Q U E R C U S ALBA 



pole, arose nobly to the occasion. 

 Whether it was that his roots were 

 set in more fertile soil, or that 

 fewer insects (which prey upon 

 all trees) retarded his growth, or 

 Avhether it was because of an in- 

 nate superiority of vitality which 

 inevitably, as it causes one human 

 to crowd himself above the level of 

 his mates, made this particular 

 tree dominate his fellows, no man 

 can tell. Again the result alone 



stood out incontrovertible in evi- 



38 



