with forty bundles of trees on the big 

 sleds. He is glad to have that much 

 more clearing done, and to have the work 

 pay for itself. He wouldn't care, I am 

 sure, to have a tree-planting band go out 

 and put in two new ones. 



Besides, there is all the trouble and 

 expense of getting the two additional 

 trees, and the very great risk that they 

 will not live after they are planted would 

 make possible a loss of three trees 

 instead of one. 



THE best way is to have just as much 

 or as little Christmas tree as you 

 wish, but not to try to make other 

 folks do things your way. In 

 many cases the merriness of the Christ- 

 mas of the farm child depends on whether 

 there is a good sale for the trees that the 

 farmer hauls to train or town. In any 

 case, could we get the opinion of the tree, 

 it would probably echo what Gertrude 

 said in our discussion: "If I were a tree 

 I'd rather be used in making little children 

 happy at Christmas than in any other 

 way." 



HERE are some of the Christmas 

 tree ideas that we have tried, or 

 that we have known other persons 

 to try: 

 In addition to our own tree indoors we 

 have had another just outside of the 

 living-room windows for the birds. This 

 we string with popcorn 

 and cranberries, and 

 fasten pieces of suet 

 to limbs and trunk. 

 Where we are now, we 

 find that the chicka- 

 dees and nuthatches 

 are our most frequent 

 visitors; but when we 

 were farther south the 

 tree was gay with the 

 plumage of jays and 

 cardinals. The car- 

 dinals were very fond 

 of sunflower seeds ; the 

 jays ate all of every- 

 thing and were a good 

 deal of a nuisance, be- 

 cause they tended to 

 drive the other birds 

 away. We think they 

 are the pigs of the 

 bird tribe. 



THEN I have known of city children 

 who played " woodyard " after 

 Christmas, taking the trees from 

 their own homes, and those from 

 vacant lots and ash piles, where they 

 were poor forlorn skeletons of their 

 former selves. All these were cut into 

 short stove lengths, and bundled together, 

 and were then carted around to poorer 

 folks, on bright, new, red, Christmas sleds 

 and 'spress wagons. 



ON one of the many festive occa- 

 sions that they have in the city of 

 Washington, such as " Inaugura- 

 tions" and the like, a great court 

 was trimmed with upright red cedars, or 

 Virginia junipers. After the great day 

 was over the wreckers were going to cart 

 away and destroy these trees. In the 

 meantime, however, the teachers at the 

 new Normal School got the idea that they 

 could make a pergola of the tall trunks, 

 and gained permission to use them. Part 

 of the projecting branches were left on, 

 so that climbing roses could easily twine 

 around and hold on. This arbor was 

 built not so many years ago; now it is 

 one of the beautiful sights of Washington 

 in summer, and pleasing even in winter. 



N Oakland, California, a man has in- 

 vented a combined hat-rack, clothes- 

 dryer, and Christmas tree. Folks 

 are always doing such things in that 

 original State. Where 

 there is so much out- 

 doors, they combine 

 all sorts of things to 

 save space. It's noth- 

 ing at all to go to bed 

 in what had appeared 

 to be the side-board, 

 to find that the book- 

 case is really a refriger- 

 ator, the library table a 

 gas stove, or the jardin- 

 iere a talking machine 

 in disguise. So the 

 Oakland man's patent 

 provides for a central 

 tube with holes in it, in 

 which green branches 

 may be thrust. His 

 claim is that it can use 

 boughs trimmed from 

 standing trees and still 

 leave them growing. 



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