In Winter Quarters 



rooted firmly to that particular spot, 

 even though its surroundings may seem 

 mean and unattractive to those who 

 look for spacious lawns and gardens. 



This, our roof-tree, is fated never to 

 attain heights reached by many of 

 its kind. It has not the elm's graceful 

 habit of yielding easily to inevitable 

 conditions. Unlike the willow down 

 there by the stream, it bends and bows 

 not always when perhaps it should. 

 My burr oak has not Sequoian majesty. 

 Still it has shown a certain amount of 

 determination or it would long ago 

 have succumbed to the discourage- 

 ments of the hard clay soil through 

 which it has had to make such way 

 as it has found. It is not so symmet- 

 rically developed as it might be. It 

 has a good side, and one that is sadly 

 deficient. The products of its trunk 

 the branches it has put out into the 

 little world by which it is surrounded 

 are more or less erratic and eccentric 

 in character. Still at divers times they 

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