpose all the large nuts they could find. + +"The English walnut tree," continued Miss Harson, "is a native of +Persia or the North of China, and the long pinnated leaves seem to mark +its Oriental origin; but it has taken very kindly to its European home. +In some parts of Germany the walnut trees were considered to be such a +valuable possession that no young man was allowed to marry until he +owned a certain number; and if one tree was cut down, another was +always planted." + +"Don't they grow in this country?" asked Malcolm. + +"Not very often in our more northern States," was the reply, "for the +climate here is too cold for them; but at a house where I visited there +was an English walnut tree in the garden, and it seemed to do very well. +The nuts were always gathered while they were green, and made +into pickles." + +This was considered quite dreadful, for ripe nuts were certainly a great +deal better than pickles. + +"But there was a great deal of uncertainty about having the ripe nuts, +for there were bad boys all around who would not have hesitated to rob +the tree. Besides, pickled walnuts are considered a great delicacy by +those who eat such things. There are some other ways, too, of using the +nuts, which you would not like any better. One of these is to make them +into oil, as the people do in the South of Europe; this oil is used to +burn in their lamps and as an article of food. 'In Piedmont, among the +light-hearted peasantry, cracking the walnuts and taking them from the +shell is a holiday proceeding. The peasants, with their wives and +children, assemble in the evening, after their day's work is over, in +the kitchen of some chateau where the walnuts have been gathered, and +where their services are required. They sit round a table, and at each +end is a man with a small mallet, who cracks the walnuts and passes them +on; the rest of the party take them out of their shells. At supper-time +the table is cleared, and a repast of dried fruit, vegetables and wine +is set out. The remainder of the evening is spent in singing and +dancing. The crushing and pressing of the nuts, for oil, take place +when the whole harvest is in.'" + +"But don't walnuts come from California? Our grocer said he had +California nuts," remarked Malcolm. + +"Yes; that wonderful country is beginning to supply us with English +walnuts." + +"Are you going to tell us a story, Miss Harson?" asked Edith, hopefully. + +"I have no story, dear," was the reply, "but there is something here +which you may like about birds stealing the nuts." + +Of course they would like this; for if there was to be no story, birds +and stealing promised to furnish a good substitute. + +"'Birds are as fond of walnuts as we are,'" read Miss Harson, "'and rob +the trees without any mercy. Not only the little titmouse, but the grave +and solemn rook'--a kind of crow, you remember--'is not above paying a +visit to the walnut tree and stealing all he can find. There is a walnut +tree growing in a garden the owner of which may be said to have planted +it for the benefit of the rooks. Not that he had any such purpose, but, +as it happens, he cannot help himself. The rooks begin a series of +robberies as soon as the fruit is ripe, and carry them on with an +adroitness that would be amusing but for the result. As many as fifty +rooks come, one after the other, and each will carry off a walnut. The +old ones are the most at home in the process, and the most daring. The +bird approaches the tree and floats for a second in the air, as if +occupied in finding out which of the walnuts will be the easiest to +obtain; then, with a bold stroke, he darts at the one selected, and +rarely misses his aim. + +"'The young rooks are much more timid and not so successful. They settle +on the branch and knock down a great many walnuts in their clumsy +attempts to secure one. Even when the walnut has been obtained, the +young rook is not sure of his prize: one of his older and stronger +brethren is very likely to attack him and knock the walnut out of his +bill. Then, by a dextrous swoop, the robber catches it up before it +reaches the ground, and carries it off in triumph. The feasting ground +of the rooks is the next field, and here they come to eat their walnuts. +They crack the shell with their beaks and devour the kernel with great +relish. Then, when one walnut is finished, they fly back to the tree for +another. There is no chance for the owner of the garden, who does not +think it worth while even to shake his tree: he knows there will not be +a single walnut left.'" + +"I should think not, with those greedy creatures," exclaimed Malcolm. +"Why doesn't the man shoot 'em?" + +"He probably thinks it would be of little use, when there are such +numbers of the birds; besides, he may prefer losing his walnuts to +disturbing them, for rooks are treated with great consideration in +England, and there is no such wholesale destruction of birds as is +seen here." + +The rooks were certainly very comical, and the children thought this +little account of their antics over the walnut tree the next best thing +to a story. + +"Another fine shade-tree," continued Miss Harson, "and one very much +like the black walnut, is the butternut, or oil-nut, tree. It is low +and broad-headed, spreading into several large branches; the leaves are +pinnate, like those of the walnut, but have not so many leaflets. The +nut has an entirely different taste, and is even more oily. To many +persons it is not at all agreeable. It is a great favorite, though, with +country-boys, and in October, when the kernel is ripe, they may be seen +with deeply-stained hands and faces, as the thin, leathery husks when +handled leave plentiful traces. The butternut is not round like the +walnut, but oblong, and pointed at the end; it is about two inches in +length and marked by deep furrows and sharp irregular ridges. It is very +pretty when sawn across in slices, and looks like scroll-saw work.--We +shall have to get some, Malcolm, for you to practice on with your saw." + +[Illustration: THE BUTTERNUT TREE.] + +As his scroll-saw was just then the delight of Malcolm's heart, he felt +particularly interested in butternuts, and immediately mapped out in his +mind something very beautiful to be wrought with them for his governess. + +"The bark and the nutshells have long been used to give a brown color to +wool, and the Shakers dye a rich purple with it. The bark of the trunk +will give a black and that of the root a fawn-colored dye, while an +inferior sugar has been made from the sap. The young half-grown nuts are +much used for pickles. Butternut-wood is exceedingly handsome, of a +pale, reddish tint, and durable when exposed to heat and moisture. It +makes beautiful fronts for drawers and excellent light, tough and +durable wooden bowls. It is also used for the panels of carriages, as +well as for posts and rails. It is a more common tree than the walnut in +our part of the country; there is a large one in front of a house a few +miles from here which I will show you on our next drive." + +"I am glad of it," said Clara, "for I can remember about the trees so +much better when I have seen them. I wish we could see every one of the +trees you have told us of, Miss Harson." + +"Perhaps you will some day," replied her governess, "and you will then +find that a little knowledge of them before-hand is a great help." + +"Are there any more of the walnut family?" asked Malcolm. + +"Yes, the hickory belongs to it; and this is a tree which is peculiar to +America. The European walnut is more like it than any other. It is +always a stately and elegant tree and very valuable for its timber. +There are several varieties, which are much alike, the principal +difference being in the nuts. You have all seen most of the trees and +gathered the nuts. They are: + +"1. The shellbark, with five large leaflets, a large nut, of which the +husk is deeply grooved at the seams, and a rough, scaly trunk. + +"2. The mocker-nut, with seven or nine leaflets, a hard, thick-shelled +nut, and leaflets and twigs very downy when young, and strongly odorous. + +"3. The pignut, with three, five or seven narrow leaflets, small, +thin-shelled fruit and a pretty hard nut. + +"4. The bitternut, with seven, nine or eleven small, narrow, serrated +leaves, small fruit with long, prominent seams, bitter and thin-shelled +nuts and very yellow buds. + +"The shellbark is often called 'shagbark,' and it is the finest of the +hickories and one that is seldom mistaken for any of the others. It may +readily be distinguished by the shaggy bark of its trunk, the excellence +of its globular fruit, its leaves, which are large and have five +leaflets, and by its ovate, half-covered buds. It is a tall, slender +tree with irregular branches, and the foliage seems to lie in masses of +dense, dark green. But in October, when the nuts ripen, the leaves turn +to orange-brown, and finally to the color of a russet apple; so that +they do not add greatly to the beauty of the forest." + +"But the nuts are good," said Malcolm. "Didn't we have fine times +picking 'em up?" + +"We did indeed," replied Miss Harson, "and I hope we shall again." + +"How long will it be before they are ripe?" asked the little girls. + +"Just about five months, I think." + +"Oh dear!" was the reply; "that's _so_ long to wait!" + +"But you needn't wait," said their governess; "you can enjoy each season +as it comes, and all the good things that our heavenly Father sends with +it. Remember that, as you cannot expect ripe nuts in May or June, +neither can you look for strawberries and roses in October. Tents are of +very little use then, too." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the children, to whom the tent was still a delightful +novelty; and they decided not to wish just yet for nutting-time to come. + +"The nut, as you have so often seen, is covered with a brown husk that +is very thick and marked with four furrows, by which it separates into +as many distinct pieces, one being larger than the rest. The nuts +differ very much in size and shape, and also in hardness, but the best +kinds have thin shells and soft kernels; they are also rounder and +fuller than the poorer sorts. There is a peculiar sweetness in the taste +of this nut when in its best condition, and it is quite equal to the +European walnut. The wood of this tree is particularly valuable for +fuel, and in old times, when wood-fires were the only kind known, a good +hickory back-log was sure to be found on every hearth. It is the +heaviest of our native woods, and the wise men say that it yields, pound +for pound or cord for cord, more heat than any other, in any shape in +which it may be consumed." + +"But what a pity," said Clara, "to burn up trees that bear nuts! Why +can't they take those that don't?" + +"They are not so desirable for fuel," was the reply; "and when people +own trees which they are willing to turn into money, they generally +consider in what way they can get the most for them. Nuts which grow in +the woods and fields are a very uncertain crop, of which every one +seems to gather more than the owner, and it is therefore more profitable +for him to cut his trees down and sell them for their wood, which the +people in the cities and towns are so glad to get." + +"What's the use," asked Malcolm, "of calling a tree such a name as +_mocker-nut_? What does it mean?" + +"That is just what I have not been able to find out," replied Miss +Harson, "but it has an Indian sound, and it seems that the Indians used +to make a black dye from the bark; so we will give them the credit for +it. The name is not often used, for the tree is generally known as the +white walnut. The nut is the largest of the hickories, being often from +four to six inches around, and it is shaped somewhat like a pear. One +variety, however, is known as the square nut. The shell is very thick +and hard, but the kernel is sweet when once it is gotten out. This tree +is as stately and finely-shaped as the shagbark. It varies from the +other hickories in the number of its leaflets, which are seven or nine, +the down on its leaves and recent shoots, the hardness of the husk and +thickness of the nut, the roundness of its large covered buds, and the +strong resinous odor in leaves, buds and husks. In its general +appearance it resembles the shellbark, as well as in the fullness of its +foliage and the size of its leaves. 'White-heart hickory' is a name +often given to this species, because the wood is supposed, when young, +to be whiter than that of any of the others," + +"_Pignut_ is another beautiful name," said Malcolm, who was disposed to +be critical. "Do pigs ever eat the nuts, Miss Harson?" + +"I dare say that they do when they have the chance," was the reply, "as +they delight in nuts; but that is said not to be the proper name for the +species. Some of the nuts are shaped like a fresh fig, and 'fig-nut' +seems to be the name originally intended. But there is a great variety +in the shape of the nuts, as some are nearly round and others very +irregular. They are alike, however, in having very hard, tough shells, +and the kernel is not pleasant enough to repay the trouble of getting +at it. These nuts are very apt to grow in pairs, and several bushels of +them can be gathered from one tree." + +"Aren't they good to eat?" asked Clara. + +"Not at all good," replied her governess, "except to those who are not +particular about what they eat; and this may be the reason for calling +them 'pignuts,'" + +"_Bitternut_ doesn't sound much better," said Malcolm, again. "I wonder +what that species has to say for itself?" + +"Not very much, I am afraid, for it is sometimes called the bitter +pignut, and even boys will not eat it, while squirrels refuse to feed on +it when any other nut can be found. The shell of this nut is so thin +that it can be broken in the fingers, but, as no one cares to break it, +it is safer than many a thicker shell. It is intensely bitter, and well +deserves its name. The tree, however, is handsome and the most graceful +of all the hickories; the small, slender leaves give it the look of an +ash, and the trunk is smoother than that of most large trees. In summer +the finely-cut foliage is of a bright green, and in autumn it changes +to a rich orange, which lasts after the other species have become russet +and brown." + +"Is there anything more about hickory trees?" said Clara. + +"Only to speak of the great value of the wood," replied Miss Harson. +"Its uses are almost endless. Great numbers of walking-sticks are made +of it, as for this purpose no other native wood equals it in beauty and +strength. It is next in value to white oak for making hoops; it makes +the best screws, the smoothest and most durable handles for chisels, +augurs, gimlets, axes, and many other common tools. As fuel, hickory is +preferred to every other wood, burning freely, making a pleasant, +brilliant fire and throwing out great heat. Charcoal made from it is +heavier than that made from any other wood, but it is not considered +more valuable than that of birch or alder. The ashes of hickories abound +in alkali, and are considered better for the purpose of making soap than +any other of the native woods, being next to those of the apple tree." + +"There, Clara!" said Malcolm; "you see now why people cut down hickory +trees. The nuts are nowhere, with all these other things." + +"We have finished the walnut family," said Miss Harson, "but there is a +tree that I wish to speak of here because of its long pinnate leaves, +which appear to connect it with the walnuts and hickories. This is the +ailanthus, a large tree which you have often seen in the village, and +which used to be popular as a shade-tree. It is very clean-looking, for +the only insect that will eat its leaves is the silkworm." + +"Oh, Miss Harson!" exclaimed the children. "Are there real silkworms on +'em? and can we see 'em?" + +"Why, do you not remember our talk about silkworms?" replied their +governess. "I am sure I told you that they would not live here in the +open air, but they do in China; and the ailanthus is a Chinese tree. It +was planted in Great Britain over a hundred years ago for the express +purpose of feeding silkworms, because a species of silkworm which was +known to be hardy and capable of forming its cocoons in the English +climate is attached to this tree and feeds upon its leaves. It was not +successful, however, for silkworms, but as a stately and ornamental tree +with tropical-looking foliage it was much admired. The ailanthus is +quite common in this country as a wayside tree. It possesses a good deal +of beauty, from the size and graceful sweep of its large compound +leaves, that retain their brightness and verdure after midsummer, when +our native trees have become dull. These leaves have nine or ten +leaflets as large as a beech-leaf." + +"Isn't that the tree that smells so in summer?" asked Clara, with a +disgusted face. + +"Yes; the greenish flowers have a particularly disagreeable odor, which +is very strong and penetrating, and this is probably the reason why the +tree has lost favor in so many places. But this is only during the +season of blossoming, and for several months it is a beautiful +Oriental-looking tree with every leaf perfect, while nearly all other +foliage is more or less ravaged by insects." + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +_SOME BEAUTIFUL TREES: THE CHESTNUT AND HORSE-CHESTNUT._ + +The nearest trees to the tent, and standing just back of it, were two +magnificent chestnuts, now in full leaf-beauty; and Miss Harson and her +little flock stood admiring their majestic size and beautiful color. + +"These are the handsomest trees yet," said Malcolm. + +"I almost think so myself," replied his governess, gazing up into the +rich green depths, "and I wish you particularly to notice these +radiated--or star-like--tufts of foliage. The leaves, you see, are long, +lengthened to a tapering point, serrated--or notched like a saw--at the +edge, and of a bright and nearly pure green. Though arranged +alternately, like those of the beech, on the recent branches, they are +clustered in stars containing from five to seven leaves on the fruitful +branches that grow out from the perfected wood. Now stand off a little +and see how the foliage seems to be all in tufts, each composed of +several long, pointed leaves drooping from the centre. The aments, too, +with their light silvery-green tint, glisten beautifully on the +darker leaves." + +"How high do you think these trees are, Miss Harson?" asked Clara. "It +makes me dizzy to look up to the top." + +[Illustration: LEAF OF THE CHESTNUT.] + +"They can be scarcely less than ninety feet," was the reply, "and they +are very fine specimens of the family; but the great chestnut which is +the only tree in the field on the left of the house is broader. It +spreads out like an apple tree, because it has abundance of room, and it +is nearly as broad as it is high." + +"And aren't its chestnuts just splendid?" exclaimed Malcolm--"the +biggest we find anywhere." + +[Illustration: THE CHESTNUT TREE.] + +"The bark, you see," continued his governess, "is very dark-colored, +hard and rugged, with long, deep clefts. In smaller and younger trees it +is smooth. I suppose I need not tell you that the fruit is within a burr +covered with sharp, stiff bristles which are not handled with impunity. +It opens by four valves more than halfway down when ripe, and contains +the nuts, from one to three in number, in a downy cup. These green burrs +are very ornamental to the tree; and when they are ripe, the green takes +on a yellow tinge." + +"You didn't say anything about the cunning little tails of the nuts, +Miss Harson," said Edith, in a disappointed tone. "I think they're the +prettiest part, and they stick up in the burr like little mice-tails." + +"Well, dear," was the smiling reply, "_you_ have told us about them, and +I think you have given a very good description. That is just what they +always reminded me of when I was about your age--little mice-tails." + +Edith looked pleased and shy, and she did not mind Malcolm's laughing at +her "little tails," because Miss Harson used to think the same as she +did about them. + +"This beautiful tree came from Asia, and it belongs to the _Castanea_ +family, the Greeks having given it that name from a town in Pontus where +they obtained it. It was transplanted into the North and West, and is +now found in most temperate regions. The wood of the chestnut is very +valuable, as it is strong, elastic and durable, and is often used as a +substitute for oak and pine. It makes very beautiful furniture." + +"What kind of chestnuts," asked Clara, "are those great big ones, like +horse-chestnuts, that they have in some of the stores? Are they good +to eat?" + +"Yes," replied Miss Harson; "they are particularly good, and many people +in the southern countries of Europe almost live on them. They are three +or four times larger than our nuts, these Spanish and Italian chestnuts, +and they are eaten instead of bread and potatoes by the peasantry of +Spain and Italy. The Spanish chestnut is one of the most stately of +European trees, and sometimes it is found growing in our own country, +but never in the woods. It is carefully planted and cultivated as an +ornamental tree for private grounds. And now," added the young lady, "as +we have sufficiently examined our American chestnut trees and it is +rather damp and cool to-day for tent-life, suppose we return to the +house and get better acquainted with the foreign chestnuts?" + +Edith asked if there was to be a story, but she did not complain when +Miss Harson thought not, only an account of a very large tree; for the +children always felt quite sure that there would be something which they +would like to hear. + + * * * * * + +The evening was damp, and Clara said that, the schoolroom looked like a +mixture of summer and winter. The fire was both pleasant and +comfortable, but there were lilacs and tulips and hyacinths and plenty +of wild flowers in vases and baskets; the leaves were all out on the +trees by the windows, and the grass was like velvet. + +"One of the largest trees in the world, if not the largest," said Miss +Harson, "is a chestnut tree on the side of Mount Etna, in Sicily, which +abounds with chestnut trees of giant proportions and remarkable beauty. +It is called 'The Chestnut Tree of a Hundred Horses,' and this title is +said to have originated in a report that a queen of Aragon once took +shelter under its branches attended by her principal nobility, all of +whom found refuge from a violent storm under the spreading boughs of the +tree. At one time it was supposed that the tree really consisted of a +clump of several united, but this is not the case; for on digging away +the earth the root was found entire, and at no great depth. Five +enormous branches rise from the trunk, the outside surface of each being +covered with bark, while on the inside is none. The verdure and the +support of the tree thus depend on the outer bark alone. The intervals +between the branches are of various extent, one of them being sufficient +to allow two carriages to drive abreast. In the middle cavity--or what +is called the hollow--of the tree a hut has been built for the use of +persons employed in collecting and preserving the fruit. They dry the +chestnuts in an oven, and then make them into various conserves for +sale. A whole caravan of men and animals were once accommodated in the +enclosure, and also a flock of sheep folded there. The age of this +prodigious tree must be very great indeed. It belongs to the tribe +which bears sweet, or edible, chestnuts, that form an agreeable article +of food. The foliage is rich, shadowy and beautiful. + +"The wood of the chestnut is much used in England for hop-poles, and old +houses in London are floored or wainscoted with it. The beautiful roof +of Westminster Abbey is made of chestnut wood. + +"There are magnificent forests of Spanish chestnuts in the Apennines, +and it was the favorite tree of the great painter Salvator Rosa, who +spent much time studying the beautiful play of light and shade on its +foliage. The peasants make a gala-time of gathering and preparing the +nuts. A traveler, having penetrated the extensive forest which covers +the Vallombrosan Apennines for nearly five miles, came unexpectedly upon +those festive scenes, which are not unfrequent among the chestnut-range. +It was a holiday, and a group of peasants dressed in the gay and +picturesque attire of the neighborhood of the Arno were dancing in an +open and level space covered with smooth turf and surrounded with +magnificent chestnuts, while the inmost recesses of the forest resounded +with their mirth and minstrelsy. Some beat down the chestnuts with +sticks and filled baskets with them, which they emptied from time to +time; others, stretched listlessly upon the turf, picked out the +contents of the bristling capsules in which the kernels were entrenched, +for these, when newly gathered, are sweet and nutritious; others again, +and especially young peasant-girls, pelted their companions with +the fruit." + +"Like snowballing," said Malcolm; "only the prickers must have stung. +What grand times they had with their chestnuting!" + +"These gay, thoughtless people," replied his governess, "almost live in +the open air and enjoy the present moment. It is not easy to tell what +they would do without these bountiful chestnut-harvests, for their +principal article of food is a thick porridge called _polenta_, which +they make from the ground nuts. In France a kind of cake is made from +the same material, and the chestnuts are prepared by drying them in +smoke. Another dish is like mashed potatoes, and large quantities are +exported in the shape of sweetmeats, made by dipping them, after +boiling, into clarified sugar and drying them." + +"Miss Harson," asked Clara, "why are horse-chestnuts _called_ +'horse-chestnuts '? Do horses like 'em?" + +"Not usually," was the reply. "The nuts are sometimes ground and given +to horses, but, as sheep, deer and other cattle eat them in their +natural state, it would seem more reasonable to name them after some of +those animals, if that was the reason. It is likely that because they +look like chestnuts, but are much larger, they were called +'horse-chestnuts,' The tree is not in any respect a chestnut; and when +it was first planted in England, some centuries ago, it was called 'a +rare foreign tree,' and was much admired. It is supposed to have come +from India. The large nuts are like chestnuts in appearance.--Except, +Edith, that they have no 'cunning little tails.'--In the month of May +there is not a more beautiful tree to be found than the horse-chestnut, +with its large, deeply-cut leaves of a bright-green color and its long, +tapering spikes of variegated flowers, which turn upward from the dense +foliage. The tree at this time has been compared to a huge chandelier, +and the erect blossoms to so many wax lights. The bitter nuts ripen +early in the autumn and fall from the tree, but long before this the +beautiful foliage has turned rusty in our Northern States, and is no +longer ornamental. The overshadowing branches, which give such a +pleasant shade in summer, early in autumn begin to show the ravages of +the insects or the natural decay of the leaves." + +"Then," said Malcolm, "it isn't a nice tree to have, and I'm glad that +there are elms here instead." + +"I should like to have some of all the trees," replied Clara, "because +then we could study about them better.--Wouldn't you, Miss Harson?" + +"I think so," said her governess, "if they were not undesirable to have, +as some trees are. If it were always May, I should want horse-chestnut +trees; for I think there is scarcely anything so pretty as those fresh +leaves and blossoms. The branches, too, begin low down, and that gives +the tree a generous spreading look which is very attractive in the way +of shade. In more southern States they have a longer season of beauty +than those in the North." + +"Do people ever eat the horse-chestnut?" asked Edith. + +"Not often, dear--it is too bitter; but an old writer who lived in the +days when it was first seen in England says that he planted it in his +orchard as a fruit tree, between his mulberry and his walnut, and that +he roasted the chestnuts and ate them. It is like the bitternut-hickory, +which even boys will not eat." + +"I should think that somebody or something ought to eat it," said Clara, +thoughtfully; "it seems like such a waste." + +Everyone laughed at her wise air, and she was asked if she intended to +set the example. She was not quite ready, though, to do that; and Miss +Harson continued: + +"A naturalist once took from the tree a tiny flower-bud and proceeded to +dissect it. After the external covering, which consisted of seventeen +scales, he came upon the down which protects the flower. On removing +this he could perceive four branchlets surrounding the spike of flowers, +and the flowers themselves, though so minute, were as distinct as +possible, and he could not only count their number, but discern the +stamens, and even the pollen." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the children; "how very curious!" + +"Yes," replied their governess; "it shows how perfect and wonderful, +from the beginning, are all the works of God." + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +_AMONG THE PINES_. + +"How good it smells here!" exclaimed Edith, with her small nose in the +air to inhale what she called "a good sniff" in the fragrant pine-woods. + +Miss Harson had taken the children in the carriage to a pine-grove some +miles from Elmridge, and Thomas and the horses waited by the roadside +while the little party walked about or stood gazing up at the tall +slender trees that seemed to tower to the very skies. Thomas was not +fond of waiting, but he thought that he had the best of it in this case: +it was more cheerful to sit in the carriage and "flick" the flies from +Rex and Regina than to go poking about in the gloomy pine-woods. Yet, +notwithstanding the darkness of its interior and the sombre character of +its dense masses of evergreen foliage as seen from without--whence the +name of "black timber," which has been applied to it--the shade and +shelter it affords and the sentiment of grandeur it inspires cause it to +become allied with the most profound and agreeable sensations; and it +was something of this feeling, though they could not express it in +words, which possessed the young tree-hunters as they stood in the +pine-grove. + +"It's nice to breathe here," said Clara. + +"It is delicious," replied her governess, enthusiastically, her eyes +kindling as she repeated the lines: + + "'His praise, ye winds, that from four quarter blow, + Breathe soft and loud; and wave your tops, ye pines, + With every plant, in sign of worship. Wave!'" + +"What a queer brown color--almost like red--the ground is!" said +Malcolm. "And look, Miss Harson! it's made of lots of little +sharp sticks." + +"The sharp sticks are pine-needles," was the reply--"the dead +pine-leaves of last year; and when the new growth of leaves have been +put forth, they cover the ground with a smooth brown matting as +comfortable as a gravel-walk, and yet a carpet of Nature's making. 'The +foliage of the pine is so hard and durable that in summer we always find +the last year's crop lying upon the ground in a state of perfect +soundness, and under it that of the preceding year only partially +decayed.'" + +"It's kind of slippery in some places," continued Malcolm, taking a +slide as he spoke. "And see those queer-looking roots sprouting out of +the ground!" + +"I see the roots," said Miss Harson, "but no sprouts. That is the white +pine, the roots of which are often seen above the ground, spreading to +some distance from the trunk. Generally the roots of pine trees are +small, compared with the size of the trunks, and spread horizontally +instead of descending far into the ground. For this reason pines are +often uprooted by high winds, which break off the deciduous trees near +the ground. But I wish you particularly to notice the trunks of these +trees and tell me if you can see any difference in them." + +Those particular trees had probably never been stared at so hard +before, and the three children exclaimed almost together: + +"Some are rough, and some are smooth, and the rough ones have little +bunches of leaves on 'em." + +"These are the pitch-pines," replied their governess. "They are the +roughest of all our forest-trees, and they have a rounder head than any +of the other American evergreens. The branches, you see, turn in various +directions and are curved downward at the ends. This tree has also the +peculiar habit of sending out little branchlets full of leaves along the +stem from the root upward, and this has a very pretty effect, like that +of some elm trees. It is the pitch-pine that produces the fragrance we +are all enjoying so much. What do you notice about the smoother trees?" + +"They are very tall and big," replied Clara--"ever so much handsomer +than the rough ones." + +[Illustration: THE WHITE PINE.] + +"The white pine," said Miss Harson, "is one of the loftiest and most +valuable of North American trees. Its top can be seen at a great +distance, looking like a spire as it towers above the heads of the trees +around it. You see that it has widespread branches and silken-looking, +tufted foliage. The leaves are in fives and not so stiff as those of the +other pines, and you will notice that the branches are in whorls, like a +series of stages one above another. The foliage has a tasseled effect +with those long silky tufts at the ends of the branches, and the whole +outline of the tree is very pleasing." + +"This isn't a pine tree, is it?" asked Malcolm, touching a small tree +with very slender branches, some of them as slight as willow-withes and +covered with grayish-red bark, while that on the main stem was +bluish gray. + +[Illustration: THE LARCH.] + +"It is a species of pine," was the reply, "because it belongs to the +Coniferae, or cone-producing, family; but it is not an evergreen, +although it ranks as such. This is the larch--generally called in New +England by its Indian name of _hacmatack_--and it differs from the other +pines in its crowded tufts of leaves, which, after turning to a soft +leather-color, fall, in New England, early in November. The cones, too, +are very small." + +"What's the use of cones, any way?" asked Malcolm as he picked up some +very large ones under the white and pitch pines. + +"Their principal use," replied his governess, "is to contain the seeds +of future trees: they are the fruit of the pine; but they have a number +of uses besides, which you shall hear about this evening." + +"The little cones at Hemlock Lodge are pretty," said Edith, "and Clara +and me play with 'em. We play they're a orphan-'sylum." + +[Illustration: FOLIAGE OF THE LARCH (_Larix Americana_).] + +"'Clara and I,' dear," corrected Miss Harson, smiling at the +"orphan-'sylum," while Malcolm said he had never thought of that before, +and it must be what they were meant for. Edith could not quite +understand whether this was fun or earnest, but Miss Harson shook her +head at Malcolm and called him "naughty boy." + +"The spruce and hemlock," continued their governess, "and many of the +other evergreens, we have at Elmridge, but I brought you here to-day for +our drive that you might examine these magnificent pine trees, and so be +better able to understand whatever we can find out about them this +evening. Thomas is probably tired of waiting by this time; so we will +leave the fragrant pine-woods for the present, and promise ourselves +some future visits." + +Every green thing was now in full summer beauty, and daisies and +buttercups gemmed the fields, while the garden at Elmridge was all aglow +with blossoms, The children remembered their flower-studies of last +year, and took fresh pleasure in the woods because of them; but the +trees now seemed quite as interesting as the flowers had been. + + * * * * * + +"The trees known as evergreens," said Miss Harson, "are not so bright +and cheerful-looking as those which are deciduous, or leaf-shedding, but +they have the advantage of being clothed with foliage, although of a +sober hue, all the year round. They consist of pines, firs, junipers, +cypresses, spruces, larches, yews and hemlocks, with some foreign trees, +and form a distinct and striking natural group. 'This family has claims +to our particular attention from the importance of its products in +naval, and especially in civil and domestic, architecture, and in many +other arts, and, in some instances, in medicine. Some of the species in +this country are of more rapid growth, attain to a larger size and rise +to a loftier height than any other trees known. The white pine is much +the tallest of our native trees.'" + +"How high does it grow, Miss Harson?" asked Clara. + +"From one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet," was replied, "and on +the north-west coast of America one called the 'Douglas's pine' is the +loftiest tree known; it is said to measure over three hundred feet. +'From the pines are obtained the best masts and much of the most +valuable ship-timber, and in the building and finishing of houses they +are of almost indispensable utility. The bark of some of them, as the +hemlock and larch, is of great value in tanning, and from others are +obtained the various kinds of pitch, tar, turpentine, resin and +balsams,' The pines and firs have circles of branches in imperfect +whorls around the trunk, and, as one of these whorls is formed each +year, it is easy to calculate the age of young trees. In thick woods the +lower whorls of branches soon decay for want of light and air, and this +leaves a smooth trunk, which rises without a branch, like a beautiful +shaft, for a hundred feet or more. + +"These trees are found everywhere except in the hot regions around the +equator. The white pine is the most common, but in the evergreen woods +of our own country it is mixed with pitch-pine and fir trees. In our +Southern States there are thin forests, called pine-barrens, through +which one can travel for miles on horseback. The white pine is easily +distinguished by its leaves being in fives, by its very long cones, +composed of loosely-arranged scales, and when young by the smoothness +and delicate light-green color of the bark. It is known throughout New +England by the name 'white pine,' which is given it on account of the +whiteness of the wood. In England it is called the Weymouth pine. + +"Many very large trees are found in Maine, on the Penobscot River, but +most of the largest and most valuable timber trees have been cut down. +The lumberers, as they are called, are constantly hewing down the grand +old trees for timber, white pine being the principal timber of New +England and Canada." + +"And they float it down the rivers on rafts, don't they?" said Malcolm. +"Won't you tell us about that, Miss Harson?" + +"Yes," was the reply.--"But do not look so expectant, Edie; it is not a +story, dear, only a description of pine-cutting in the forests of Maine +and Canada. But I should like you to know how these great trees are +turned into timber, and you will see that, like many other necessary +things, it is neither easy nor pleasant. We do not get much without hard +work on the part of somebody: remember that. Now I will read: + +"'The business of procuring trees suitable for masts of ships is +difficult and fatiguing. The pines which grew in the neighborhood of the +rivers and in the most accessible places have all been cut down. Paths +have now to be cleared with immense labor to the recesses of the forest, +in order to obtain a fresh supply. This arduous employment is called +"lumbering," and those who engage in it are "lumberers." The word +"lumber," in its general sense, applies to all kinds of timber. But +though many different trees, such as oak, ash and maple, are cut down, +yet the main business is with the pines. And when a suitable plot of +ground has been chosen for erecting a saw-mill,' to prepare the boards, +'it is called "pine-land," or a spot where the pine trees predominate. + +"'A body of wood-cutters unite to form what is called a +"lumbering-party," and they are in the employ of a master-lumberman, who +pays them wages and finds them in provisions. The provisions are +obtained on credit and under promise of payment when the timber has been +cut down and sold. If the timber meets with any accident in its passage +down the river, the master-lumberman cannot make good the loss, and the +shopkeeper loses his money. + +"'When the lumbering-party are ready to start, they take with them a +supply of necessaries, and also what tools they will require, and +proceed up the river to the heart of the forest. When they reach a +suitable spot where the giant trees which are to serve for masts grow +thick and dark, they get all their supplies on shore--their axes, their +cooking-utensils and the casks of molasses'--and too often of whisky or +rum, too, I am sorry to say--'that will be used lavishly. The molasses +is used instead of sugar to sweeten the great draughts of tea--made, not +from the product of China, but from the tops of the hemlock. + +"'The first thing to be done is to build some kind of shelter, for they +must remain in the forest until spring, and the cold of those Northern +winters is terrible. Their cabin--for it cannot be called by any better +name--is built of logs of wood cut down on purpose and put together as +rudely as possible. It is only five feet high, and the roof is covered +with boards. There is a great blazing fire kept up day and night, for +the frost is intense, and the provisions have to be kept in a deep place +made in the ground under the cabin. The smoke of the fire goes out +through a hole in the roof, and the floor is strewn with branches of +fir, the only couch the poor hardworking lumberers have to rest upon. +When night comes, they turn into the cabin to sleep, and lie with their +feet to the fire. If a man chances to awaken, he instantly jumps up and +throws fresh logs on the fire; for it is of the utmost importance not to +let it go out. One of the men is the cook for the whole party, and his +duty is to have breakfast ready before it is light in the morning. He +prepares a meal of boiled meat and the hemlock tea sweetened with +molasses, and the rest of the party partake heartily of both, and in +some camps also of rum, under the mistaken notion that it helps them to +bear the severe toil. When breakfast is over, they divide into several +gangs. One gang cuts down the trees, another saws them in pieces, and +the third gang is occupied in conveying them, by means of oxen, to the +bank of the nearest stream, which is now frozen over. + +"'It is a hard winter for the lumbermen. The snow covers the ground +until the middle of May, and the frost is often intense. But they toil +through it, felling, sawing and conveying until a quantity of trees have +been laid prostrate and made available for the market. Then, at last, +the weather changes; the snow begins to melt and the streams and rills +are set at liberty. The rivers flow briskly on and are much swollen with +the melting snow, and the men say that the freshets have come down. + +"'Hard as their toil has been, the most difficult and fatiguing has yet +to be encountered. The timber is collected on the banks of the river, +and has now to be thrown into the water and made into rafts, so that it +can be floated down to the nearest market-town. The water, filled with +melting snow, is deadly cold and can scarcely be endured, but the men +are in it from morning till night constructing the rafts, which are put +together as simply as possible, and the smallest outlay made to suffice. +The rafts are of different sizes, according to the breadth of the +stream; and when all is ready, they are launched, and the convoy fairly +sets out on its voyage. + +"'The great ugly masses of floating timber move slowly along under the +care of a pilot, and the lumberers ride upon the rafts, often without +shelter or protection from the weather. They guide themselves by long +and powerful poles fixed on pivots, and which act as rudders. As they +journey down the stream they sing and shout and make the utmost noise +and riot. If there comes a storm or a change of weather, the pilot +steers his convoy into some safe creek for the night, and secures it as +best he can. + +"'Thus by degrees the raft reaches the place of destination, +occasionally with some loss and damage to the timber. In this case the +master-lumberer bears the loss, and is obliged to refund the expenses +incurred as best he can. At any rate, the men are now paid off, and set +out on foot for their homes.'" + +Malcolm was particularly delighted with this narrative of stirring +activity, and even the little girls seemed very much interested in it. +They were so sorry for the poor lumbermen who had such dreary winters +off there in the Northern woods, and Clara wondered if they couldn't +have warm comforters and mittens. + +"They probably have those things when they go into camp," said Miss +Harson, "but they are likely to find them in the way of working, and to +cast them aside.--Great ships are not built for nothing: even to get the +timber in readiness costs heavy labor, but, after all, no doubt, the men +get interested in it and enjoy its excitement. Fortunately for the many +uses to which its timber is put, the white pine grows very rapidly, +gaining from fifteen inches to three feet every year. In deep and damp +old woods it is slower of growth; it is then almost without sap-wood and +has a yellowish color like the flesh of the pumpkin. For this reason it +is called 'pumpkin-pine.' The bark of young trees of the white-pine +species is very smooth and of a reddish, bottle-green color. It is +covered in summer with a pearly gloss. On old trunks the bark is less +rough than that of any other pine. This tree has the spreading habit of +the cedar of Lebanon. In addition to its grand and picturesque +character, the white pine, says a lover of trees, may be 'regarded as a +true symbol of benevolence. Under its outspread roof numerous small +animals, nestling in the bed of dry leaves that cover the ground, find +shelter and repose. The squirrel feeds upon the kernels obtained from +its cones; the hare browses upon the trefoil'--clover--'and the spicy +foliage of the _hypericum_'--St. John's wort--'which are protected in +its shade; and the fawn reposes on its brown couch of leaves unmolested +by the outer tempest. From its green arbors the quails are often roused +in midwinter, where they feed upon the berries of the _Mitchella_ and +the spicy wintergreen. Nature, indeed, seems to have specially designed +this tree to protect her living creatures both in summer and +in winter.'" + +"Hurrah for the white pine," said Malcolm, with great energy, "the grand +old _American_ tree!" + +"I'm glad that the little birds and animals have such a nice home under +it in winter," said Clara. + +"I'm glad too," added Edith, "but I wish we could find some and see how +they look in their soft bed. Don't they ever put their heads out the +least bit, Miss Harson?" + +"Not when they suspect that there is any one around, dear, and the +little creatures are very sharp to find this out. Our heavenly Father, +you know, takes thought for sparrows and all such helpless things, and +they are fed and cared for without any thought of their own.--The white +pine," she continued, "is truly a magnificent tree, but I think we shall +find that the pitch-pine is also very useful." + +"That's the rough one," said Malcolm; "I remember how it looks, with +little tufts sticking out along the trunk." + +"Yes," replied his governess, "and out authority says this tree is +distinguished by its leaves being in threes--the white pine, you know, +has them in _fives_--by the rigidity and sharpness of the scales of its +cones, by the roughness of its bark, and by the denseness of the brushes +of its stiff, crowded leaves. Its usual height is from forty to fifty +feet, but it is sometimes much taller. The trunk is not only rough, but +very dark in color; and from this circumstance the species is frequently +called black pine. The wood is very hard and firm, and contains a +quantity of resin. This is much more abundant in the branches than in +the trunk, and the boards and other lumber of this wood are usually full +of pitch-knots." + +"What are pitch-knots?" asked Clara. + +"'When a growing branch,'" read Miss Harson, "'is broken off, the +remaining portion becomes charged with resin,' which is deposited by the +resin-bearing sap of the tree, 'forming what is called a pitch-knot, +extending sometimes to the heart. The same thing takes place through the +whole heart of a tree when, full of juice, its life is suddenly +destroyed.' 'Resin' is another name for turpentine, but is used of it +commonly when hardened into a solid form. The tar is obtained by slowly +burning splintered pine, both trunk and root, with a smothered flame, +and collecting the black liquid, which is expelled by the heat and +caught in cavities beneath the burning pile. Pitch is thickened tar, and +is used in calking ships and for like purposes." + +"I am going to remember that," said Malcolm; "I could never make out +what all those different things meant." + +"What are you thinking about so seriously, Clara?" asked her governess. +"If it is a puzzle, let me see if I cannot solve it for you." + +"Well, Miss Harson, I was thinking of those brown leaves, or 'needles,' +in the pine-woods, and it seems strange to say that the leaves of +evergreens never fall off." + +"It would not only be strange, dear, but quite untrue, to say that; for +the same leaves do not, of course, remain for ever on the tree. The +deciduous trees lose their leaves in the autumn and are entirely bare +until the next spring, but the evergreens, although they renew their +leaves, too, are never left without verdure of some sort. Late in +October you may see the yellow or brown foliage of the pines, then ready +to fall, surrounding the branches of the previous year's growth, forming +a whorl of brown fringe surmounted by a tuft of green leaves of the +present year's growth. Their leaves always turn yellow before the fall." + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +_GIANT AND NUT PINES_. + +Great was the surprise of Edith when Miss Harson gave the little sleeper +a gentle shake and told her that it was time to be up. But the birds +without the window told the same story, and the little maiden was soon +at the breakfast-table and ready for the day's duties and enjoyments, +including their "tree-talk." + +"Are there any more kinds of pine trees?" asked Malcolm. + +[Illustration: "AWAKE, LITTLE ONE!"] + +"Yes, indeed!--more than we can take up this summer," replied Miss +Harson. "There is the Norway pine, or red pine, which in Maine and New +Hampshire is often seen in forests of white and pitch pine. It has a +tall trunk of eighty feet or so, and a smooth reddish bark. The leaves +are in twos, six or eight inches long, and form large tufts or brushes +at the end of the branchlets. The wood is strong and resembles that of +the pitch-pine, but it contains no resin. The giant pines of California +belong to a different species from any that we have been considering, +and the genus, or order, in which they have been arranged is called +_Sequoia_[19]. They are generally known, however, as the 'Big Trees.' In +one grove there are a hundred and three of them, which cover a space of +fifty acres, called 'Mammoth-Tree Grove.' One of the giants has been +felled--a task which occupied twenty-two days. It was impossible to cut +it down, in the ordinary sense of the term, and the men had to bore into +it with augers until it was at last severed in twain. Even then the +amazing bulk of the tree prevented it from falling, and it still kept +its upright position. Two more days were employed in driving wedges into +the severed part on one side, thus to compel the giant to totter and +fall. The trunk was no less than three hundred and two feet in height +and ninety-six in circumference. The stump, which was left standing, +presented such a large surface that a party of thirty couples have +danced with ease upon it and still left abundant room for lookers-on." + +[19] _Sequoia gigantea_. + +When the children had sufficiently exclaimed over the size of this huge +tree, their governess continued: + +"It is thought that these trees must have been growing for more than two +thousand years, which would make them probably two hundred years old at +the birth of our Saviour. Does it not seem wonderful to think of? There +are other groups of giant pines scattered on the mountains and in the +forests, and some youthful giants about five hundred years old." + +"I suppose they are the babies of the family," said Clara; and this idea +amused Edith very much. + +"There is still another kind of pine," said Miss Harson--"the Italian, +or stone, pine. It is shaped almost exactly like an umbrella with a very +long handle. The _Pinus pinea_ bears large cones, the seed of which is +not only eatable, but considered a delicious nut. The cone is three +years in ripening; it is then about four inches long and three wide, and +has a reddish hue. Each scale of which the cone is formed is hollow at +the base and contains a seed much larger than that of any other species. +When the cone is ripe, it is gathered by the owners of the forest; and +when thoroughly dried on the roof or thrown for a few minutes into the +fire, it separates into many compartments, from each of which drops a +smooth white nut in shape like the seed of the date. The shell is very +hard, and within it is the fruit, which is much used in making +sweetmeats. The stone-pine is found also in Palestine, and is supposed +to be the cypress of the Bible. The author of _The Ride Through +Palestine_[20] speaks of passing through a fine grove of the stone-pine, +'tall and umbrella-topped,' with dry sticks rising oddly here and there +from the very tops of the trees. These sticks were covered with +birdlime, to snare the poor bird which might be tempted to set foot on +such treacherous supports; and if the cones were ripe, they would be +quite sure to do it. Here is the picture, from the book just mentioned. +Italian pine is a prettier name than stone-pine, and this is the name by +which it is known to artists, who put it into almost every picture of +Italian scenery. + + "'Much they admire that old religious tree + With shaft above the rest upshooting free, + And shaking, when its dark locks feel the wind, + Its wealthy fruit with rough and massive rind.'" + +[20] Presbyterian Board of Publication. + +[Illustration: STONE-PINE--"FIR" _(Pinus maritima_)]. + +"But how queer it sounds to call fruit _wealthy_!" said Malcolm. + +"It is odd," replied his governess, "only because the word is not now +used in that sense; but the fruit is wealthy both because of its +abundance and because it can be put to so many uses. Let us see what is +said of it: + +"'The kernels, or seeds, from the cones of the stone-pine have always +been esteemed as a delicacy. In the old days of Rome and Greece they +were preserved in honey, and some of the larders of the ill-fated city +of Pompeii were amply stored with jars of this agreeable conserve, which +were found intact after all those years. The kernels are also sugared +over and used as _bonbons_. They enter into many dishes of Italian +cookery, but great care has to be taken not to expose them to the air. +They are usually kept in the cones until they are wanted, and will then +retain their freshness for some years. The squirrels eagerly seek after +the fruit of this pine and almost subsist upon it. They take the cone in +their paws and dash out the seeds, thus scattering many of them and +helping to propagate the tree. + +"'There is a bird called the crossbill that makes its nest in the pine. +It fixes its nest in place by means of the resin of the tree and coats +it with the same material, so as to render it impervious to the rain. +The seeds from the cones form its chief food, and it extracts them with +its curious bill, the two parts of which cross each other. It grasps the +cone with its foot, after the fashion of a parrot, and digs into it with +the upper part of its bill, which is like a hook, and forces out the +seed with a jerk.'" + +[Illustration: PINE-CONE (_Pinus Sylvestris_.)] + +The children enjoyed this account very much, and they thought that +stone-pine nuts--which they had never seen, and perhaps never would +see--must be the most delicious nuts that ever grew. + +"What nice times the birds have," said Clara, "helping themselves to all +the good things that other people can't reach!" + +"They are not exactly 'people,'" replied Miss Harson, laughing; "and, in +spite of all these 'nice times,' you would not be quite willing to +change with them, I think." + +No, on the whole, Clara was quite sure that she would not. + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +_MORE WINTER TREES: THE FIRS AND THE SPRUCES_. + +There were some beautiful evergreens on the lawn at Elmridge, and, +although the foliage seemed dark in summer, it gave the place a very +cheerful look in winter, when other trees were quite bare, while the +birds flew in and out of them so constantly that spring seemed to have +come long before it really did arrive. + +"This balsam-fir," said Miss Harson as they stood near a tall, beautiful +tree that tapered to a point, "has, you see, a straight, smooth trunk +and tapers regularly and rapidly to the top. You will notice, too, that +the leaves, which are needle-shaped and nearly flat, do not grow in +clusters, but singly, and that their color is peculiar. There are faint +white lines on the upper part and a silvery-blue tinge beneath, and +this silvery look is produced by many lines of small, shining resinous +dots. The deep-green bark, striped with gray, is full of balsam, or +resin, known as balm of Gilead or Canada balsam, and highly valued as a +cure for diseases of the lungs. The long cones are erect, or standing, +and grow thickly near the ends of the upper branches. They have round, +bluish-purple scales, and the soft color has a very pretty effect on the +tree. They ripen every year, and the lively little squirrel, as he is +called, feasts upon them, as the crossbill does on the cones of the +stone-pine. But the mischievous little animal also barks the boughs and +gnaws off the tops of the leading shoots, so that many trees are injured +and defaced by his depredations." + +[Illustration: AMERICAN WHITE SPRUCE.] + +"He _is_ a lively little squirrel," observed Malcolm. "How he does race! +But he doesn't gnaw our trees, does he?" + +"No, I think not, for he prefers staying in the woods and fields; but +fir-woods are his especial delight. Our balsam-fir is the American +sister of the silver fir of Europe, both having bluish-green foliage +with a silvery under surface, in a single row on either side of the +branches, which curve gracefully upward at the ends. The tree has a +peculiarly light, airy appearance until it is old, when there is little +foliage except at the ends of the branches. The silver fir is one of the +tallest trees on the continent of Europe, and it is remarkable for the +beauty of its form and foliage and the value of its timber." + +"I know what this tree is," said Clara, turning to an evergreen of +stately form and graceful, drooping branches that almost touched the +ground: "it's Norway spruce. Papa told me this morning." + +[Illustration: THE NORWAY PINE.] + +"Yes," replied her governess, "and a beautiful tree it is, like the fir +in many respects, but the bark is rougher and the cones droop. The +branches, too, are lower and more sweeping. But the fir and the spruce +are more alike than many sisters and brothers. The Scotch fir, about +which there are many interesting things to be learned, is more +rugged-looking, and the Norway spruce, which will bear studying too, is +more grand and majestic." + +[Illustration: THE HEMLOCK SPRUCE.] + +"I know this one, Miss Harson," said little Edith as they came to a +sweeping hemlock near the bay-window of the dining-room. + +"Yes, dear," was the reply; "Hemlock Lodge has made you feel very well +acquainted with the tree after which it is named. It is one of the most +beautiful of the evergreens, with its widely-spreading branches and +their delicate, fringe-like foliage; but, although the branches are +ornamental for church and house decoration, they are very perishable, +and drop their small needles almost immediately when placed in a heated +room. And now," continued the young lady, "we have come back to warm +piazza-days again, and can have our talk in the open air." + +So on the piazza they speedily established themselves, with Miss Harson +in the low, comfortable chair and her audience on the crimson cushions +that had been piled up in a corner. + +"We shall find a great deal about the fir tree," said Miss Harson, "as +it is very hardy and rugged, and as common in all Northern regions as +the white birch--quite as useful, too, as we shall soon see. This rugged +species--which is generally called the Scotch fir--is not so smooth and +handsome as our balsam-fir, but it is a tree which the people who live +near the great Northern forests of Europe could not easily do without. +It belongs to the great pine family and is often called a pine, but in +the countries of Great Britain especially it is called the Scotch fir. +Although well shaped, it is not a particularly elegant-looking tree. The +branches are generally gnarled and broken, and the style of the tree is +more sturdy than graceful. The Scotch fir often grows to the height of a +hundred feet, and the bark is of a reddish tinge. 'It is one of the most +useful of the tribe, and, like the bountiful palm, confers the greatest +blessing on the inhabitants of the country where it grows. It serves the +peasants of the bleak, barren parts of Sweden and Lapland for food: +their scanty supply of meal often runs short, and they go to the pine to +eke it out. They choose the oldest and least resinous of the branches +and take out the inner bark. They first grind it in a mill, and then mix +it with their store of meal; after this it is worked into dough and made +into cakes like pancakes. The bark-bread is a valuable addition to +their slender resources, and sometimes the young shoots are used as +well as the bark. Indeed, so largely is this store of food drawn upon +that many trees have been destroyed, and in some places the forest is +actually thinned." + +"They're as bad as the squirrels," said Malcolm. "But how I should hate +to eat such stuff!" + +"It may not be so very bad," replied his governess. "Some people think +that only white bread is fit to eat, but I think that Kitty's brown +bread is rather liked in this family." + +The children all laughed, for didn't papa declare--with _such_ a sober +face!--that they were eating him out of house and home in brown bread +alone? Kitty, too, pretended to grumble because the plump loaves +disappeared so fast, but she said to herself at the same time, "Bless +their hearts! let 'em eat: it's better than a doctor's bill." + +"A great many other things besides pancakes are made from the tree," +continued Miss Harson, "and the fresh green tops furnish very +nice carpets." + +There was a faint "_Oh!_" at this, but, after all, it was not so +surprising as the cakes had been. + +"They are scattered on the floors of houses as rushes used to be in old +times in England, and thus they serve as carpet and prevent the mud and +dirt that stick to the shoes of the peasants from staining the floor; +and when trodden on, the leaves give out a most agreeable +aromatic perfume." + +"I'd like that part," said Clara. + +[Illustration: THE BLUE SPRUCE.] + +"But you cannot have one part without taking it all; almost everything, +you see, has a pleasant side.--'The peasant finds no limit to the use +of the pine. Of its bark he makes the little canoe which is to carry him +along the river; it is simple in its construction, and as light as +possible. When he comes within safe distance of one of those gushing, +foaming cataracts that he meets with in his course, he pushes his canoe +to land and carries it on his shoulders until the danger is past; then +he launches it again, and paddles merrily onward. Not a single nail is +used in his canoe: the planks are tightly secured together by a natural +cordage made of the roots of the pine. He splits them of the right +thickness, and with very little preparation they form exactly the +material he needs.'" + +Malcolm evidently had some idea of making a canoe of this kind, but he +became discouraged when his governess reminded him that he could not cut +down trees, and that his father would prefer having them left standing. +It did not seem necessary to speak of any difficulties in the way of +putting the boat together. + +"Another use for the fir is to light up the poor hut of the peasant. 'He +splits up the branches into laths and makes them into torches. If he +wants a light, he takes one of the laths and kindles it at the fire; +then he fixes it in a rude frame, which serves him for a candlestick. +The light is very brilliant while it lasts, but is soon spent, and he +is in darkness again. The same use is made of the pine. It is no unusual +circumstance, in the Scotch pine-woods, to come upon a tree with the +trunk scooped out from each side and carried away: the cottager has been +to fetch material for his candles. But this somewhat rough usage does +not hurt the tree, and it continues green and healthy.' In our Southern +States pine-fat with resin is called lightwood, and is used for the +same purpose." + +"That's an easy way of getting candles," said Clara. + +"Easy, perhaps, compared with the trouble of moulding them," replied +Miss Harson, "but I do not think we should fancy either way of +preparing them." + +"Is there anything to tell about the spruce tree?" asked Malcolm. + +"It is too much like the fir," replied his governess, "to have any very +distinct character; but there are species here, known as the white and +black spruce, besides the hemlock." + +But the children thought that hemlock was hemlock: how did it come to +be spruce? + +"Because it has the family features--leaves solitary and very short; +cones pendulous, or hanging, with the scales thin at the edge; and the +fruit ripens in a single year. The hemlock-spruce, as it is sometimes +called, is, I think, the most beautiful of the family. 'It is +distinguished from all the other pines by the softness and delicacy of +its tufted foliage, from the spruce by its slender, tapering branchlets +and the smoothness of its limbs, and from the balsam-fir by its small +terminal cones, by the irregularity of its branches and the gracefulness +of its whole appearance.' The delicate green of the young trees forms a +rich mass of verdure, and at this season each twig has on the end a tuft +of new leaves yellowish-green in color and making a beautiful contrast +to the darker hue of last year's foliage. The bark of the trunk is +reddish, and that of the smooth branches and small twigs is light gray. +The branchlets are very small, light and slender, and are set +irregularly on the sides of the small branches; so that they form a +flat surface. This arrangement renders them singularly well adapted to +the making of brooms--a use of the hemlock familiar to housekeepers in +the country towns throughout New England. The leaves, which are +extremely delicate and of a silvery whiteness on the under side, are +arranged in a row on each side of the branchlets. The slender, +thread-like stems on which they grow make them move easily with the +slightest breath of wind, and this, with the silvery hue underneath, +gives to the foliage a glittering look that is very pretty. But I think +you all can tell me when the hemlock is prettiest?" + +"After a snow-storm," said Clara. "Don't we all look, almost the first +thing, at the tree by the dining-room window?" + +"Yes," replied Miss Harson; "it is a beautiful sight with the snow lying +on it in masses and the dark green of the leaves peeping through. 'The +branches put forth irregularly from all parts of the trunk, and lie one +above another, each bending over at its extremities upon the surface of +those below, like the feathers upon the wings of a bird,' And soft, +downy plumes they look, with the snow resting on them and making them +more feathery than ever." + +"So they are like feathers?" said Malcolm, to whom this was a new idea, +"I'll look for 'em the next time it snows; yet--" He was going to add +that he wished it would snow to-morrow; but remembering that it was only +the beginning of June, and that Miss Harson had shown them how each +season has its pleasures, he stopped just in time. + +"The pretty little cones of the hemlock, which grow very thickly on the +tree, have a crimson tinge at first, and turn to a light brown. They are +found hanging on the ends of the small branches, and they fall during +the autumn and winter. This tree is a native of the coldest parts of +North America, where it is found in whole forests, and it flourishes on +granite rocks on the sides of hills exposed to the most violent storms. +The wood is firm and contains very little resin; it is much used for +building-purposes. A great quantity of tannin is obtained from the +bark; and when mixed with that of the oak, it is valuable for +preparing leather. + +"We have taken the prettiest of the spruces first," continued Miss +Harson, "and now we must see what are the differences between them. 'The +two species of American spruce, the black and the white--or, as they are +more commonly called, the double and the single--are distinguished from +the fir and the hemlock in every stage of growth by the roughness of the +bark on their branches, produced by little ridges running down from the +base of each leaf, and by the disposition of the leaves, which are +arranged in spirals equally on every side of the young shoots. The +double is distinguished from the single spruce by the darker color of +the foliage--whence its name of black spruce--by the greater thickness, +in proportion to the length, of the cones, and by the looseness of its +scales, which are jagged, or toothed, on the edge.' It is a +well-proportioned tree, but stiff-looking, and the dark foliage, which +never seems to change, gives it a gloomy aspect. The leaves are closely +arranged in spiral lines. The black spruce is never a very large tree, +but the wood is light, elastic and durable, and is valuable in +shipbuilding, for making ladders and for shingles. The young shoots are +much in demand for making spruce-beer. The white spruce is more slender +and tapering, and the bark and leaves are lighter. The root is very +tough, and the Canadian Indians make threads from the fibres, with which +they sew together the birch-bark for their canoes. The wood is as +valuable as that of the black spruce." + +"Does the Norway spruce come from Norway?" asked Clara. + +"Yes; that is its native land, where it presents its most grand and +beautiful appearance. There it 'rivals the palm in stature, and even +attains the height of one hundred and eighty feet. Its handsome branches +spread out on every side and clothe the trunk to its base, while the +summit of the tree ends in an arrow-like point. In very old trees the +branches droop at the extremities, and not only rest upon the ground, +but actually take root in it and grow. Thus a number of young trees are +often seen clustering around the trunk of an old one.'" + +"Why, that's like the banyan tree," said Malcolm. + +"Only there is a difference in the manner of growth, for the branches of +the banyan are some distance from the ground and send forth rootlets +without touching it. The Norway spruce is also the great tree of the +Alps, where it seems to match the majestic scenery. The timber is +valuable for building; and when sawed into planks, it is called white +deal, while that of the Scotch fir is red deal. + +"And now," said Miss Harson, "before we leave the firs, let us see what +is said about them in the Bible. They were used for shipbuilding in the +city of Tyre; for the prophet Ezekiel says, 'They have made all thy ship +boards of fir trees of Senir[21],' and it is written that 'David and all +the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments +made of firwood[22].' The same wood was used then in building houses, +as you will find, Malcolm, by turning to the Song of Solomon, seventh +chapter, seventeenth verse." + +[21] Ezek. xxvii. 5. + +[22] 2 Sam. vi. 5. + +"'The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir,'" read +Malcolm. + +"In Kings it is said, 'So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees, +according to his desire[23],' and these trees were to be used for the +very house, or palace, of which the Jewish king speaks in his Song. +Evergreens are often mentioned in the Bible, and in that beautiful +Christmas chapter, the sixtieth of Isaiah, you will find the fir tree +again.--Read the thirteenth verse, Clara." + +[23] I Kings v. 10. + +"'The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine +tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I +will make the place of my feet glorious.'--What is 'the glory of +Lebanon,' Miss Harson?" + +"The cedar of Lebanon, dear; and we will now turn our attention to that +and the other cedars." + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +_THE CEDARS_. + +"The cypress tribe," said Miss Harson, "differ from the pines, or +Coniferae, by not having their fruit in a true cone, but in a roundish +head which consists of a small number of scales, sometimes forming a +sort of berry. One of the most common of this family is the arbor vitae, +or tree of life--a tree so small as to look like a pointed shrub, and +more used for fences than for ornament. An arbor-vitae hedge, you know, +divides our flower garden from the kitchen-garden and goes all the way +down to the brook." + +"I like the smell of it," said Clara. "Don't you, Miss Harson?" + +[Illustration: SIBERIAN ARBOR VITAE] + +"Yes," was the reply, "there is something very fresh and pleasant about +it; and when well kept, as John is sure to keep ours, it makes a +beautiful hedge. As a tree it has been known to reach forty or fifty +feet in height, with a trunk ten feet in circumference. The leaves are +arranged in four rows, in alternately opposite pairs, and seem to make +up the fan-like branchlets. These branchlets look like parts of a large +compound, flat leaf. The bark is slightly furrowed, smooth to the touch, +and very white when the tree stands exposed. The wood is reddish, +somewhat odorous, very light, soft and fine-grained. In the northern +part of the United States and in Canada it holds the first place for +durability." + +"I thought the cypress was a flower," said Malcolm. + +"So one kind of cypress is," replied his governess--"the blossom of an +airy-looking and beautiful creeper; but the name also belongs to a +family of trees. The white cedar, or cypress, is a very graceful tree +which generally grows in swamps. 'It is entirely free from the stiffness +of the pines, and to the spiry top of the poplar it unites the airy +lightness of the hemlock. The trunk is straight and tall, tapering very +gradually, and toward the top there are short irregular branches, +forming a small but beautiful head, above which the leading shoot waves +like a slender plume.' The leaves are very small and scale-like, with +sharp points, and grow in four rows on the ends of the branchlets, +giving them the appearance of large compound leaves. The wood is very +durable, and is used for many building-purposes. It is generally of a +faint rose-color, and always keeps its aromatic odor." + +[Illustration: IRISH JUNIPER.] + +"Is that what our cedar-chests are made of to keep the moths from our +winter clothes?" asked Clara. + +"Yes," replied Miss Harson, "but the name 'cedar' is; not correct, +though it is one commonly given to this tree. The wood of the European +cypress is also used for many purposes where strength and durability are +required, for it really seems never to wear out. This tree is described +as tapering and cone-like, with upright branches growing close to the +trunk, and in its general appearance a little resembling a poplar. Its +frond-like branches are closely covered with very small sharp-pointed +leaves of a yellow-green color, smooth and shining, and they remain on +the tree five or six years. The cypress is often seen in burying-grounds +in Europe, and in Turkey it often stands at each end of a grave. The +oldest tree in Europe is thought to be an Italian cypress said to have +been planted in the year of our Saviour's birth; it is an object of +great reverence in the neighborhood. This ancient tree is a hundred and +twenty feet high and twenty-three feet around the trunk. + +"The juniper--or red cedar, as it is improperly called--is not a +handsome tree, but it is a very useful one. It has a scraggy, stunted +look, and the foliage is apt to be rusty; but it will grow in rocky, +sandy places where no other tree would even try to hold up its head, and +the wood, when made into timber, lasts for a great many years. Posts for +fences are made of the juniper or red cedar, and the shipbuilder, +boatbuilder, carpenter, cabinet-maker and turner are all steady +customers for it. The 'cedar-apples' found on this tree are one phase +of the life of a very curious fungus. They are covered with a +reddish-brown bark; and when fresh, they are tough and fleshy, somewhat +like an unripe apple. When dry they become of a woody nature." + +"They pucker up your mouth awfully," said Malcolm, who had made several +attempts to eat them; but, do what he would, he could not even "make +believe" they were nice. + +"I have no doubt of it," was the reply, "remembering the dreadful faces +I have seen on some of our rambles. But the birds like them, as they do +everything of the kind that is not poisonous." + + * * * * * + +"Isn't it beautiful?" exclaimed the children, in delight. They were +admiring a magnificent cedar of Lebanon in one of the pictures which +Miss Harson had collected for their benefit, and it seemed no wonder +that the grand spreading tree should be called "the glory of Lebanon." + +"It is indeed beautiful," replied their governess; "and think of seeing +a whole mountain covered with such trees! A traveler speaks of them as +the most solemnly impressive trees in the world, and says that their +massive trunks, clothed with a scaly texture almost like the skin of +living animals and contorted with all the irregularities of age, may +well have suggested those ideas of royal, almost divine, strength and +solidity which the sacred writers ascribe to them.--Turn to the +ninety-second psalm, Clara, and read the twelfth verse." + +"'The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a +cedar in Lebanon.'" + +"In the thirty-first chapter of Ezekiel," continued Miss Harson, "it is +written, 'Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair +branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his +top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set +him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent +out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his +height was exalted above all the trees of the field and his boughs were +multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of +waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in +his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring +forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.'" + +[Illustration: CEDAR OF LEBANON.] + +"Are the leaves like those of our cedar trees?" asked Malcolm, who was +studying the picture quite intently. "The tree doesn't look like 'em." + +"They are somewhat like them," replied his governess, "being slender and +straight and about an inch long. They grow in tufts, and in the centre +of some of the tufts there is a small cone which is very pretty and +often brought to this country by travelers for their friends at home. In +_The Land and the Book_ there is a picture of small branches with cones, +and the author says of the cedar: 'There is a striking peculiarity in +the shape of this tree which I have not seen any notice of in books of +travel. The branches are thrown out horizontally from the parent trunk. +These again part into limbs, which preserve the same horizontal +direction, and so on down to the minutest twigs; and even the +arrangement of the clustered leaves has the same general tendency. Climb +into one, and you are delighted with a succession of verdant floors +spread around the trunk and gradually narrowing as you ascend. The +beautiful cones seem to stand upon or rise out of this green flooring.' +The same writer says that by examining the different growths of wood +inside the trunk of one of the trees these ancient cedars of Lebanon +have been proved to be three thousand five hundred years old." + +"Oh, Miss Harson!" exclaimed her audience; "could any tree be as old as +that?" + +"It is possible. The circle of growing wood which is made each year is a +pretty good method of telling the age of a tree, and these cedars of +Lebanon are considered the oldest trees in the world. Travelers have +always spoken of the beauty and symmetry of these trees, with their +widespreading branches and cone-like tops. All through the Middle Ages a +visit to the cedars of Lebanon was regarded by many persons in the light +of a pilgrimage. Some of the trees were thought to have been planted by +King Solomon himself, and were looked upon as sacred relics. Indeed, the +visitors took away so many pieces from the bark that it was feared the +trees would be destroyed. The cedars stand in a valley a considerable +way up the mountain, where the snow renders it inaccessible for part of +the year." + +"Are the trees just in one particular place, then?" asked Malcolm. "I +thought they grew all over that country?" + +"The principal and best-known grove of very large and ancient cedars of +Lebanon is found in one place," replied his governess, "but there are +other groves now known to exist. The famous grove was fast disappearing, +until there were but few of them left. The pilgrims who went to visit +them in such numbers in olden times were accompanied by monks from a +monastery about four miles below, who would beseech them not to injure a +single leaf. But the greatest care could not preserve the trees. Some of +them have been struck down by lightning, some broken by enormous loads +of snow, and others torn to fragments by tempests. Some have even been +cut down with axes like any common tree. But better care is now taken of +them; so that we may hope that the grove will live and increase." + +"But why weren't they saved," asked Clara, "when people thought so much +of them?" + +"It seems to be a part of the general desolation of the land of God's +chosen but rebellious people. In the third chapter of the prophet +Isaiah, verses eleven and twelve, it is said, 'For the day of the Lord +of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every +one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low; and upon all the +cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of +Bashan.' The same prophet says, in the tenth chapter and nineteenth +verse, 'And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a +child may write them.' These words have been particularly applied to the +stately cedars of Lebanon, for 'the once magnificent grove is but a +speck on the mountain-side. Many persons have taken it in the distance +for a wood of fir trees, but on approaching nearer and taking a closer +view the cedars resume somewhat of their ancient majesty. The space they +cover is not more than half a mile, but, once amidst them, the beautiful +fan-like branches overhead, the exquisite green of the younger trees and +the colossal size of the older ones fill the mind with interest and +admiration. Within the grove all is hushed as in a land of the past. +Where once the Tyrian workman plied his axe and the sound of many +voices came upon the ear, there are now the silence and solitude of +desertion and decay.'--Malcolm," added his governess, "you may read us +what is written in the sixth verse of the fourteenth chapter of Hosea." + +"'His branches,'" read Malcolm, "'shall spread, and his beauty shall be +as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.' What does that mean, +Miss Harson?" + +"It means the fragrant resin which exudes from both the trunk and the +cones of the beautiful cedar. It is soft, and its fragrance is like that +of the balsam of Mecca. 'Everything about this tree has a strong +balsamic odor, and hence the whole grove is so pleasant and fragrant +that it is delightful to walk in it. The wood is peculiarly adapted for +building, because it is not subject to decay, nor is it eaten of worms. +It was much used for rafters and for boards with which to cover houses +and form the floors and ceilings of rooms. It was of a red color, +beautiful, solid and free from knots. The palace of Persepolis, the +temple of Jerusalem and Solomon's palace were all in this way built with +cedar, and the house of the forest of Lebanon was perhaps so called from +the quantity of this wood used in its construction.' We are told in +First Kings that Solomon 'built also the house of the forest of +Lebanon[24],' and that 'he made three hundred shields of beaten gold' +and 'put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon[25].' All the +drinking-vessels, too, of this wonderful palace, which is always spoken +of as 'the house of the forest of Lebanon,' were of pure gold, and its +magnificence shows how highly the beautiful cedar-wood was valued." + +[24] I Kings vii. 2. + +[25] I Kings x. 17. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +_THE PALMS_. + +"There is a wonderful evergreen," said Miss Harson, "which grows in +tropical countries, and also in some sub-tropical countries, such as the +Holy Land, and is said to have nearly as many uses as there are days in +a year. You must tell me what it is when you have seen the picture." + +[Illustration: PALM TREE.] + +Malcolm and Clara both pronounced it a palm tree, and Clara asked if +there were any such trees growing in this country. + +"Some of its relations are found on our Southern seacoast," replied +their governess; "South Carolina, you know, is called 'the Palmetto +State.' There is a member of the family called the cabbage-palmetto, +the unexpanded leaves of which are used as a table vegetable, which you +may see in Florida. Its young leaves are all in a mass at the top, and +when boiled make a dish something like cabbage. The leaves of the +palmetto are also used, when perfect, in the manufacture of hats, +baskets and mats, and for many other purposes. But its stately and +majestic cousin, the date-palm of the East, with its tall, slender stalk +and magnificent crown of feathery leaves, has had its praises sung in +every age and clime. 'Besides its great importance as a fruit-producer, +it has a special beauty of its own when the clusters of dates are +hanging in golden ripeness under its coronal of dark-green leaves. Its +well-known fruit affords sustenance to the dwellers on the borders of +the great African desert; it is as necessary to them as is the camel, +and in many cases they may be said to owe their existence to it alone. +The tree rears its column-like stem to the height of ninety feet, and +its crown consists of fifty leaves about twelve feet in length and +fringed at the edges like a feather. Between the leaf and the stem there +issue several horny spathes, or sheaths, out of which spring clusters of +panicles that bear small white flowers,' These flowers are followed by +the dates, which grow in a dense bunch that hangs down several feet." + +"But how do people manage to climb such a tree as that," asked Malcolm, +"to get the dates? It goes straight up in the air without any branches, +and looks as if it would snap in two if any one tried it." + +"It does not snap, though, for it is very strong; and the climbing is +easier than you imagine, even when the tree is a hundred feet high, as +it sometimes is. The trunk, you see, is full of rugged knots. These +projections are the remains of decayed leaves which have dropped off +when their work was done. As the older leaves decay the stalk advances +in height. It has not true wood, like most trees, but the stem has +bundles of fibres that are closely pressed together on the outer part. +Toward the root these are so entwined that they become as hard as iron +and are very difficult to cut. The tree grows very slowly, but it lives +for centuries. I have a Persian fable in rhyme for you, called + + "'THE GOURD AND THE PALM. + + "'"How old art thou?" said the garrulous gourd + As o'er the palm tree's crest it poured + Its spreading leaves and tendrils fine, + And hung a-bloom in the morning shine. + "A hundred years," the palm tree sighed.-- + "And I," the saucy gourd replied, + "Am at the most a hundred hours, + And overtop thee in the bowers." + + "'Through all the palm tree's leaves there went + A tremor as of self-content. + "I live my life," it whispering said, + "See what I see, and count the dead; + And every year of all I've known + A gourd above my head has grown + And made a boast like thine to-day, + Yet here I stand; but where are they?"'" + +The children were very much pleased with the fable, and they began to +feel quite an affection for the venerable and useful palm tree. + +"The date tree," continued their governess, "as this species of palm is +often called, blossoms in April, and the fruit ripens in October. Each +tree produces from ten to twelve bunches, and the usual weight of a +bunch is about fifteen pounds. It is esteemed a crime to fell a date +tree or to supply an axe intended for that purpose, even though the tree +may belong to an enemy. The date-harvest is expected with as much +anxiety by the Arab in the oasis as the gathering in of the wheat and +corn in temperate regions. If it were to fail, the Arabs would be in +danger of famine. The blessings of the date-palm are without limit to +the Arab. Its leaves give a refreshing shade in a region where the beams +of the sun are almost insupportable; men, and also camels, feed upon the +fruit; the wood of the tree is used for fuel and for building the native +huts; and ropes, mats, baskets, beds, and all kinds of articles, are +manufactured from the fibres of the leaves. The Arab cannot imagine how +a nation can exist without date-palms, and he may well regard it as the +greatest injury that he can inflict upon his enemy to cut down +his trees." + +"Miss Harson," asked Edith, very earnestly, "isn't the palm tree in the +Bible?" + +[Illustration: DATE-PALM AT JERICHO.] + +"It certainly is, dear," replied her governess, "and it is one of the +trees most frequently mentioned. In Deuteronomy, thirty-fourth chapter, +third verse, Jericho is called the 'city of palm trees.' Travelers still +speak of these trees as yet growing in Palestine, but they are not +nearly so abundant as they once were; near Jericho only one or two can +be found. There are many allusions to the palm in the Scriptures. King +David, in the ninety-second psalm, says that the righteous shall +flourish like the palm tree: 'Those that be planted in the house of the +Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth +fruit in old age.' The palm is always upright, in spite of rain or wind. +'There it stands, looking calmly down upon the world below, and +patiently yielding its large clusters of golden fruit from generation to +generation. It brings forth fruit in old age.' The allusion to being +planted in the house of the Lord is probably drawn from the custom of +planting beautiful and long-lived trees in the courts of temples and +palaces. Solomon covered all the walls of the holy of holies round +about with golden palm trees.--You will find this, Clara, in +First Kings." + +Clara read: + +"'And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved +figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, within and +without[26].'" + +[26] I Kings vi. 29. + +"In the thirty-second verse," continued Miss Harson, "it is written that +he overlaid them with gold, 'and spread gold upon the cherubim, and upon +the palm trees.' 'They were thus planted, as it were, within the very +house of the Lord; and their presence there was not only ornamental, but +appropriate and highly suggestive--the very best emblem not only of +patience in well-doing, but of the rewards of the righteous, a fat and +flourishing old age, a peaceful end, a glorious immortality.'" + +"What does a 'palmer' mean, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm. "Is it a man +who has palm trees or who sells dates? I saw the word in a book I was +reading, but I couldn't understand what it meant." + +"In olden times," replied his governess, "when people made so many +pilgrimages, some of the pilgrims went to the Holy Land and some to Rome +and other places; but those who went to Palestine were thought to be the +most devout, both because it was so much farther off and because there +were so many sacred spots to visit there. These pilgrims always brought +home with them branches of palm, to show that they had really been to +the land where the tree grew; and so they were called _palmers_. To say +that such-a-one was a palmer was far more than to say that he was +a pilgrim." + +"Miss Harson," said Clara, holding up one of the books, "here is a +picture called 'the cocoanut-palm,' but I didn't know that cocoanuts +grew on palm trees. Will you tell us something about it?" + +[Illustration: COCOANUT-PALM TREES IN SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA.] + +"Certainly I will, dear," was the reply. "I fully intended to do so, for +the cocoanut-palm is too valuable a member of the family to be passed +over. This species does not grow in Palestine, and it is not one of the +trees of the Bible; its home is in the warmest countries, and it grows +most luxuriantly in the islands of the tropics or near the seacoast on +the main-lands. Although its general form is similar to that of the +date-palm, the foliage and fruit are quite different. The leaves are +very much broader, and they have not the light, airy look of the foliage +of the date-palm. But 'the cocoanut-palm is the most valuable of +Nature's gifts to the inhabitants of those parts of the tropics where it +grows, and its hundred uses, as they are not inaptly called, extend +beyond the tropics over the civilized world. The beautiful islands of +the southern seas are fringed with cocoanut-palms that encircle them as +with a green and feathery belt. The ripe nuts drop into the sea, but, +protected by their husks, they float away until the tide washes them on +to the shore of some neighboring island, where they can take root +and grow.'" + +"Wouldn't it be nice," said Edith, "if some would float here?" + +"A great many cocoanuts float here in ships," replied Miss Harson, "but +they would not take root and grow, because the climate is not suited to +them; it is too cold for them. We cannot have tropical fruit without +tropical heat, and I am sure that none of us would want such a change as +that. You may sometimes see small cocoanut trees in hothouses or +horticultural gardens, where they are shielded from our cold air. The +island of Ceylon, in the East Indies, is full of cocoanut-palm trees, +for they are carefully cultivated by the inhabitants, and the feathery +groves stretch mile after mile. The tree shoots up a column-like stem to +the height of a hundred feet, and is crowned with a tuft of broad leaves +about twelve feet long. The flowers are yellowish white and grow in +clusters, and the seed ripens into a hard nut which in its fibrous husk +is about the size of an infant's head." + +"I've seen the nut in its husk," said Malcolm, "when papa took me down +to the wharf where the ships come in. There were lots of cocoanuts, and +some of 'em had their coats on." + +"This brown husk," continued his governess, "is a valuable part of the +nut, for the toughest ropes and cables are made of its fibres, as well +as the useful brown matting so generally used to cover offices and +passages. Brushes, nets and other domestic articles are also +manufactured from the husk. Scarcely any other tree in the world is so +useful to man or contributes so much to his comfort as the +cocoanut-palm. Food and drink are alike obtained from it. The kernel of +the nut is an article of diet, and can be prepared in many ways. The +native is almost sustained by it, and in Ceylon it forms a part of +nearly every dish. The spathe that encloses the yet-unopened flowers is +made to yield a favorite beverage called palm-wine, or, more familiarly, +'toddy.' When the fresh juice is used, it is an innocent and refreshing +drink; but when left to ferment, it intoxicates, and is the one evil +result from the bountiful gifts of the tree. Oil is prepared in great +quantities from the nuts and used for various purposes." + +"Are there any more kinds of palm trees?" asked the children. + +"Yes," was the reply; "there are a great many members of this most +useful family, but the one that will interest you most, after the +date-and cocoanut-palm, is, I think, the sago-palm." + +[Illustration: YOUNG COCOANUT TREE IN POT (_Cocos nucifera_).] + +"Why, Miss Harson!" exclaimed Clara, in surprise; "does sago really grow +on a tree?" + +"It really grows _in_ a tree--for it is a kind of starch secreted by the +tree for the use of its flowers and fruit--and in order to obtain it the +tree has to be cut down. The pith is then taken out and cut in slices, +soaked in water and roasted; and when it assumes the shape of the small +globules in which we see it, it is ready for exportation." + +"Well!" said Malcolm; "I never knew _that_ before. We've learned ever so +many things, Miss Harson." + +"There is one thing about the palm," said Miss Harson, "which I have +purposely left for the last--especially as it is the last also of our +trees for the present--and that is the sacred associations which its +branches have for both Jews and Christians. The Jews were commanded on +the first day of the feast of tabernacles to 'take the boughs of goodly +trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and +willows of the brook, to rejoice before the Lord their God.' The palm +was a symbol of victory, and branches of it were strewn in the path of +conquerors, more especially of those who had fought for religious truth. +It is the emblem of the martyr, as a conqueror through Christ. The +Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday because in the ancient +churches leaves of palm were carried that day by worshipers in memory of +those strewn in the way on the triumphal entry of the King of Zion into +Jerusalem. You will find it, Malcolm, in John." + +Malcolm read very reverently: + +"'On the next day, much people that were come to the feast, when they +heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, +and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna; Blessed is the King of +Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord[27].'" + +[27] John xii. 12, 13. + +"Here," said Miss Harson, "is a little hymn written on these very +verses: + + "'See a small procession slowly + Toward the temple wind its way; + In the midst rides, meek and lowly, + One whom angel-hosts obey. + + "'How the shouting crowd adore him, + Now, for once, they know their King; + Some their garments cast before him, + Green palm-branches others bring. + + "'Calmly, yet with holy sorrow, + Christ permits the sacrifice. + Knowing well that on the morrow + Changed will be those fickle cries. + + * * * * * + + "'Children, when in prayers and praises + Loudly we with lips adore, + While the heart no anthem raises, + Are not we like those of yore? + + "'O Lord Jesus, let us never + Lift the voice in heartless songs; + Help us to remember ever + All that to thy name belongs.'" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMONG THE TREES AT ELMRIDGE*** + + +******* This file should be named 11723.txt or 11723.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/7/2/11723 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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