104 Old Bays on the Farm 



in a Western Ontario county and near a young 

 city. It is regarded as a landmark by the country 

 folk about and vandal hands are forbidden to 

 bring about its fall. 



I asked a man who lived nearby the "Big 

 Elm" why the tree had not been cut down along 

 with the other forest monarchs on the road allow- 

 ance. 



"Well," he replied, "I've heard it said that in 

 lumber-wagon and ox-team days when any of the 

 old boys got 'feelin' good' in town, that when the 

 hubs of their wagons hit the side of that tree they 

 knew they were getting close to home. Then they'd 

 straighten up and look serious. Maybe that's why 

 they left the tree stand and maybe, too," he added, 

 with a smile, "whoever started the story was just 

 putting one over on the old boys. But you can 

 see a lot of scars on that tree where the wagon 

 hubs hit it." 



I carried the inquiry further. I asked a Cana- 

 dian of English descent about that tree. 



' ' Why did they leave that big elm ? Well, that 's 

 easy," he replied. "You see there was a big lot 

 of Scotch here 'way back in early times, and those 

 folks just had to have something to rub against. 

 You've heard about those scratching-posts they 

 had in some parts of Scotland. Between you and 

 me," he said, in a lower voice and with a wink, 

 "that's what they left that big tree for. Handy 

 it was, you know, when they were walking. Of 

 course they don't any of them use it now," he 



