268 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



BY RIGHT, HE CLAIMED TO HAVE THE BEST WOOD PILE IN THAT PART OF THE COUNTRY. 



fill up the box," but that he at once 

 had something else to do? But even in 

 those days there was a certain satisfac- 

 tion in seeing" the chips fly, and in 

 hearing the rending of the wood and 

 the resounding thump as the armful 

 was dropped into the box, filling it with 

 concentrated warmth for a winter even- 



ing. 



grate 



How the light from the 

 brought out the charm that still lingers 

 through the decades, with the recollec- 

 tion of the splintered surfaces, the bev- 

 elled ends of the sticks, and the flick- 

 ering flames under whose touch the 

 wood spluttered and hissed and snapped, 

 and where the tufts of dry moss and 



HE WAS ALWAYS GENIAL AND JOLLY BUT MOST SO WHEN SAWING WHITE BIRCH. 



