"Give me of your bark, O Birch-tree!
Of your yellow bark, O Birch-tree !
Growing by the rushing river,
Tall and stately in the valley!

I a light canoe will build me,
Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing,
That shall float upon the river,
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily!

"Lay aside your cloak, O Birch-tree!
Lay aside your white-skin wrapper,
For the Summer-time is coming,

And the sun is warm in heaven,
And you need no white-skin wrapper!"
Thus aloud cried Hiawatha

In the solitary forest,

When the birds were singing gayly,

In the Moon of Leaves were singing.

And the tree with all its branches
Rustled in the breeze of morning,
Saying with a sigh of patience,
"Take my cloak, O Hiawatha!"
With his knife the tree he girdled;
Just beneath its lowest branches;
Just above the roots, he cut it,
Till the sap came oozing outward;
Down the trunk, from top to bottom,
Sheer he cleft the bark asunder,
With a wooden wedge he raised it,
Stripped it from the trunk unbroken.
"Give me of your boughs, O Cedar!
your strong and pliant branches,

Of

My canoe to make more steady,

Make more strong and firm beneath me!"
Through the summit of the Cedar
Went a sound, a cry of horror,
Went a murmur of resistance;
But it whispered, bending downward,
"Take my boughs, O Hiawatha!"

Down he hewed the boughs of cedar, Shaped them straightway to a framework, Like two bows he formed and shaped them, Like two bended bows together.

"Give me of your roots, O Tamarack! Of your fibrous roots, O Larch-tree!

My canoe to bind together,

So to bind the ends together
That the water may not enter,
That the river may not wet me!"
And the Larch, with all its fibers,
Shivered in the air of morning
Touched his forehead with its tassels,
Said, with one long sigh of sorrow,
"Take them all, O Hiawatha!"

From the earth he tore the fibers,
Tore the tough roots of the Larch-tree,
Closely sewed the bark together,
Bound it closely to the framework.
"Give me of your balm, O Fir-tree!
Of your balsam and
balsam and your resin,

So to close the seams together

That the water may not enter,

That the river may not wet me!"

And the Fir-tree, tall and somber,
Sobbed through all its robes of darkness,
Rattled like a shore with pebbles,
Answered wailing, answered weeping,
"Take my balm, O Hiawatha!"

And he took the tears of balsam,

Took the resin of the Fir-tree,

Smeared therewith each seam and fissure,

Made each crevice safe from water.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

(By permission.)

1. The stem is that part of a plant which rises above ground from the root; it carries, in proper season, the buds, leaves, flowers and fruit.

a

STEMS OF (a) ROSE, (b) WALLFLOWER, (c) SWEET PEA.
(Showing sections of stems.)

2. Stems of plants vary in form; some round, some have corners, and some are flat.

are

To

see these three different shapes you have only to cut across the stems of a rose, a wallflower and a sweet pea.

3. Stems differ in other ways also. For instance, the stem of a mignonette is soft to the touch, green in color, pulpy, and easily broken. On the other hand, the stem of a young oak is hard, dark in color, and feels drier than the mignonette, while the fibers are so much tougher that it is not so easily broken as the green stem.

4. All stems like that of the mignonette may be called herblike, or, as the proper word is, herbaceous; while those similar to the oak are spoken of as woody stems. Sometimes on one and the same tree may be seen both tough, woody stems and tender, green shoots which are truly herbaceous; but if these green shoots do not die during the winter they become woody the following season.

5. When a twig of freshly cut willow, or of an ash plant, or of any other woody stem, is stripped of its bark, the part that is left feels sticky. This sticky substance is called the sap, and is really the earth food which has been absorbed by the roothairs, and is being carried upwards to the leaves. A young tree is often spoken of as a sapling. By means of the stem, other substances are conveyed downwards from the leaves to the root.

6. Yet another duty of the stem is to support