CHILDREN OF MY TRAIL SCHOOL 161 



the tree was wider than high; we measured its 

 height and its diameter; noted the colour and 

 character of its bark. A last year's cone on the 

 ground looked as though varnished; the unripe 

 ones on the tree were grass-green. Then we ex- 

 amined the needles; they were fastened on the 

 branches in little bundles of five. At last we con- 

 cluded that it must be a limber pine. 



"I remember reading about it in John Muir's 

 'The Mountains of California/" said one child. 

 "He often found it growing on dry, rocky, wind- 

 swept ridges." 



When a new boy or girl arrives he or she is gen- 

 erally full of movie talk or train experience, or 

 eager to find out concerning riding, fishing, or 

 other long-treasured plans. But these outing chil- 

 dren talk. Presto! Change! The new arrival 

 edges toward mother and begs to join the young 

 explorers next day. 



We ask the children not to discuss either per- 

 sonalities or the movies. One evening a number 

 of boys were about to leave with sleeping bags to 

 camp for the night in a beaver colony, when a new 

 boy, fresh from the city and the movies, came 

 along. He joined them. He talked incessantly 

 concerning the movies. As soon as sleeping bags 

 were piled and before wood was gathered for a 

 camp-fire two of the boys led the movie one off 

 behind a clump of fir trees and demanded from 

 him whether he would stop movie talk or if he 



