THE SPICE-BUSH BUGABOO 



August nth 



HAT a droll secret has that curled 

 leaf on the spice- bush held from 

 most of us all these years ! A com- 

 ical, startling secret indeed. We 

 have passed thousands of these care- 

 fully folded leaves on the spice and 

 sassafras bushes summer after summer, and few of us 

 have dreamed of the surprise it held for us, had we 

 thought to part the folds and peep within. I am half 

 inclined to picture only my hanging folded leaf, with- 

 out giving a hint of the queer welcome we may get from 

 the interior. 



But even to those of us who know just what to ex- 

 pect, is it not always the same droll surprise? How 

 impossible is it for us to pass the spice -bush without 

 exchanging a greeting or two with its sly tenants ! 



I remember an incident in early boyhood which well 

 illustrates the peculiar effect which a first discovery of 

 the spice - bush bugaboo usually excites, and which 

 proves also how complete is its concealment. I had 

 gathered a number of the folded leaves from a spice- 

 bush growing near the front fence of a farm - house. 



