Barkcloth

“ Tightly clenched in her hands were fragments of her torn veil.
She beat her knuckles upon the stones with rhythmic regularity; then, when her arms would lift no longer, took up the measure with her toes, in wild imitation of a galloping horse.
As she lay, she repeated with monotonous reiteration: "Trappings of crimson, and silver bells: mane and tail, like foam of the waves; a palfrey as white as snow!"
The Prioress entered, closed the door behind her, and looked searchingly at the prostrate figure; then, lifting the master-key which hung from her girdle, locked the door on the inside. ”

“ The bark is light yellowish-grey, translucent, horny, shrivelled, knotted and partially annulated. Very frequently a keel-shaped ridge occurs, running like a shrunken sinew through the principal root; it has no connexion with the wood, but originates in a one-sided development of the liber-tissue. The bark encloses a pure, white woody column about as thick as itself. After the root has been macerated in water the bark is easily peeled off, and the peculiar structure of the wood can then be studied. ”

“ Presently from out of the fog came the same wild war-cry and the thunder of hoofs. There was another charge with sadly depleted numbers.
For reckless courage Barclay had never seen anything to equal their youthful leader. Again and again he rallied his men and brought them on, until finally, with only about a dozen men, he swept through the deadly zone and on towards the fort.
In the very teeth of the Maxims his black horse literally flew over the high stockade. ”

“ Yonder that deep gash in the sod at the left hides a woman's face—pale, wasted, dead on her pillow; and that clean black streak on the ebony cane—that is a tear, and in the tear is a girl's face and back of hers shimmers a boy's countenance. All of John Barclay's life and hopes and dreams and visions are spread out before him on the ground. So he closes his eyes, and braces his soul, and then, having risen, whistles as he limps lightly—for a man past fifty—down to the boat. ”

“ If a strip of this bark, which is remarkable for the fineness of its texture, after being soaked in water, be laid on a smooth stone, and then carefully beaten with a bat or mallet, the surface of which is cut into fine ribs, the fibres will become separated more or less from one another, and if the beating be carefully conducted, the bark will ultimately assume the appearance of a web of fine linen, two pieces of bark being made to incorporate with one another simply by laying them so as to overlap a little, and then beating again. ”

“ The scaly bark takes a ruddy tinge, when the sunshine falls upon it, and would then, I think, be worthy the attention of an artist as much as the birch bark, whose peculiar mingling of silvery white, orange, and brown, painters so often endeavour to represent on canvas. There is something in the Scotch fir, crowned at the top like a palm with its dark foliage, which, in a way I cannot express or indeed analyse, suggests to my mind the far-away old world of the geologists. ”

“ The seconds of silence, after the grating of the key in the lock ceased, seemed hours.
Then the Knight spoke.
"Give me the lantern," he said.
She met his eyes. Again the dignity of her Office slipped from her.
Again it was sweet to obey.
He held the lantern so that its light illumined her face and his.
"Mora," he said, "it is long since thou and I last walked together over the sunny fields, amid buttercups and cowslips, and the sweet-smelling clover. To-night we walk beneath the fields instead of through them. We are under the grass, my sweet. I seem to stand beside thee in the grave. ”

“ After the bark is taken from the tree, and rudely shaped in the form desired, a mound of earth is raised some three feet in length, and about the breadth of the bark; hot ashes are placed on the mound, the bark is laid thereon, and it is covered with heavy stones and sods. The green bark, by the time the ashes are cold, has taken the curve of the mound, and the finishing and ornamenting of the weapon are pursued at leisure. ”

“ The galls are pounded and boiled, and into the infusion thus made the stuffs about to be dyed are dipped,'"
"I should think," said Clara, "that people would plant oak trees everywhere, when they are so useful. Is anything done with the bark?"
"Yes," said her governess; "the bark, which is very rough, is valuable for tanning leather and for medicine. The element which has the effect of turning raw hide or skin into leather is called tannin; it is also found in the bark of some other trees and in tropical plants." ”

“ The black yawns betwixt us and the barque might have passed for valleys looked at from a hillside, so horribly hollow and deep were they; they were pale and yet dusky too, with sheets of foam; a soul-confounding noise of thunderous washing and seething rose up from them. When we were in one of those hollows the great mass of the dark fabric of the barque seemed to tower fifty feet above us, and we lay becalmed, hanging, while you might have counted five, in absolute stagnation, with the yell of the wind sweeping over our heads as though we were in the heart of a pit. ”

“ Barclay had made no pretence of being a cavalryman on the strength of his assignment to that arm. He started with the assertion that he had everything to learn, and then surprised his subaltern by an extensive knowledge of what we then called "the tactics." He was certainly not as much at home in saddle as on foot, and did not pretend to be, but he was by no means a poor or ungraceful rider. He had a light, gentle hand, at least,—a thing much harder for most men to acquire than a good seat. ”

“ Alfred led the way to a hurdler's hut, a rough shed, where the lovers sat down upon a heap of dry chips. A delicious smell of bark filled the air. George Mucklow had worked here often, before he was dragooned into the Army. With the smell of bark, dominating it, rose the odour of damp earth, always so significant, bearing its double message. From earth we have come; to it we must return. Fancy's sensitive nose could detect yet another odour. ”

“ The bark, which is two to three feet long and one to three inches broad, is then laid on a beam of wood six inches long and nine inches broad and thick, which is separated from the ground about an inch by bits of wood, so it may vibrate. Placing the bark before her, the woman beats with her right hand, and moves the bark to and fro with her left, so as to beat it evenly, using the grooved side of the mallet first and then the smooth one. Women generally beat alternately and early in the morning. ”

“ In pastoral and in hunting countries it is always easy to procure skins of a tough quality that have been neatly dressed by hand. Also it will be easy to find persons capable of sewing them together very neatly, after you have cut them out to the pattern of your old clothes.
Bark Cloth is used in several parts of the work. It is simply a piece of some kind of peculiarly fibrous bark; in Unyoro, Sir S. Baker says, the natives use the bark of a species of fig-tree. They soak it in water and then beat it with a mallet, to get rid of all the harder parts;--much as hemp is prepared. ”

“ A red bird was calling in the woods near by, and the soft south wind had spring in it as it blew across the veil of waters that hid the dam. John Barclay's head was full of music, and he was lounging across the bridge from the mill on his way home to try his new pipe organ. He had spent four hours the day before at his organ bench, [Pg 320] trying to teach his lame foot to keep up with his strong foot. So when General Ward overhauled him, Barclay was annoyed. He was not the man to have his purposes crossed, even when they were whims. ”

“ All that I could observe was that they laid them in two or three layers, and seemed very careful to make them everywhere of equal thickness, so that if any part of a piece of bark had been scraped too thin, another thin piece was laid over it, in order to render it of the same thickness as the rest. When laid out in this manner, a piece of cloth is eleven or twelve yards long, and not more than a foot broad, for as the longitudinal fibres are all laid lengthwise, they do not expect it to stretch in that direction, though they well know how considerably it will in the other. ”

“ Barclay no longer called to it. His eyes were clouded and stupid-looking. He glanced up at Vahana and found that he was being watched. Between the old man and the uncannily moving adder there had developed an affinity. The Fakir's face seemed to have narrowed and sharpened. From the wide cheek-bones down to the chin there were two straight converging lines between which ran the cruel curve of the mouth. The eyes were hard and dead as a basilisk's. But, like the reptile's, they expressed something—a sinister amusement, a soulless, ageless wisdom.
Barclay made a fumbling gesture. ”

“ When they prepare to take it, the outer bark is first torn or cut away; the inner is then marked out with a proper tool to the requisite size, usually three cubits by one; it is afterwards beaten for some time with a heavy stick to loosen it from the stem, and being peeled off, laid in the sun to dry, care being taken to prevent its warping. The bark used in building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood; but the pliable and delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a bastard species of the bread-fruit. ”

“ Picking up his gun that had fallen from his grasp the spy followed Barcroft over the stile. Here the two men loaded and Peter called the dogs to heel.
"Plenty of evidence that the bunnies are about," he remarked. "We'll keep twenty yards apart. I don't suppose we'll catch sight of a rabbit until we get to the bushes."
Stealthily and in silence the sportsmen approached the nearmost patch of cover. Suddenly, a startled rabbit broke away and ran down wind. Up went Peter's gun, and the next instant bunny was kicking on the ground. ”

“ Her straight habit, of heavy cloth, had rendered progress upon her knees awkward and difficult. Her hands had become entangled in her torn veil. Each moment she had feared lest cell doors, on either side, should open; old Antony might appear from the cloisters, or—greatest disaster of all—Mother Sub-Prioress might advance toward her from the Refectory stairs! In order to attain a greater rate of speed, she had tried lifting her knees, as elephants lift their feet. ”

“ I will assure you that his feet were worth two pair of hands to him: for if I could have gotten hold of him, ill luck sit in my hands, if I should not have cropped his ears, that he should have been known for a thief all the days of his life. And so, you see, I goes down straight to the colt, and it was that dark that I would not have known what it was, but there I finds two little pokes filled full of white wool, upon a raw hide lying above a bundle of heather stalks, that he had been fetching home to sweep the chimneys of Skerpa. ”

“ The name of grey bark refers to the striking effect of the overspreading thallus of various Graphideæ, forming groups, and indicating that the tree has grown in an open situation, exposed to rain and sunshine. A large supply of all the best kinds of grey bark is now growing in India. ”

“ The bark of the root (Cortex sassafras) is a separate article of commerce, but not much used in England. It consists of channelled, flattish, or curled, irregular fragments seldom exceeding 4 inches long by 3 inches broad and generally much smaller, and from 1/16 to 1⁄4 of an inch in thickness. The inert outer layer has been carefully removed, leaving a scarred, exfoliating surface. The inner surface is finely striated and exhibits very minute shining crystals. The bark has a short, corky fracture, and in colour is a bright cinnamon brown of various shades. ”

“ Still living in hopes Barcroft had studiously concealed the news of his affliction from his parents and from Betty. His letters to them were as light and cheerful as of yore, yet he felt that they were a sham. Sooner or later, unless medical science was able to conquer the baffling case, he would be compelled to have to admit that he was—a useless encumbrance: those were his thoughts. ”

“ The bark, too, wears often a pleasant hue. It is naturally of a dingy olive; but it is always overspread, in patches, with a variety of mosses and lichens, which are commonly of a lighter tint in the upper parts, and of a deep velvet green towards the root. Its smoothness, also, contrasts agreeably with these rougher appendages. No bark tempts the lover so much to make it the depository of his mistress's name. ”

“ Another piece of bark, similar to that lying in the bottom of the grave, and as well and as neatly trimmed, is laid over the covering of leaves and twigs, and little pieces of bark are so placed at the sides as to prevent the earth from falling upon the coverings of the dead man. ”

“ Our 331‘Curriers’ are also self-evident; but I have not met with any instance as yet in mediæval times. Our more rare ‘Fellmongers’ were once occupied more directly with the larger hides, or fells, as they were called, of the farmyard stock. Less connected with them, therefore, than with the others, we may mention such men as ‘William le Barcur,’ or ‘Nicholas le Barkere,’ or ‘Robert Barcarius,’ the ancestors of our modern ‘Barkers,’ [333] who, by the very frequency with which they are met, show how important was the preparation of bark in the tanners’ yard. ”