CATKIN-BE AEING TRIBE 185 



it henceforth as the " Oak of weeping." The house which is his home, the 

 church in which he worships his God, owe much to its compact, sturdy wood ; 

 and the boughs which shelter his cattle bear, too, the acorns Avhich shall 

 spring up to serve his successors. Bernard Barton expressed the feelings of 

 many, when he wrote — 



" Its stem,though rough, is stovit and strong, " Type of an honest English heart, 



Its giant branches throw It opens not at Lreath ; 



Their arms in shady blessings round, But having open'd, plays its part. 



O'er man and beast below. Until it sinks in death. 



" Its leaf, though late in spring it shares " Jfot early one, by gleam of sun. 



The zephyr's gentle sigh, Its beauties to unfold. 



As late and long in autumn wears One of the last, in skies o'ereast, 



A deeper, richer dye. To lose its faithful hold. 



" On earth the forest's honour'd king, 

 Man's castle on the sea : 

 Who will, another tree may sing, — 

 Old England's Oak for me." 



To see fully the characteristic and picturesque beauty of the Oak, we 

 should gaze on one which grows singly, and not on that surrounded by a 

 group. It has in its solitary state more crooked branches, and altogether a 

 more gnarled appearance. The branches of the Oak often spread out to an 

 extent which forms a head broader than the height of the tree. The colour 

 of its bark is pale grey ; but one hardly sees its bark, amid that mass of grey 

 and yellow lichens which encrust it, mingling with the emerald mosses which, 

 especially at its base, form a smooth and verdant cushion, while brown and 

 green mosses gather on every bough. Whether its twisted irregular boughs, 

 always spreading horizontally, are clad with the bright green of spring, or 

 the golden hue of autumn, its tint is ever rich, and its majestic form is far 

 more varied in outline than elm or ash, or tall poplar, or drooping birch, or 

 silvery willow. Not even the most casual observer can confound the Oak 

 with any other tree ; nor is there any other British tree which casts so broad 

 a shadow. The Oak may be said to be, generally, from sixty to eighty feet 

 in height ; but, in some rare instances, it attains to that of a hundred feet. 

 It always grows slowly ; and, after it has lived for a century, makes little 

 increase of size for many years ; but it becomes more picturesque in age. 

 than in youth ; and even when the passing away of centuries has left it 

 nothing but a leafless, branchless trunk, it looks as if it would yet outlive 

 many generations of men. It is protected from the action of storms by the 

 form of its trunk, which is larger just above the earth than at a few feet 

 higher, as well as by the underground roots, which bear twisting branches 

 beneath the soil, much like those on which the sunbeams gleam so gladly, 

 and on which the birds sit to sing. 



Although the Oak is decidedly an indigenous tree, and a flourishing one 

 too, yet it is somewhat sparing of its fruit ; nor is it at all certain, at any 

 season, that a most thriving Oak will bear acorns, or that, if they appear, 

 they will be at all nt;merous. Little do we in this day realize the immense 

 importance which these acorns bore in other years. Old writers called this 

 fruit accarne, or, as Turner wrote it, eykorne ; that is, says this herbalist, " ye 



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