forming what is called a pitch-knot,
extending sometimes to the heart. The same thing takes place through the
whole heart of a tree when, full of juice, its life is suddenly
destroyed.' 'Resin' is another name for turpentine, but is used of it
commonly when hardened into a solid form. The tar is obtained by slowly
burning splintered pine, both trunk and root, with a smothered flame,
and collecting the black liquid, which is expelled by the heat and
caught in cavities beneath the burning pile. Pitch is thickened tar, and
is used in calking ships and for like purposes."

"I am going to remember that," said Malcolm; "I could never make out
what all those different things meant."

"What are you thinking about so seriously, Clara?" asked her governess.
"If it is a puzzle, let me see if I cannot solve it for you."

"Well, Miss Harson, I was thinking of those brown leaves, or 'needles,'
in the pine-woods, and it seems strange to say that the leaves of
evergreens never fall off."

"It would not only be strange, dear, but quite untrue, to say that; for
the same leaves do not, of course, remain for ever on the tree. The
deciduous trees lose their leaves in the autumn and are entirely bare
until the next spring, but the evergreens, although they renew their
leaves, too, are never left without verdure of some sort. Late in
October you may see the yellow or brown foliage of the pines, then ready
to fall, surrounding the branches of the previous year's growth, forming
a whorl of brown fringe surmounted by a tuft of green leaves of the
present year's growth. Their leaves always turn yellow before the fall."

CHAPTER XIX.

_GIANT AND NUT PINES_.

Great was the surprise of Edith when Miss Harson gave the little sleeper
a gentle shake and told her that it was time to be up. But the birds
without the window told the same story, and the little maiden was soon
at the breakfast-table and ready for the day's duties and enjoyments,
including their "tree-talk."

"Are there any more kinds of pine trees?" asked Malcolm.

[Illustration: "AWAKE, LITTLE ONE!"]

"Yes, indeed!--more than we can take up this summer," replied Miss
Harson. "There is the Norway pine, or red pine, which in Maine and New
Hampshire is often seen in forests of white and pitch pine. It has a
tall trunk of eighty feet or so, and a smooth reddish bark. The leaves
are in twos, six or eight inches long, and form large tufts or brushes
at the end of the branchlets.