THE WOODS. 11 



pines are not without a living interest, and fancy 

 pleasantly invests them with more than the eye 

 can see, and Science lingers over them, knowing 

 right well they can teach her many a lesson 

 worth knowing. 



Our Molega Road, woods, are but the strag- 

 gling fringes of larger tracts that run back into 

 low hills and swamps. They are not growths 

 where some particular species lords it over all, 

 but many kinds struggle for a foothold. Spruce 

 and fir, birches, oaks, maples, pines, hemlock, 

 and beech jostle each other in thickets. These 

 deeper solitudes, where a human footstep does 

 not pass perhaps in years, although not more 

 than a couple of miles from houses, are the 

 abodes of squirrels, and rabbits, and mice, and 

 wildcats, and foxes. Birds are not abundant in 

 such retreats, but there are always enough to 

 enliven the scene with their presence. 



Leaving local considerations, we will accept 

 the invitation that beckons us to a wider discus- 

 sion of this theme. Let me remark that it can 

 be shown that life existed on this earth many 

 hundred thousand years before there was a tree. 

 The earliest water-made or sedimentaiy rocks 

 have preserved the records of those times. In 

 them are the remains and impressions of sea- 

 weeds, lichens, club-mosses, ferns and other 



