The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1897-10-08

aSANAy' W Heu SnOulQ trees DO cut
lfdown that are wanted for wood?
What kind of wood is the strongest
and will bear the greatcst burden ?
What kind is the most elastic I?
What kind tho hardest to split :?
What kind will last the longest in
the ground! What kind most suit
able for pianos, chairs, furniture or
wainscotingf What kind for mauls
or wedges or canes3 DR.. Oliver
Holmes must have studied all about
these when he wrote the "One Hoss
Shay"
$50 the deacon inquired of the village
| folk
Who're he could find the strongest oak
That'couldn't be split nor bent nor
.,fbroke;
THAT was for spokes and lloor and stills;
I He sent for lanccwood to make the
thills;
The crossbars were ash from straight
|
The panels were white wood that cuts
like cheese,
And the hubs of logs from the settlers
! elm"
But perhaps DR.. Holmes got it all
from somo old honest wagon maker,
for they know. I'll bet that Mr..
Bradley, Of our town, can answer
every question. Tho boys ought to
find out that black locust and chest
nut and osage orange make the best
posts, and black gum the best hubs,
and persimmon the best wedges or
gluts, and sassafras the best bows,
and white oak tho best baskets. In
England it is claimed that yew
tree post will last longer than an
iron one. The boys ought to know
that the barks Of ell trees are non
conductors Of heat and cold and
keep them cool in summer and warm
in winter, and the green leaves are
the lungs that inhale the carbon
from the air and not only make
wood for the tree, but purify the at
mosphere that we breathe. And
hence every habitation ought to
have some trees about it, The boys
ought to know about those beautiful.
islands in the sea that are of coral
formation and kept growing until
they got above the water, and then
some cocoanuts came floating along
and lodged there and sprouted and
grew and the leaves of the trees fell
down and rotted and made q soil for
more cocoanuts, and in course of
time the island became a paradise.
That is the testimony of the rocks.
The boys should watch the little
gassomer ball that floats away in the
air from the sweet little dandelion
plant. So light and 30 feathery that
it would take q thousand of them to
weigh an ounce and yet the seed are
there for moro plants and they are
wrapped, as it were, in blanket to
protect them from the winters cold.
So it is with the seed of the Scotch
thistle that is blown about by
breath of air like it was nothing, but
it has the germ, the embryo of life
in it, and will find lodging place
somewhere and sleep until spring,
and then make no mistake. 1t will
not como up a dandelion, but will
surely make a thistle. In the horti-
cultural gardens at London are rasp-
berry plants that came from seed
found in mans stomach who had
been buried 100 years.
Study nature little as you go
along, boys, and it will make you
wiser and better and happier men.
Find out why it is that q dead bird
weighs more than live one and by
what force or power buzzard can
sail round and round in the air
above you and never bat wing nor
wave feather.
1t isent every boy who can be
Ben Franklin, but e"ory boy can
learn something every day, and even
one fact a day will in course of time
make him wise man. What a boy
was Franklin! What a man! The
youngest of seventeen children, APP
prenticed to candle maker, next to
q printer; ran away from Boston to
Philadelphia when seventeen years
old and hired to Mr.. Read, and
fell in love with Deborah, his daugh-
ter; was never idle; read and studied
in every leisure momont; mastered
French, Italian, Spanish and Latin;
became postmaster of PHILADELPHIA,