208 :ffiotan^ 



England, boasts an oak tree fifteen hundred years old 

 and seventy-eight feet in girth. Under its stately 

 branches that philosophic and Christian gentleman, 

 John Evelyn, used to muse on the follies of his 

 times, and the singular aberrations of the later Stuart 

 kings. South America also claims one of these im- 

 mortal giants, a tree one hundred and twelve feet in 

 girth, and said to be four thousand years old ; but 

 trees are like centenarian people — when they pass 

 the ordinar}^ line of life, a few years may be reck- 

 lessly added to their age, and no one can, with cer- 

 tainty, offer contradiction ! Even such plants as are 

 usually considered short-lived may, in especial in- 

 stances, reach and pass their century — as grape, rose, 

 ivy vines, and thorn-trees are known that have lived 

 their two centuries ; but the thorn-rose and grape shed 

 their leaves and look dead enough for several months 

 in the year. Only the glorious evergreen plants deserve 

 to be ranked in the cohorts of the immortals. 



THE END 



