A Bouquet of Song Birds 
cent display of trees, showing to full advantage 
in the thinly wooded swamp, along the wind- 
ing roads; here and there, like Time’s sleep- 
less sentinel, a splendid oak, and many a noble 
beech, not so assertive as the oak, but far more 
persuasive. 
The dark oak-spirit is in the mood of 
night, a companion for owls, and motionless 
as passion’s calm. It seems to be in a chronic 
state of defiance that gives a challenge to the 
elements ; so that, more than any other tree, 
an aged oak is its own living monument. It is 
an interesting fact—and not a poet’s fancy— 
recently established by governmental investi- 
gation, that the oak is, of all species, the one 
most frequently struck by lightning; while the 
beech, for some reason, has the least attraction 
for that fluid. This less aggressive species 
bears a mildly massive look upon its whitened 
bark that blends very companionably with the 
delicate verdure of its spring foliage. 
Such a gracious and yet vigorous growth, 
impressed with an almost human nobility, in- 
spires a restful, tranquil mood beyond all else 
in Nature, if one yields his mind to its per- 
suasive mastery. And doubtless there is much 
more refreshment and uplift in choosing some 
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