SECTION XIII 
WOODCRAFT 
Reprinted from the Woodcraft Manual for Girls by permission 
of the Woodcraft League. 
TWELVE SECRETS OF THE WOODS 
Do you know the twelve secrets of the woods? 
Do you know the umbrella that stands up spread to 
show that there is a restaurant in the cellar ? 
Do you know the “manna-food” that grows on the 
rocks, summer and winter, and holds up its hands in the 
Indian sign of “innocence,” so all who need may know 
how good it is? 
Do you know the vine that climbs above the sedge to 
whisper on the wind “There are coconuts in my base- 
ment” ? 
Can you tell why the rabbit puts his hind feet down 
ahead of his front ones as he runs? 
Can you tell why the squirrel buries every other nut 
and who it was that planted those shag-barks along the 
fence? 
Can y you tell what the woodchuck does in midwinter 
and On what day? 
Have you learned to know the pale villian of the 
open woods — the- deadly amanita, for whose fearful 
poison no remedy is known? 
Have you learned to overcome the poison ivy that was 
once so feared — now so lightly held by those who know ? 
Have you proved the balsam fir in all its fourfold gifts 
— as Christmas tree, as healing balm, as consecrated bed, 
as wood of friction fire? 
Do you know the wonderful medicine that is in the 
sky? 
Have you tasted the bread ofwisdom, the treasure that 
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