THE USEFUL BIRCH

“Oh, Miss Harson!” called out Clara, in great excitement, as she caught up with her governess on a run; “hasn’t Edie poisoned herself? She has been eating this twig.”

Edith, of course, at once began to cry.

“You are not poisoned, dear,” said Miss Harson, very quickly, after trying the twig herself; “for this is birch-wood, and it cannot possibly hurt you. But remember, Edie, that this must not happen again; never put anything to your mouth unless you know it to be harmless. The birds and squirrels and other animals that are obliged to pick up their own living as soon as they are able to use their limbs have the faculty given them of knowing what is good for them to eat, but little girls are not intended to live in the woods, and they cannot tell whether or not the things they find there are fit to eat.”

“I took only a little bit,” sobbed Edith; “Clara snatched it away as soon as it tasted good.”

Malcolm laughingly tossed his little sister into a sort of evergreen cradle where the branches grew low for they were enjoying an afternoon in the woods and held her there securely, while their governess replied,

“‘A little bit’ is too much of a thing that might be harmful. You must remember to ‘touch not, taste not, handle not,’ until you have asked permission. But I am going to let you all chew as many birch-shoots as you want, and I too shall chew some; for when I was a little girl, I used to think they were ‘puffickly d’licious.’”

The children were much amazed to think that Miss Harson had ever talked like Edith indeed, the two older ones could scarcely believe that they once did so themselves; but all soon had their hands full of birch-twigs, and they began gnawing like so many squirrels. All approved of the “birchskin,” as Edith called it, and Malcolm declared that “it would be grand fun to live in the woods all the time.”

“Couldn’t we have a tent, Miss Harson,” asked Clara, “and try it?”

“I have no doubt,” was the reply, “that your indulgent papa would have a tent put up here for you if he thought it would make you happier, but I have my doubts as to whether it would do so. In the first place, I should object very much to living in the tent with you, and how could you possibly live there alone?”

Clara and Edith were quite sure that they could not get along without their friend and governess, but Malcolm thought he would like to try being a hermit or an Indian, he was not quite ready to say which.

“While you are deciding,” said Miss Harson, with a smile, “it may be as well for us to go on as usual; but I think that a little tent could be put up here somewhere, which we might enjoy for an hour or so on pleasant days. I will see about it.”

The little girls were delighted, and Malcolm finally condescended to be pleased with the idea.

“This is a very young birch,” continued their governess, “and you see how slender and graceful it is; also that the bark, or ‘skin,’ is very dark. For this reason it is called the black, or cherry, birch, and also because the tree is very much like the black cherry. It is also called sweet birch and mahogany birch; the sweet part you can probably understand, and it gets its other name from the color of the wood, which often resembles mahogany and at one time was much used for furniture. There are larger trees of the same kind all around us, and I should like to know if anything else has been noticed besides the twigs of this little one.”

“I see something,” replied Malcolm: “there are flowers purple and yellow.”

“And what is the particular name for these tree-blossoms?” asked Miss Harson.

“Isn’t it catkins?” inquired Clara, timidly.

“Yes, catkins, or aments. They hang, as you see, like long tassels of purple and gold, and are as fragrant as the bark. Bryant’s line,

“‘The fragrant birch above him hung her tassels in the sky,’

“was written of this same black birch. Some of these trees are sixty or seventy feet high, and all are very graceful, this species being considered the most beautiful of the numerous birch family. The leaves, which are just coming out, are two or three inches long and about half as wide; they taper to a point and have serrate, or sawlike, edges. The wood is firm and durable, and is much used for cattle-yokes as well as for bedsteads and chairs. The large trees yield a great quantity of sweetish sap, which makes a pleasant drink. The trees are tapped just as the sugar-maples are, and in some parts of the country gathering this sap, which is sometimes used to make vinegar, is quite an important event.”

“Oh! oh! oh!” screamed Edith, and began to run.

“Oh! oh! oh!” echoed Clara; and Malcolm declared that she was just like “Jill,” who “came tumbling after.”

“What is the matter, children?” asked their governess, in dismay; but she stood perfectly still.

“Only a poor little garter-snake,” said Malcolm, “putting his head out to see if it’s warm enough for him yet. But he has gone back into his hole frightened to death at such dreadful noises. Hello! what’s the matter with Edie now?”

The little sister had fallen, tripped up by some rough roots, and, expecting the poor startled garter-snake to come and make a meal off her, she was calling loudly for help.

Miss Harson had her in her arms in a moment, and it was soon found that one foot had quite a bad bruise.

“If only you had not run away!” said her governess. “He was such an innocent little snake to make all this fuss about, and very pretty too, if you had stopped to look at him.”

“Are snakes ever pretty?” asked Edith, in great surprise.

“Certainly they are, dear, and this one had lovely stripes. I wish you could have seen him.”

The little girl began to wish so too, it was so funny to think of a snake being pretty, and she felt quite ashamed that she had scampered away in such a silly fashion.

“What a goose I was!” said Clara, doing her thinking aloud. “But I thought it must be something dreadful, when Edie screamed so.”

“How much better it would have been to have found out before you screamed!” replied Miss Harson. “But come, Edith; see what a nice cane Malcolm has just cut to help your lame foot with. He is offering you his arm, too, on the other side, and between the two I think you will get along finely.”

Edith thought the same thing, and enjoyed being helped home in this fashion. Her foot was quite painful, though, and considerably swollen; and Clara bathed it with arnica when the little girl had been comfortably established on the schoolroom sofa.

“Perhaps,” said Miss Harson, “our little invalid will not care to hear about trees this evening?”

But the little invalid did care, and it was decided to take a further ramble among the birches.

“I want to hear about birch-bark,” said Malcolm “not the kind we’ve been eating, but the kind that canoes and things are made of.”

“You have already heard about the black birch,” replied his governess, “and, besides this, we have the white, or gray, birch, the bark of which is white, chalky and dotted with black; the red birch, with bark of a reddish or chocolate color; the yellow birch, bark yellowish, with a silvery lustre; and the canoe birch, which has a white bark with a pearly lustre. There is also a dwarf, or shrub, birch. The list, you see, is quite a long one.”

“What kind grow in our woods?” asked Clara.

“You certainly know of one kind,” was the reply “the black, or sweet, birch, which we have all tried and like so well. Besides this, there is the white, or little gray, birch, which is seldom over twenty-five or thirty feet high. It is, however, a graceful and beautiful object, enjoying to an eminent decree the lightness and airiness of the birch family, and spreading out its glistening leaves on the ends of a very slender and often pensile spray with an indescribable softness. An English poet has called this tree the

“’most beautiful
Of forest-trees, the lady of the woods.’”

The children laughed at the idea of calling a tree a lady, it seemed so comical; but Miss Harson said that she thought this was a very good description of a slender, graceful tree.

“Four or five inches,” she continued, “will span its waist, or trunk, and this seems a very good reason for calling it little. Another name for this tree is poplar birch, because the triangular-shaped leaves, which taper to a very long, slender point, have a habit of trembling like those of the poplars. The branches are of a dark chocolate color which contrasts very prettily with the grayish-white trunk, and their extreme slenderness causes them to droop somewhat like those of the willow. The white birch will spring up in the poorest kind of soil, and it is found in the highest latitude in which any tree can live. Its leaf is ‘deltoid’ in shape and indented at the edge. The bark of this species is said to be more durable than any other vegetable substance, and a piece of birch-wood was once found changed into stone, while the outer bark, white and shining, remained in its natural state,”

“I don’t see how it could,” said Malcolm. “What kept it from turning into stone too?”

“Its peculiar nature,” was the reply, “which is a thing that we cannot explain, and we shall have to take the story just as it is. We certainly know that the wood has been proved to be very strong, and it is much used for timber.”

“Is the red birch really red, Miss Harson?” asked Clara, who thought that this promised to be the prettiest member of the family.

“The bark has a reddish tinge, and it is so loose and ragged-looking that it has been said to roll up its bark in coarse ringlets, which are whitish with a stain of crimson. The red birch, which is more rare than any of the other kinds, is a much larger tree than the white birch, but, like all its relations, it is very graceful. The wood is white and hard and makes very good fuel, while the twigs are made into brooms for sweeping streets and courtyards.”

“But there isn’t very much red about it, after all,” said Malcolm.

“It wasn’t red,” murmured Edith; “it was green;” and the next moment “the baby” was fast asleep, but Miss Harson was afraid that she had taken the snake with her to the land of Nod, so restless was her sleep.

“I hope the yellow birch is yellow,” said Clara again.

“We will see what is said of its color,” replied her governess, “and here it is: ’Distinguished by its yellowish bark, of a soft silken texture and silvery or pearly lustre,’ It is a large tree, and has been named excelsa ’lofty’ because of its height. The slender, flowing branches are very graceful, and the tree is often as symmetrical as a fine elm, but droops less. The roots of the yellow birch seem to enjoy getting above the ground and twisting themselves in a very fantastic manner, and, taken altogether, it is a strikingly handsome and ornamental tree. The wood was at one time much liked for fuel, and many of the logs were of immense size.”

“Now,” said Malcolm, gleefully, “the canoe birch has got to come next, because there isn’t anything else to come.”

“That is an excellent reason,” replied Miss Harson, “and the canoe birch it shall be. There is more to be said of it than of any of the others, and it also grows in greater quantities. Thick woods of it are found in Maine and New Hampshire for it loves a cold climate and in other Northern portions of the country. The tall trunks of the trees resemble pillars of polished marble supporting a canopy of bright-green foliage. The leaves are something of a heart-shape, and their vivid summer green turns to golden tints in autumn. The bark of the canoe birch is almost snowy white on the outside, and very prettily marked with fine brown stripes two or three inches long, which go around the trunk. This bark is very smooth and soft, and it is easily separated into very thin sheets. For this reason the tree is often called the paper birch, and the smooth, thin layers of bark make very good writing-paper when none other can be had.”

“Oh, Miss Harson!” exclaimed Clara; “did you ever see any that was written on?”

“Yes,” was the reply; “I once wrote a letter on some myself.”

“Did you really?” cried two eager voices. “How could you? Oh, do tell us about it!”

“I was making a visit at a village in Maine,” said their governess, “where the beautiful trees are to be seen in all their perfection, and I thought it would be appropriate to write a letter from there on birch bark. So I split my bark very thin and got a respectable sheet of it ready; then I cut another piece, to form an envelope, and gummed it together. I had quite a struggle to write on it decently with a steel pen, because the pen would go through the paper; but I persevered, and finally I accomplished my letter. It seemed odd to put a postage-stamp on birch bark, and I smiled to think how surprised the home-people would be to get such a letter. They were surprised, and they told me afterward that the postman laughed when he delivered it.”

The children thought this very interesting, and they wished that there were canoe-birch trees growing at Elmridge, that they might be enabled to try the experiment for themselves.

“Now,” continued Miss Harson, “I am going to read you an account of canoe-making, and of some other uses to which the bark is put:

“’In Canada and in the district of Maine the country-people place large pieces of the bark immediately below the shingles of the roof, to form a more impenetrable covering for their houses. Baskets, boxes and portfolios are made of it, which are sometimes embroidered with silk of different colors. Divided into very thin sheets, it forms a substitute for paper, and placed between the soles of the shoes and in the crown of the hat it is a defence against dampness. But the most important purpose to which it is applied, and one in which it is replaced by the bark of no other tree, is in the construction of canoes. To procure proper pieces, the largest and smoothest trunks are selected. In the spring two circular incisions are made, several feet apart, and two longitudinal ones on opposite sides of the tree; after which, by introducing a wooden wedge, the bark is easily detached. These plates are usually ten or twelve feet long and two feet nine inches broad. To form the canoe, they are stitched together with fibrous roots of the white spruce about the size of a quill, which are deprived of the bark, split and suppled in water. The seams are coated with resin of the balm of Gilead.

“’Great use is made of these canoes by the savages and by the French Canadians in their long journeys into the interior of the country; they are very light, and are easily transported on the shoulders from one lake or river to another, which is called the portage. A canoe calculated for four persons, with their baggage, weighs from forty to fifty pounds; some of them are made to carry fifteen passengers.’

“And now let me show you a picture of the Kentucky pioneer in a birch-bark canoe.”

“Why, Miss Harson, the Indians are trying to kill him!” exclaimed Malcolm.

“Yes,” she replied; “when you read the history of the United States, you will find that not only Daniel Boone, but the most of the early settlers of these Western lands, had trouble with the Indians. Nor is this strange. These pioneers were often rough men, and were looked upon by the natives as invaders of their country and treated as enemies. But to come back to the uses of the bark of the birch:

“’In the settlements of the Hudson Bay Company tents are made of the bark of this tree, which for that purpose is cut into pieces twelve feet long and four feet wide. These are sewed together by threads made of the white-spruce roots; and so rapidly is a tent put up that a circular one twenty feet in diameter and ten feet high does not occupy more than half an hour in pitching. Every traveler and hunter in Canada enjoys these “rind-tents,” as they are called, which are used only during the hot summer months, when they are found particularly comfortable.’”

“Well, that’s the funniest thing yet!” exclaimed Malcolm. “‘Rind-tents’! I wish I could see one. Did they have any in Maine where you were, Miss Harson?”

“No,” was the reply, “I did not even hear of such a thing there, and to see it you would probably have to go far to the north. The English birch, which is found also in many parts of Europe, is put to a great many uses; the leaves produce a yellow dye, and the wood, when mixed with copperas, will color red, black and brown. An old birch tree that is supposed to be giving an account of itself says,

“’How many are the uses of my bark! Thrifty men who sit beside the blazing hearth when my branches throw up a clear bright flame, and follow the example of their fathers in making their own shoes and those of their families, tan the hides with my bark. Kamschadales construct from it both hats and vessels for holding milk, and the Swedish fisherman his shoes. The Norwegian covers with it his low-roofed hut and spreads upon the surface layers of moss at least three or four inches thick, and, having twisted long strips together, he obtains excellent torches with which to cheer the darkness of his long nights. Fishermen, in like manner, make great use of them in alluring their finny prey. For this purpose they fit a portion of blazing birch in a cleft stick and spear the fish when attracted by its flickering light.’”

The children exclaimed at this queer way of fishing, but Malcolm was very much taken with the idea of doing it by night with blazing torches, and he thought that he would like to be a Norwegian fisherman even better than a hermit or an Indian.

“The old tree goes on to say,” continued Miss Harson, “that ’Finland mothers form of the dried leaves soft, elastic beds for their children, and from me is prepared the moña, their sole medicine in all diseases. My buds in spring exhale a delicious fragrance after showers, and the bark, when burnt, seems to purify the air in confined dwellings.’

“In Lapland the twigs of the birch, covered with reindeer-skins, are used for beds, but they cannot be so comfortable, I should think, as the leaves. The fragrant wood of the tree makes the fires which have to be kept up inside the huts even in summer to drive away the mosquitoes, and the people of those Northern regions would find it hard to get along without the useful birch.”

“I like to hear about it,” said Clara. “Can you tell us something more that is done with it, Miss Harson?”

“There is just one thing more,” replied her governess, with a smile, “which I will read out of an old book; and I desire you all to pay particular attention to it.”

Little Edith was wide awake again by this time, and her great blue eyes looked as if she were ready to devour every word.

“Birch rods,” continued Miss Harson, “are quite different from birch twigs, and the uses to which they were put were not altogether agreeable to the boys who ran away from school or did not get their lessons. ‘My branches,’ says the birch, ’gently waving in the wind, awakened in those days no feelings of dread with truant urchins for all might be truants then, if so it pleased them but at length a scribe arose who thus wrote concerning my ductile twigs: “The civil uses whereunto the birch serveth are many, as for the punishment of children both at home and abroad; for it hath an admirable influence upon them to quiet them when they wax unruly, and therefore some call the tree make-peace"’” Malcolm and Clara both laughed, and asked their young governess when the birch rods were coming; but Edith did not feel quite so easy, and, with her bruised foot and all, it took a great deal of petting that night to get her comfortably to bed.