"But how I should hate
to eat such stuff!"
"It may not be so very bad," replied his governess. "Some people think
that only white bread is fit to eat, but I think that Kitty's brown
bread is rather liked in this family."
The children all laughed, for didn't papa declare--with _such_ a sober
face!--that they were eating him out of house and home in brown bread
alone? Kitty, too, pretended to grumble because the plump loaves
disappeared so fast, but she said to herself at the same time, "Bless
their hearts! let 'em eat: it's better than a doctor's bill."
"A great many other things besides pancakes are made from the tree,"
continued Miss Harson, "and the fresh green tops furnish very
nice carpets."
There was a faint "_Oh!_" at this, but, after all, it was not so
surprising as the cakes had been.
"They are scattered on the floors of houses as rushes used to be in old
times in England, and thus they serve as carpet and prevent the mud and
dirt that stick to the shoes of the peasants from staining the floor;
and when trodden on, the leaves give out a most agreeable
aromatic perfume."
"I'd like that part," said Clara.
[Illustration: THE BLUE SPRUCE.]
"But you cannot have one part without taking it all; almost everything,
you see, has a pleasant side.--'The peasant finds no limit to the use
of the pine. Of its bark he makes the little canoe which is to carry him
along the river; it is simple in its construction, and as light as
possible.
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