tree, so distindtly feminine is its beauty? Portions 

 of bark outlast the wood, and are to be found 

 standing ere£t and empty. The tree has departed, 

 bequeathing its fair skin in token of a vanished 

 loveliness. Now and then the yellow birch is seen 

 in all its beauty, the golden inner bark shining 

 through a silver filigree. To look at this tree is 

 like looking at a pidture or reading a poem: one 

 feels somehow refreshed. Nor is the black birch 

 without charm; its bark has a dusky beauty, and 

 again shows fine wood colors and metallic tints 

 similar to the black cherry. This fine luster the 

 birch has in an eminent degree while most trees 

 show it only on their small branches, if at all. 



Club-mosses appear to be a lesser growth of 

 pines, a pygmy folk dwelling at the feet of the 

 elder race. Here are miniature trunks and branches 

 bearing miniature cones, perfedt little conifers no 

 higher than a chickadee. Ground-pine and trailing 

 Christmas green thrive together on the bank, the 

 latter with stems a yard long, which, while they 

 grow at one end, die at the other. These little 

 plants are crisp and green and refresh the eye on 

 winter days, as does the Christmas fern, which 

 affords a pleasant encounter at a time when one 



158 



