Willard wondered how old the pretty graceful maple that grew outside his
window was.

"I don't know exactly," said mother, "five or six years I should think.
But the maple has the story of each birthday shut up safe inside its
trunk. If the tree should blow down, or we should ever cut it down we
could tell how many years it had lived.

"Each year a layer of soft green wood grows right next to the bark, and
when winter comes this wood hardens until it is like the other wood. So
when the tree is cut down we see in rings of wood the number of years it
has been growing."

--_Zelia Margaret Walters._




Advice to Boys and Girls

Hanging Out Signs.


Grace had a sprained ankle when the new little girl moved next door. One
afternoon a week later mother came in to tell Grace that the new little
girl had come over for a visit.

"I'm glad," said Grace. "Please bring her up, mother, I like her."

"Why," said mother, "you've never seen her."