smooth as any other hickory, 

 but grows not long till it 

 begins to snarl at passers 

 by, at which time it is ridic- 

 ulous to me and makes me 

 giggle. This snappishness is 

 like a pretty woman's pout- 

 ing, attractive as laughter. 

 And when a shell-bark sap- 

 ling is, say, twenty feet high, I have seen a bark which would suit the 

 glad fancies of an artist. Lichens of select sort gather on their curl- 

 ing rinds, yellowish and greenish lichens being favorites, and when 

 these are on the bark and out under winter rains, they become beauti- 

 ful as photogravures. If you suppose that, one shell-bark seen, all are 



60 



LOCUST 



