O12 LIFE OF A TREE. 
over-conquering wind; looking to the tree, its 
great form was as upright as ever, but through 
the dim half-light, half-obscurity, could be seen 
its thousand branches shaken with the mighty 
wrestling, and every now and then a strong con- 
vulsion seized its huge limbs. What a night 
was that! How the air reeled and whirled in 
its course, carrying all before it! What a fitful 
roar every now and then shook hill and dale, as 
it came in fiercer gusts sweeping over the fright- 
ened country. Again and again the wind and 
the tree joined issue, and though with occasional 
damage, the tree came off victor. Midnight came, 
a heap of dark and heavy clouds darkened the 
air, and the storm was at its height. The roar 
of the tempest was now awful beyond description. 
A fiercer gust than any came up and laid its 
violent grasp upon a tree; for a minute the 
tree stood—in a minute more, a sound, like that 
of distant thunder, swept across the fields :—the 
great tree was blown down, all but the ruined 
stump on yonder Frontispiece. Such was the 
death of a tree with which the contending 
elements for more than five hundred years had 
warred in vain. 
