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table by removing both the outer rind and the paper membrane 

 surrounding the sections of pulp. This membrane usually has a 

 bitter flavor not acceptable to most palates. In the home of the 

 grape fruit they treat the fruit in a different way. It is first cut 

 in half across the sections., or "pegs" as they are called, then the 

 centre where the sections come together is cut away and some 

 sugar put in the cavity, the pulp is next loosened from the sec- 

 tions with a fork and finally it is conveyed to the mouth with a 

 spoon. In this way one gets the full flavor of the fruit and at the 

 same time avoids the bitter taste of the other parts. 



THE RINGS OF TREES. 



Every tree 'has its life history securely locked up in its heart. 

 Each year of its growth a thin ring of wood is formed next to the 

 bark and a corresponding layer of bark adjoining it. As the tree 

 swells and swells the bark is forced outward and splits into wide 

 fissures. Much of it falls off altogether, but each ring of wood 

 remains a faithful record of the year in which it was formed. 

 When the axe or saw of the woodman ends the life of the tree 

 and brings its body crashing to the earth this record is unrolled 

 before us, and by it we can determine almost every incident in 

 the life and growth of the tree. 



Trees as well as human beings have their period of struggle 

 and hardship, their prosperous times, their terrible misfortunes 

 and hairbreadth escapes, their injuries, and recoveries; their com- 

 plete submergence in a struggle in which the odds were too great 

 for their feeble strength to cope with. 



Here is a sturdy oak, whose tale revealed is that of steady 

 perserverance in the face of difficulties — a slow, gradual growth, 

 never checked, never daunted, till the final goal is reached and 

 it stands supreme, literally monarch of all it surveys. 



Here is a mighty spruce which has a tale of perseverance, 

 but of a different sort. The oak conquers by force of character, 



