TOM oWr.N. TIIK HEIMIU.NTER. »! 



began to desert him on the first symptoms of danger ; 

 and when the trouble thickened, they, one and all, took 

 to their heels, and left only our hero and Sambo to 

 fight the adversaries. Sambo, however, soon dropped 

 his axe, and fell into all kinds of contortions ; first he 

 would seize the back of his neck with his hands, then his 

 legs, and yell with pain. " Never holler till you get 

 out of the woods," said the sublime Tom, consolingly ; 

 but writhe the negro did, until he broke, and left Tom 

 " alone in his glory." 



Cut, — thwack ! sounded through the confused hum 

 at the foot of the tree, marvellously reminding me of the 

 interruptions that occasionally broke in upon the other- 

 wise monotonous hours of my schoolboy usy-. 



A sharp cracking finally told me the chopping was 

 done, and, looking aloft, I saw the mighty tree balan- 

 cing in the air. Slowly, and majestically, it bowed for 

 the first time towards its mother earth, — gaining velo- 

 city as it descended, it shivered the trees that interrupt- 

 ed its downward course, and falling with thundering 

 sound, splintered its mighty limbs, and buried them 

 deeply in the ground. 



The sun, for the first time in at least two centuries, 

 broke uninterruptedly through the chasm made in the 

 forest, and shone with splendor upon the magnificent 

 Tom, standing a conqueror among his spoils. 



As might be expected, the bees were very much 

 astonished and confused, and by their united voices pro- 



U^^.LKSITY OP 

 liUNOIS LIBRARY 



