upon it came away in an
even sheet of the entire width and length of the strip of bark. Twelve
sheets were thus taken from each strip of bark, and thrown into the
water.

A light broke in upon the stranger's mind. Without a doubt these strips
were to be sewn together into one sheet. The plan seemed a good one and
the fabric thus formed might do, he thought, if no better cloth could be
had.

The men were not through yet, however, for when each strip of bark had
yielded its twelve sheets, each sheet was taken from the water and
gradually stretched sidewise. The spectator could hardly believe his
eyes. The sheet broadened and broadened until from a close piece of
material six inches wide, it became a filmy cloud of delicate lace, over
three feet in width. The astonished gentleman was forced to confess that
no human-made loom ever turned out lace which could surpass in snowy
whiteness and gossamer-like delicacy that product of nature.

The natural lace is not so regular in formation as the material called
illusion, so much worn by ladies in summer; but it is as soft and white,
and will bear washing, which is not true of illusion. In Jamaica and
Central America, this wonderful lace is put to all the uses mentioned by
the native to our traveler, and to more uses besides. In fact, among the
poorer people it supplies the place of manufactured cloth, which they
can not afford to buy; and the wealthier classes do not by any means
scorn it for ornamental use.

Long before the white man found his way to this part of the world, the
Indians had known and used this vegetable cloth; so that what was so new
and wonderful to King Charles and Governor Sir Thomas Lynch was an old
story to the natives. Some time after King Charles received his
vegetable necktie, Sir Hans Sloane, whose art-collection and library
were the foundation of the British Museum, visited Jamaica. He described
the tree fully, and was the first person who told the civilized world
about it. The tree is commonly called the lace-bark tree. Its botanical
name is _Lagetto lintearia_.

WOE TO THE FOREIGN DOLLY!

[Illustration: THE PET GREYHOUND RESOLVES INDIGNANTLY THAT THE JAPANESE
"MUST GO!"]

ST. NICHOLAS DOG STORIES.

X.--A CLEVER LITTLE YELLOW DOG.

BY JOHN R. CORYELL.

One cold winter night, not long ago, I took pity on a poor little
dejected-looking yellow puppy, and invited him into my house. Having
once taken him in, it was quite out of t