CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT 



219 



HERE are two lumberjacks sawing away at the base 

 of a giant maple. Up in the top of it a flying squirrel 

 is in hiding. He has stayed there in the tree even 

 after all of the other trees near at hand have been cut 

 away. His little heart beats faster than ever with each 

 thud of the ax into the tree, and with the vibrations of the 

 saw which go through the wood fibres from the base to 

 the highest leaves. Soon the tree begins to sway, and 

 the squirrel knows that he is no longer safe there. He 

 leaps clear of the branches with a long, slanting, downward 

 shoot, using his aeroplane to reach the nearest tree in 

 that part of the woods which is still uncut. It is a slender, 

 yellow birch, and as he comes near it, his flight takes a 

 sharp upward turn. By the time he nears its trunk, he is 

 headed up the stem full-tilt, and so on up to a branch 

 that goes off and gives him a passageway over to another 

 tree. In fact, all the treetops are full of these well- 

 known runways, and certain limbs get worn smooth with 

 the passage of the feet of the squirrels red squirrels, 

 flying squirrels, and all just as man's feet will wear a 

 smooth pathway across the ground. 



dreamed of. Creatures tinier than any they could imagine 

 are working day and night building things for man, and 

 others, again, tearing them down. The birds themselves 

 can be thought of as fairies with wings, working every 

 moment for man's good, searching out the insects from 

 the crevices in the trees and adding beauty in color and 

 sound to man's life. The scientist has found more real 

 fairies than all of those which have added to the lore of 

 elf and goblin, gnome and sprite; and the scientists' 

 fairies are more wonderful because they are tinier than 

 was ever thought to be possible. Then, too, they have 

 such changing and marvelous shapes. The old-time 

 fairies were always thought of in terms that the folk-lore 

 gatherers could understand that is, they were in the 

 general form of man, only much smaller. But the scien- 

 tist finds that the new fairies do not have to be limited to 

 any such forms. 



THE woodchoppers see the long air-dive; out of 

 curiosity one of them takes the long stick with which 

 he measures log-lengths and measures off on the 

 ground the distance which the squirrel has flown. He 

 finds that there are just five lengths of his light 16-foot 

 pole between the stump of the maple tree, which has just 

 been felled, and the base of the slender birch which 

 marked the end of the squirrel's flight. He thinks that 

 80 feet is a long leap for one little squirrel to undertake. 

 As for happenings of this sort and of even more exciting 

 kinds well, "the woods are full of them." 



OFTENTIMES children, and sometimes even the 

 grown-ups say that they are sorry that the age of 

 fairies seems to be over, and yet there are more 

 wonderful fairies of fact than the old romancers ever 



SO DO not be downcast when any one tells you that 

 there are no more fairies, but rather be glad that 

 there are new and different ones ones that you can 

 study and find out about for yourself, and ones that 

 you know are really alive today. 



Ah, little lad, that seeks for fairy lore, 

 Think not that all is gone that cold dry facts 



Must do away with elves and sprites of yore 

 With all their witching ways and kindly acts. 



Here in this time, if we will only learn 

 The ways of wood-folk in their work or play 



We may be sure of fairyland's return 

 In living wonders of the present day. 



Burned I70yrar> ago (174 4- AD) 

 yBurntd I58years uyo 



Burneft /48 years ago 



Tree first burner/ 



when GCyextrs old 



(1744 AD) 



SCARS OF FOUR FOREST FIRES ON THIS TREE 

 A section of a tree trunk showing how the dates of forest fires are ascertained from the remaining surviving trees in the fire-swept tract. 

 . .t k whlch . ln J u <;es a tree leaves a permanent scar and the date when it occurred can be determined, or at least very closely, approxi- 

 mated by counting the number of annual rings between the scar and the outer circumference of the tree. This photograph and estimate 

 were made by the Commission of Conservation of Canada. 



