The Birds' Calendar 



The builder Oak, sole king of forests all ; 



The Aspen, good for staves ; the Cypress, funeral ; 



The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerors 



And poets sage ; the Fir, that weepeth still ; 



The Willow, worn of hopeless paramours ; 



The Yew, obedient to the bender's will ; 



The Birch, for shafts ; the Sallow, for the mill ; 



The Myrrh, sweet bleeding in the bitter wound ; 



The warlike Beech ; the Ash, for nothing ill ; 



The fruitful Olive, and the Plantane round ; 



The carver Holm ; the Maple, seldom inward sound." 



Each has its individuality, but personality 

 seems most pronounced in the " sole king of 

 forests all," and justifies the phrase, the spirit 

 of the Oak. 



When one sees a mighty tree uprooted or 

 cut down, it seems impossible not to feel that 

 suddenly some force has been abstracted from 

 nature — annihilated ; but perhaps this is a mis- 

 taken notion. Certain natural forces have 

 been proved to be so essentially alike as to be 

 convertible the one into the other, and heat 

 ceases to be heat only to reappear in some 

 other mode of power. If this be true of the 

 inferior forces, it is reasonable to suppose the 

 same holds good of the immensely superior 

 vital force of plants and animals ; and if there 

 be no such thing as the extinction of those 



292 



