both strong and light. It does not last so long as the oak, but it is
more elastic and can better resist sudden shocks and jerks; it is
therefore particularly desirable for the spokes of wheels and ladders
and the beams of floors. Staircases were made of it in olden times, and
they may still be found in some English halls and abbeys. The forest ash
makes better oars than any other wood, and the tree has so many good
qualities that an old English poet spoke of it as

"'The ash for nothing ill.'

"But Malcolm looks as if he had something to say, and I shall be very
happy to hear it."

"It is only about the red berries that they bear in autumn, Miss Harson;
it looks queer to see berries growing on a tree."

"The mountain ash is the only one that has berries," replied his
governess, "and the bloom is in clusters of white flowers. The berries
are sometimes dark red and often of a bright scarlet, and they remain on
the tree during the winter, to the great delight of the birds. We should
find them very sour, although pretty to look at; but the little
feathered wanderers eat them with great relish when the snows of winter
make bird-food scarce and the bright-red berries gleam out most
invitingly. In some parts of Europe the berries are dried and ground
into flour. The rowan, or roan, tree is the English name of the mountain
ash, and in some parts of Great Britain it is called _witchen_, because
of its supposed power against witches and evil spirits and all their
spells. In old times branches of it were hung about houses and stables
and cow-sheds, for it was thought that