ce tree?" asked Malcolm.

"It is too much like the fir," replied his governess, "to have any very
distinct character; but there are species here, known as the white and
black spruce, besides the hemlock."

But the children thought that hemlock was hemlock: how did it come to
be spruce?

"Because it has the family features--leaves solitary and very short;
cones pendulous, or hanging, with the scales thin at the edge; and the
fruit ripens in a single year. The hemlock-spruce, as it is sometimes
called, is, I think, the most beautiful of the family. 'It is
distinguished from all the other pines by the softness and delicacy of
its tufted foliage, from the spruce by its slender, tapering branchlets
and the smoothness of its limbs, and from the balsam-fir by its small
terminal cones, by the irregularity of its branches and the gracefulness
of its whole appearance.' The delicate green of the young trees forms a
rich mass of verdure, and at this season each twig has on the end a tuft
of new leaves yellowish-green in color and making a beautiful contrast
to the darker hue of last year's foliage. The bark of the trunk is
reddish, and that of the smooth branches and small twigs is light gray.
The branchlets are very small, light and slender, and are set
irregularly on the sides of the small branches; so that they form a
flat surface. This arrangement renders them singularly well adapted to
the making of brooms--a use of the hemlock familiar to housekeepers in
the country towns throughout New England. The leaves, which are
extremely delicate and of a silvery whiteness on the under side, are
arranged in a row on each side of the branchlets. The slender,
thread-like stems on which they grow make them move easily with the
slightest breath of wind, and this, with the silvery hue underneath,
gives to the foliage a glittering look that is very pretty. But I think
you all can tell me when the hemlock is prettiest?"

"After a snow-storm," said Clara. "Don't we all look, almost the first
thing, at the tree by the dining-room window?"

"Yes," replied Miss Harson; "it is a beautiful sight with the snow lying
on it in masses and the dark green of the leaves peeping through. 'The
branches put forth irregularly from all parts of the trunk, and lie one
above another, each bending over at its extremities upon the surface of
those below, like the feathers upon the wings of a bird,' And soft,
downy plumes they look, with the snow resting on the