A Tale from the Skidway 43 



his inquisitiveness cannot find out. Men may 

 hew and hack me, may saw and burn me, may 

 grind me into pulp and make paper of me, 

 but they will never tear this secret from my 

 breast. 



" Yon saw that howls like a demon and 

 whose bright teeth are hungry for my heart 

 will make man no wiser. The secret is na- 

 ture's own, and she guards it well. 



" If you will count the rings upon my cross- 

 section from one hundred and five to one 

 hundred and nine, you will find that they 

 come very close together. In fact they al- 

 most coincide, and only the very best eyesight 

 can discern them. This, too, tells a bit of my 

 history. These contracted rings represent 

 three very cold summers and winters, due to 

 a season of spots upon the sun. During these 

 cold years the plants and trees grew very lit- 

 tle, and even what they did grow in the sum- 

 mer was contracted and dwarfed in the 

 winter. 



" How ghastly and sickly my foster father, 

 the sun, looked for these three years. How 



