THE CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT 



BY ERISTOW ADAMS 



FAIRIES OF THE WOODS 



■HfT^B LONG with the maple, the lumbermen in 

 ^tM^^S^ the North woods cut beech and birch trees 

 y ^"^ yP and the hemlocks, since all of these are 



/jlBB^^ likely to grow together and to be lumbered 

 SS|jB&^^ together. This forest, as we have seen, 

 ^»^ is one of great beauty, especially in the 



fall, and a large part of it is all of the 

 same age and all of the same height. A 

 man in an aeroplane flying over the tops of the 

 woods, especially in the fall, would see a 



pine mice and white-footed mice. On still nights the 

 voices of the little creatures of the wood can be heard on 

 all sides, from the great cry of the homed owl to the 

 twitterings of the little birds half-awakened from sleep but 

 still drowsy, and the tiny squeakings of young mice in 

 the hollow logs. 



iROM the ground to the very tips of the trees there 

 is a succession of growths of mosses and lichens in 

 colors of soft grey, and green, and lavender, and 



^"''"'"' "-' ''"''" ••''-■"'' '^'"■-' l-AIRIES OF FACT-CAN YOU FIND THEM? 



Besides Ihe four fairies of romamc ihere are eight tiny living creatures -fairies of fact— of the gr.nniil, the trees and the air in this picture. 



Can you find them all ? 



succession of plains, and hills, and valleys carpeted 

 with the most wonderful colors, with here and there a few 

 dark, tall pine trees with their heads sticking, like little 

 islands, above the rest. Here and there will be deep 

 holes in this layer of trees, and these would seem to be 

 fringed with a darker green, where spruce, or arbor vitae, 

 or tamarack grow around the edge of lake or swamp. 



BETWEEN the ground itself and the topmost twigs — 

 which are all that the aeroplane fiyer would see, 

 there is a rich and varied life. Many birds build 

 their nests in these trees; squirrels have their homes; and 

 in the ground beneath there will be frogs and chipmunks, 



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even a brilliant red. The granite rocks on the ground 

 are spread over with these mosses so that their color 

 blends with that of the trees. In the shadier places the 

 waxy white Indian pipes grow in their season, the jack-in- 

 the-pulpit, and the moccasin flower. Toadstools and 

 mushroom growths vary in shape and color from masses 

 like carved ivory, as delicate as coral, to tiny, round- 

 headed "toadstools" of most startling red and orange. 



When the woods are cut, many of these little fairy-like 

 forms are likely to be torn up and destroyed — not only the 

 homes of the birds and squirrels, but the homes of crea- 

 tures so small that we cannot see them. Yet man needs 

 the lumber to go into homes for men, and to be put to 

 his use in many other ways. 



