THE TREE FOLK 21 



If you look at the drawing closely you will see that 

 an insect punctured that 1922 pruned branch, near its 

 arm-pit, and that the older wood has more scars and 

 other anatomical detail than the new wood, just as the 

 skin of an old man is more marked and wrinkled than 

 the skin of a baby. 



What is true of this twig is true for every twig and for 

 every tree. Did you ever read *' The Thousand Year 

 Old Tree," by Enos Mills? Better read that sometime; 

 it will help you to appreciate a tree. 



The Tree Folk, like people of our own race, become 

 more interesting with age, chiefly because their appear- 

 ance reflects their life history, their real character. 



A baby's face means nothing, except to its doting 

 parents and to its immediate grandmothers. The face of 

 a child of ten is much like the face of any other child 

 of that age. But when a man has lived intensely and 

 suff"ered much, failed a few hundred times and tri- 

 umphed once or twice, his face begins to have a char- 

 acter all its own, good or bad, according to the heart in 

 him. 



The son of Sirach, several centuries ago, perceiving 

 this fact, paid in advance a fine tribute to our grand- 

 parents: ''As the clear light is upon the holy candlestick, 

 so is the beauty of the face in ripe age.'' We are not 

 responsible for the face we are born with, but we are 

 responsible for the face we die with. 



