AMONG THE TREES. 



THE BEECH. 



It was a fine day in March and the 

 whole earth seemed to be rejoicing that 

 the icy bonds of winter were broken. 

 Little by little the great God of Day had 

 regained his strength, forcing the Ice 

 King to yield step by step, until the 

 snow had all disappeared from the hill- 

 side. The brook was swollen to twice 

 its natural size and was hurrying to the 

 river, which presented an unusual and 

 ever-changing picture as the ice came 

 hurrying by, sometimes bringing with it 

 parts of fences, and even trees, which 

 had been undermined and carried along 

 by the resistless current. 



Mabel stood on the bridge watching the 

 wild, foaming rush of escaped waters in 

 their headlong race to the sea ; this was 

 something of which she never tired in 

 her childhood days, and now she felt 

 the same fascination. Presently she 

 heard the notes of bluebirds and 

 robins, those feathered harbingers of 

 spring, borne on the breeze to her from 

 the hillside and she fancied they were 

 calling her. 



"It is indeed a long time since I have 

 been there," she thought. 'T'll go now 

 and see how my friends the trees are. 

 There was no chance to talk with them 

 last winter ; I've sat and gazed into the 

 fire on long winter evenings, but no 

 sprite came to talk to me. I'm sure if it 

 had been grandmother's old-fashioned 

 fireplace, filled with huge logs, I would 

 have had a visitor." 



How Mabel enjoyed the warm south 

 breeze and the lingering caress of the 

 sun on her face ! All nature seemed 

 to be alive today as she tripped merrily 

 along. 



Here's a lovely Beech with its 

 smooth bark of soft greenish-gray, and 

 — yes, there are letters cut on the trunk. 

 I wonder who did that, and when! 

 Beech Tree, talk to me, will you please? 

 I'll sit here on this log and be ever so 



attentive if you will," said Mabel, as she 

 looked up at the tree. "Do you know, 

 Beech Tree, that you are very pretty as 

 you stand there devoid of your summer 

 robes ; your sinewy strength shows itself 

 in every outline ; you have a noble head, 

 your branches are delicate and show an 

 exquisite tracery against the- clear, deep 

 blue sky. There is a silvery sheen 

 about your smaller branches and twigs. 

 Have you snow or frost clinging to you 

 yet? Shake it off," she said, laughing 

 and shaking herself. 



''No, fair maid ; I have neither frost 

 nor snow on me ; my young branches 

 always look like that in spring. If you 

 notice, I have also some of last year's 

 leaves on my older branches ; now they 

 tell of a time when >ve were evergreen. 

 We still have some evergreen members, 

 but they are all in the southern hemi- 

 sphere, where they help to make the 

 forests of Terra-del-Fuego, Patagonia, 

 New Zealand and Australia beautiful ail 

 the year, by tossing their dark green 

 branches in the summer's heat and win- 

 ter's cold. 



*'We are an ancient family," came 

 proudly from the tree ; "remains of us 

 are found in the cretaceous rocks of 

 Dakota and the miocene of Alaska and 

 California. Only three members of our 

 family, however — the Beech, Chestnut 

 and Chinquapin, flourish in this coun- 

 try." 



"Oh, is the Chestnut a member of 

 your family? How I do love the nuts 

 of that tree ! It is such fun to watch 

 them burst open when roasting in the 

 glowing coals ! It's fun, too, to gather 

 them after a good, sharp frost, when the 

 prickly burs are well opened. Those 

 great burs prick one's flesh like so 

 many needles." 



"Yes, the Chestnut is a member of 

 our family, and there are some very 

 famous Chestnut trees mentioned in his- 



