The Rescue of an Old Place 



about cutting off your nose to spite your 

 face, for when we had decapitated the 

 worm, we left a headless tree to serve as 

 his monument, and, in some cases, the 

 wretched little monster compelled the 

 destruction of three years' slow growth. 

 A fly a/per- The parent of the worm, being a fly of 

 ambition and taste, invariably picked out 

 the biggest and showiest of the poor little 

 struggling trees to lay her eggs in, so that 

 after the day of judgment was over, and 

 the ins(ect)urrection crushed, our pride 

 was crushed with it, for the borer, not 

 being, alack ! the baseless fabric of a vis- 

 ion, left an awful wrack behind, both of 

 our Pines and our vainglory. 



Small comfort do we find in the assur- 

 ance that the Pines will be none the 

 worse for topping, for, with a life and trees 

 so short as ours, " a few years " are not 

 to be lightly regarded, and the poor hill 

 had precious little good looks to lose, and 

 has been waiting for its beauty already 

 quite long enough. Moreover, what assur- 

 ance can we have that every summer will 

 not bring with it fresh devastation ? It 

 takes a year or two for insects to find you 

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