76 



THE ELM. 



slender quills seem almost a produce of the tree 

 itself. To watch these birds sailing in their calm 

 squadrons; to note them, too, when busy in the 

 fields ; yea, even to pick up those fragments of cast 

 plumage, to me is an ever-recurring pleasure. And 

 yet it is not because of the elms ; I suppose there is 

 no human being of civilized race to whom some such 

 simple thing of nature is not a talisman, 



" Striking the electric chain wherewith we are darkly 

 bound!" 



Botanically, the elm is distinguished by its curious 

 leaves, simple flowers, and remarkable fruit, or, as it 

 would be popularly called, remarkable seed. Botanists, 



LEAVES OF ELM-TREE. 



however, give the name of "fruit" to the ripened 

 seed and seed-vessel of every plant without distinc- 

 tion. No matter whether fit to eat or not, whether 



