Hemlock

“ Of the American coniferous trees, the Hemlock is of the next importance, being, perhaps, in its perfection, a more beautiful tree than the White Pine, or than any other known evergreen. It is far less formal in its shape than other trees of the same family. Its branches, being slender and flexible, do not project stiffly from the shaft; they bend slightly at their terminations, and are easily moved by the wind; and as they are very numerous, and covered with foliage, we behold in the tree a dense mass of glittering verdure, not to be seen in any other tree of the forest. ”

“ The best known and most important species is the common or spotted hemlock, growing by the wayside and on heaps of rubbish in all parts of Europe and Asia and now naturalized in America. It has a small root, resembling a parsnip, a bright green, hollow stem, two to five feet high and generally spotted with purple. The leaves are large, of a dark shiny green. The chief ingredient of the hemlock is an alkaline poison, causing weakness and staggering gait and finally paralysis and death. ”

“ I may have dreamt, for during my sleep I had a vague semi-consciousness as of hands being softly pressed on my pockets—no doubt induced by the story of the robbery. When I came fully to my senses, I found Hemlock Jones sitting on the other side of the hearth, his deeply concentrated gaze fixed on the fire. ”

“ It suits his own austerity,
And satisfies an awe
That men must slake in wilderness,
Or in the desert cloy, —
An instinct for the hoar, the bald,
Lapland's necessity.
The hemlock's nature thrives on cold ”

“ Elsa blushed, and stroked back her curls.
"But, my dear friend," remarked the botanist, "the Hartwich is not a field-flower."
"Certainly not one that cows can eat, for she is poisonous," said Herbert.
"Oh, there are reptiles that feed on hemlock," said old Heim with irritation. "But, whether she be hemlock or belladonna, we all know that both are medicinal, and she might perhaps be useful as an antidote to the affectation and hypocrisy that infect the feminine world of to-day, producing bigotry, malice, and all sorts of moral diseases." ”

“ The bracts of Hemlock, at the base of the umbels, go only half way round the stem. The rough Chervil is also spotted, but hairy, and its stem is swollen below each joint. Under proper medical advice, the extract and the juice of Hemlock may be most beneficially given internally in cancer, and as a nervine sedative.
The Hemlock was esteemed of old as Herba Benedicta, a blessed herb, because "where the root is in the house [251] the devil can do no harm, and if anyone should carry the plant about on his person no venomous beast can harm him." ”

“ He would look out through the thick Hemlock tops, the blots of Basswood green or the criss-cross Butternut leafage and say: "My own, my own." Or down by some pool in the limpid stream 49 he would sit and watch the arrowy Shiners and say: "You are mine, all; you are mine. You shall never be harmed or driven away." ”

“ Hence Pliny tells us that serpents fly from its leaves, because they also chill to the death: on this account probably it has been called Herba benedicta, or Herb Bennett.——The Eleusinian priests, who were required to remain chaste all their lives, were wont to rub themselves with Hemlock.——In Russia, the Hemlock under the name of Beh, is looked upon as a Satanic herb; and in Germany, it is regarded as a funereal plant, and as a representative of the vegetation of the infernal regions. ”

“ What thankless monsters you men are!”
“Nay, spare me, Helen, and as by what she has told us, she has walked from Oka today, perhaps you will take her with you and play the hostess.”
“She has done more than walk from Oka today,” said Hemlock, “she killed a bear and saved my life.”
“What!” cried Mrs Scott in astonishment, and Hemlock told the story of the encounter. When he had done the Colonel stepped forward and grasping Maggie’s hands he said, “I honor you as a brave man honors a brave woman, and if there is any possibility of saving Mr Morton’s life, it shall be done.” ”

“ I die as I am.”
“But you are no going to die, Hemlock. You’ve many years to live.”
“I die before the new moon comes; my oki told me so in a dream last night, and that is why I have come to talk with you about Morton. You love him?”
Too honest to utter the “no” that came to her faltering tongue, Maggie’s head drooped and her face flushed.
“I know you do,” Hemlock went on, “and I know he loves you, tho’ his heart has not told his head yet. I know not where he is; if I did, we would attack his guard and rescue him this night. They took him away from Fort Hickory and I have not got his track yet. ”

“ It was now fair daylight, and Maggie saw, to her dismay, that the mound upon which she had found Hemlock outstretched was a grave, and that, at the head of it was a stake upon which hung several scalps, the topmost evidently cut from a recent victim. Glancing at the radiant eastward sky, the Indian started, and ignoring the presence of his visitor, fell on his knees on the grave, and turning his face so as to see the sun when it should shoot its first beam over the broad lake, which was reflecting the glow of the rosy clouds that overhung its further point, he communed with the dead. ”

“ Over the ragged lands that lay on the “nigh side” of Hemlock Mountain breathed a spirit of excitement and mighty hope. It had been two years since John Spurrier had left the field he had planned to develop, and in those years had come the transition of rebirth.
Along muddy streets the hogs still wallowed, but now they were deeply rutted by the teaming of ponderous oil gear, and one saw young men in pith helmets and pig-skin puttees; keen-faced engineers and oil prospectors drawn in by the challenge of wealth from the far trails of Mexico and the West. ”

“ The glory of our nation has faded as the fire of the forest in the morning-sun, and few live to take revenge. Oki, speak, and strengthen the heart of Hemlock for battle!”
The Indian fell prostrate before the gaunt pillar of stone to which he spoke and lay there for some time. When he rose, there was a weary look in his [Pg 39] impassive features. “The Spirit has spoken: he tells Hemlock he will answer him in a dream.” Advancing towards Morton he lay down and fell asleep. ”

“ I ought to have remembered that in his moods Hemlock Jones was reticence itself. I told him simply of the strange intrusion, but he only laughed.
Later, when I arose to go, he looked at me playfully. "If you were a married man," he said, "I would advise you not to go home until you had brushed your sleeve. There are a few short brown sealskin hairs on the inner side of your forearm, just where they would have adhered if your arm had encircled a seal-skin coat with some pressure!" ”

“ DeWatteville could not withhold a gesture of horror. “You would fall upon these axemen, you say are coming, butcher them with your hatchets and scalp them. Eh?”
“Every one of them,” answered Hemlock in an exultant voice.
“Faugh, that is not war; that is murder,” said [Pg 126] the General, “we will fight the Americans in no such way.”
“It is how they would deal with you,” said Hemlock, “but if you do not want the Indian to fight in the way of his fathers, he will leave you.” ”

“ While this is true, there is danger of overestimating its value, especially if care is not taken in logging. It has been remarked that suppressed misshapen hemlock is not apt to make a healthy growth, that windfall is a peril, and that if the previous shade has been heavy, sudden opening to sunlight may be fatal. It should also be remembered that even slightly injured young hemlock is worthless, for it is almost certain to be attacked by borers. Anything which deadens a small portion of the bark like axe blazes, fire scorch, or scars from strap leads, is dangerous. ”

“ Slocum and Spooner were chums in those days, and by ——, I believe you are the father of the young squaw you make such a bother about. Won’t we hold him, General?” So saying he rose, as if waiting his assent to seize Hemlock. Before he could take a second step, Hemlock, with a quick motion, snatched his tomahawk, which he had concealed in his bosom, threw it, and leapt into the bush, where he was lost to sight in a moment. The officer, without uttering a word, fell on his back; the head of the tomahawk buried in his forehead. ”

“ Plants with dusky or sad-green leaves, and lurid-coloured flowers for the most part, and an ill-favoured soporific scent. Nature herself distinguishes hemlock from all others of the umbelliferous tribe by the pink or purplish spots with which its tall smooth stem is variegated. It grows by hedgerows and in waste places; its large-winged, finely-cut leaves and white umbels of flowers give no indication of its dangerous nature; but its speckled cuticle betrays it, and prevents its being rashly meddled with by rustic herb-gatherers and children. ”

“ It is very much to be desired that the truth should be ascertained before it be too late.
Not far in kin from the Redwood is the Western Hemlock (Tsuga albertiana) , not to be confused (as it often has been by nurserymen and planters) with the Canadian Hemlock (T. canadensis) , which is a tree of very inferior beauty and merit to the other. The Western Hemlock forms splendid forests in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, attaining its greatest dimensions near the sea-coast, where [228] Professor Sargent has recorded specimens 200 feet high and 20 or 30 feet in girth. ”

“ Until now he had thought of Hemlock Mountain as a single peak, but he had discovered it to be, instead, an unbroken range beginning at Hell’s Door and ending at Praise the Lord, which zigzagged for a hundred miles and arched its bristling backbone two thousand feet into the sky. Along this entire 75 length it offered only a few passes over which a traveler could cross except on foot or horseback.
He had found entertainment overnight at a clay-chinked log-cabin, where he had shared the single room with six human beings and two dogs. ”

“ Hemlock started as if from a reverie. Going close to the General, he stretched out his right hand after the manner of Indian orators. “You meet the Yankees as soldier meets soldier. The red man meets them as the robbers of his lands, the destroyers of his villages, the slayers of his race. The land was ours, and they have driven us to the setting sun and left us not even standing-room for our lodges. You have called us savages. Who made us savages? ”

“ Here a dark wave of pine, hemlock, and balsam ran through a ravine, on yonder knoll shone the rich glossy verdure of oak, and maple, and chestnut; upon the breast of the mountain stood the birch, the elm, and the aspen, in light and airy tufts. Leaves of every tint of green played in the summer sunshine, leaves fluttered in the moonlight, and the showers of heaven fell everywhere upon the green leaves of the unbroken forest.
Sixty years have worked a wonderful change; the forest has fallen upon the lowlands, and there is not a valley about us which has not been opened. ”

“ With cautious movement Hemlock scanned the scene. In front of the abattis there was a narrow clearing that skirted the river bank as far as the view extended. On the road and adjoining fields were masses of American troops, with the smoke rising from the fires at which they were cooking dinner. “You see, Hemlock,” said Colonel deSalaberry, “they may make an attack any minute. Those mounted officers looking at us from the road are the General and his staff.” ”

“ La Violette regarded Hemlock Holmes for a moment with the bitterest disdain, then he answered:
"Well, if you're such a smart and sagacious detective as you have been cracked up to be, you could ascertain who pilfered those accursed cuff-buttons without using such common methods as lining up the servants, and asking them if they stole them or not. Any one of the servants is likely to be guilty, except only Harrigan, Blumenroth, and myself. All the others are unspeakable imbeciles! ”

“ Merrithew announced, at breakfast, that it was high time for the drive to Hemlock Point, which Mr. Merrithew had been promising [102] them all winter. As the latter quite agreed with this idea, they decided to go on the following morning, spend a long day with the friends they always visited there, and return by moonlight. Hemlock Point was somewhere between ten and twenty miles up-river,—it does not always do to be too exact,—and their friends lived in a quaint old farmhouse, on high ground, well back from the river-bank. ”

“ Let them be what they may, it shall never be said that a British officer broke his word. Leave me; get away at once, or you may be caught.”
“I will not leave without you. Think of the fair doe that sorrows in secret by the Chateaugay for you and sought me out to bring you. Come, you shall be with her before another sun has set.”
Morton was puzzled by this speech, but was too anxious concerning Hemlock’s safety to delay by asking what it meant.
“Save yourself, Hemlock; the patrol will be round soon, and if you are discovered you are lost.”
“I fear not: they cannot take me alive.” ”

“ The Hemlock is unknown as a shade-tree; it is seldom seen by the road-side, except on the edge of a wood, and not often in cultivated grounds. The want of success usually attending the transplantation of it from the woods has prevented the general adoption of it as an ornamental tree. The Hemlock, when transplanted from the wood, is almost sure to perish; for Nature will not allow it to be desecrated by any association with Art. ”