“Oh! when will the feast day come?” Filippa eagerly inquired.
“Soon,” laughed her mother.
“Here is a more wonderful tree, from the gum of which we make automobile tires, rubber heels, elastic bands, hot water bags, rain coats, rubber shoes, hose, and so on,” exclaimed the Padre.
I looked; and surely enough, there was the identical rubber tree which we see in florists’ shops or in the greenhouse at home; only this tree was larger. Its thick leaves were nearly as large as a hat.
Weaving
“We cut a hole in the bark, and, when the yellow gum oozes out, we boil it down thick, till it is dark colored. Then we mix it with chalk and sulphur; and behold, afterwards we roll out your automobile tire,” explained the wise Padre.
“Could you pull the rubber tree out as high as the stars, and would it snap back again?” asked joking Moro.
“Stop your joking,” replied Fil’s mother. “You know very well that the rubber tree itself is not pure gum, any more than the maple tree in America is pure sugar. It is the gum of the rubber tree that becomes the rubber.”