184 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



of living creatures being found deeply embedded in elm- 

 trees. Such creatures, creeping, perhaps, head foremost 

 at the approach of winter into some crack or opening in 

 the bark, and from thence into a hollow in the trunk, 

 found, on waking from their winter sleep, that there was 

 no possibility of returning; or else, while nestling in the 

 bark, and being unable from their position to draw back, 

 annual growths of liber and alburnum gathered round 

 them, still the creatures lived on, deriving air and nourish- 

 ment from the glutinous fluid of the inner bark, which 

 surrounded their strange dwelling-places. 



Foreign substances have been found, in like manner, 

 deeply sunk into the inner bark, and causing no small 

 surprise when first discovered. Names deeply cut, in years 

 long past, have suddenly come to light, and rings and coins 

 have rebounded from the hatchet of the woodcutter.' 



" The woodman's heart is in his work, 

 His axe is sharp and good, 



