the streams were frozen over and the 

 lakes were sheets of ice, when the 

 ground was covered with snow and the 

 winds of winter were howling, he would 

 bind on his snowshoes, or harnessing 

 his dogs to his sled, be off like the 

 wind. 



"Nor was this all; when building his 

 wigwam, he would take strips of its 

 bark to thatch it, and thus protect him- 

 self and his family from the rough 

 storms of winter, and in summer's heat, 

 its sap gave him a cooling drink, or 

 boiling it down, he had a syrup for his 

 corn bread. Is it any wonder that I 

 say the Canoe Birch should belong to 

 the Indian alone ? Alas ! the Indian no 

 longer roams the forests as he did of 

 old." 



"1 suppose the Canoe Birch is the 

 one so closely connected with Hia- 

 watha ?" 



'The very same; there was a man, 

 the poet Longfellow, who rightly un- 

 derstood our inner life. He does not 

 have Hiawatha ruthlessly destroy, or 

 mercilessly take but has him ask, for 

 does he not say 'Give me.' All through 

 that wonderful poem founded on the 

 legends of the North American Indian 

 it is not 'I will take,' but 'Give me.' 

 Notice. 



'Give me of your bark, O Birch-Tree! 



Of your yellow bark, O Birch-Tree ! 



Growing by the rushing river, 



Tall and stately in the valley ! 



I a light canoe will build me, 



Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing, 



That shall float upon the river, 



Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, 



Like a yellow water-lily !' " 

 "And the tree with all its branches 



Rustled in the breeze of rnorning, 



Saying, with a sigh of patience, 



'Take my cloak, O Hiawatha !' " 



finished Mabel. 



"You know it then " 



"Yes; Hiawatha is one of my fav- 

 orite poems. Longfellow so described 

 the beauties of nature in telling those 

 Indian legends as to make it very fas- 

 cinating." 



"If I had hands I would clap them 

 for Longfellow, since I have not I will 

 rustle my many leaves." 



"Oh what a pretty picture you make ; 

 but tell me some more.'* 



"About the Paper Birch, another 



member of our family? PHny and Plu- 

 tarch agree that famous books were 

 written on its bark fully seven hun- 

 dred years before Christ. 



"Another member, the Hop Horn- 

 beam has wood so strong that it excels 

 in strength all other woods of the for- 

 est and to it has been given the wild- 

 wood name of Leverwood. This tree 

 bears its fruit in hop-like clusters and 

 each seed is enveloped in an inflated 

 bag. Being pale green in color they 

 contrast well with the dark leaves of 

 the tree which is a low-growing one, 

 generally standing in the dense shadow 

 of some larger tree. 



"There is also the Yellow Birch 

 whose beautiful, golden bark has 

 a silver sheen and the shreds when 

 separated curl about it, for all Birches 

 peel horizontally, like the ribbon deco- 

 rations of some fantastic lady. I sup- 

 pose we are the gypsies amiong trees, 

 for our apparel is always thread-bare 

 and ragged." 



"I have often noticed bark peeled 

 like that on trees_, but did not at first 

 know what it was; but tell me Birch 

 Tree, the bark is the most useful por- 

 tion of you is it not?" 



"I rather think it is, especially in 

 the far north, for 3^ou should know that 

 we grow farther within the Arctic Circle 

 than any other trees, even the firs. Our 

 inner bark is often bruied and mixed 

 with food to which it is a valuable ad- 

 dition, owing to the abundance of starch 

 which it contains. 



"We are the only tree of Lapland 

 and we grow so small that it is said 

 six full-grown trees can be put in a 

 man's overcoat pocket." 



"Pretty small trees," laughed Mabel, 

 "and I should say of little use on that 

 account." 



"Not so; they use every bit of us 

 there. Our bark is used in the manu- 

 facture of mats, cords, baskets and 

 waterproof boats and shoes. You won- 

 der how so small a tree can do so 

 much ! Well a strip of bark furnishes 

 an incredible number of thin sheets. 



"They also use it as does the Indian, 

 in roofing their homes to protect them- 

 selves from snow and wind ; strips are 

 twisted into torches and burn well, 



102 



