THE CHRISTMAS SPIRITS AND THE TREES

Our ancestors who lived across the Big Water used to decorate their homes with the branches of the Evergreens in winter as a refuge for the spirits of the woods from the bitter weather; and these same spirits have, ever since and every day, been repaying the kindness a thousandfold!

Take the Pine family alone, the Christmas Trees and their relations, and look what they have helped give us, not only at Christmas, but throughout the year; our books and magazines and newspapers, and our pianos and the music the pianos play, and the pretty shoes that work the pedals and other kinds of leather things in the tanning of which hemlock bark is used; and the house, with its shingles, partitions, and stairways, and the frames of the windows through which we watch our winter bird friends at their Christmas tables on the window-sill; yes, and helped bring Uncle John from Colorado and the telegram that said he was coming! How could a telegram ride across country without poles? Or a locomotive pull a train on a track without ties?

As for the gifts from other trees, where did those Walnuts and Butternuts and Chestnuts come from? And the coasters and the hobby-horse and the doll-house and its furniture? And the phonograph and the radio? And who helped mother get the Christmas dinner but the chopping-bowl and the bread-board and the potato-masher and the rolling-pin?

THE GIFTS OF THE PINE FAMILY

In addition to the fact that they are so intimately related to the good times of the Christmas season there are other reasons for giving the first section of this chapter to the Pines. Did you know, for instance, that it was their ancestors who put in all our winter coal?

The Pine family includes the Pines, the Larches, the Spruces, from which, among other things, paper is made, the Hemlocks, the tannin in whose bark helps make leather, the Firs, Cypresses, Sequoias, Cedars, Arbor-Vitae, and Junipers. They are all commonly referred to as Evergreens because, with the exception of the Larch and the Bald Cypress, their leaves do not fall all at once as do those of most trees.

Within the boundaries of the United States there are thirty-nine species of Pines; so, you see, just to know all the members of the family by their “calling-cards,” their cones, and needle-like leaves would be quite an undertaking. Our illustrations give some of the most interesting examples. A good little game for Christmas would be to see who could guess the most of them correctly, after having studied the pictures carefully. Cover the names with a slip of paper, then let each one write out a list of the numbers with his guess opposite, and, after all the lists are made, compare with the book. To make it particularly interesting each player should, of course, be supplied with a certain number of English Walnuts or chocolate drops or other Christmas goodies as forfeits for mistakes. Then these forfeits would finally go to the most successful guesser.