RED LEAF DAYS 185 



with holes till it looked like a nutmeg 

 grater ; and the most noticeable thing about 

 it was that the punctures — past counting 

 — were all on the south side of the tree, 

 where the sap may be presumed to run earli- 

 est and most freely. Why this particular 

 tree was chosen and the others left is a dif- 

 ferent question, to which I attempt no an- 

 swer, though I have little doubt that the 

 maker of the holes could have given one. 

 To vary a half -true Bible text, "All the 

 labor of a woodpecker is for his mouth ; " 

 and labor so prolonged as that which had 

 been expended upon this hemlock was very 

 unlikely to have been laid out without a 

 reason. Every judge of rum cherries knows 

 that some trees bear incomparably better 

 fruit than others growing close beside them ; 

 and why should a woodpecker, a specialist 

 of specialists, be less intelligent touching 

 hemlock trees and the varying quality of 

 their juices ? A creature who is beholden to 

 nobody from the time he is three weeks old 

 is not to be looked down upon by beings 

 who live, half of them, in danger of starva- 

 tion or the poorhouse. 



