274 



UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



AN AMERICAN TREE 



For true American character give me the 

 sycamore. Not the European member of 

 the family, that comes from the nurseries 

 and that we are apt to plant on our lawns; 

 but our own sycamore, the buttonwood of 

 our meadows. Summer or winter alike, 

 it is always charming; but it seems to me 

 particularly beautiful in winter. Look at 

 the difference between the nurseryman's 

 % tree and our own sycamore. The general 

 I lines are just the same. There is the same 

 ruggedness and sturdiness. But in all the 

 details of the smaller branches there is a 

 yielding ease of curve in the European tree, 

 1 as becomes the more cosmopolitan experi- 

 ence of our travelled friend, while our own 

 sets its twigs with uncompromising assertion. 



THE PEELING TRUNK 



I wish I could catch the reason for the 

 difference in color of the sycamores in differ- 

 ent winters. The smaller boughs always 

 shed their outer bark in winter and look 

 almost as white as if washed with lime. 



