THE DEATH OF THE TREE. Ag | 
CHAPTER V. 
THE DEATH OF THE TREE 
THE aged tree is dead! Many Winters have 
passed over it, many storms battled with it, the 
lightning struck it, time, air, rain, insects, worms, 
and the plants called parasites, preyed upon it ; it 
could stand no longer. A howling north-wester had 
been ploughing up the face of the country all the 
day, carrying on its swift invisible wings broken 
branches, withered leaves, portions of haystacks, 
and the wreck of such like things. The tree 
trembled and groaned in its strong embrace; 
the sun went down, but the battle continued 
half through the moonless night. Limb after 
limb was snapped off with a crash like the 
discharge of a fowling-piece. It was near mid- 
night,—the storm rose higher and higher: look- 
ing out, nothing was to be seen but the indistinct 
forms of mighty trees doing obeisance to the 
