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.

[Illustration: WHITE-BIRCH LEAF.]

"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