Discouragements 



ered by a pocket-handkerchief, like our A giant 

 own ; but, to crown all, we rashly took 

 Brobdingnagian in the tree-line to walk in 

 our Lilliput one day a Brobdingnagian 

 to whom the largest Elm in Hingham is 

 but a walking-stick and, looking down 

 upon our three-inch Oaks, he complained 

 that there were not trees enough ! Lucus 

 a non lucendo fancy a forest with that de- 

 ficiency ! Having, moreover, discovered 

 that our favorite Beeches were Black 

 Birches, he contrived to impress us with 

 the fact that the best of our forest was 

 the prospect, and that, when the trees 

 were grown, we should not even have 

 that ! That Brobdingnagian was a terror ! 

 Luckily he had not much daylight to see 

 the place in, or we should never have the 

 courage to go on, for wherever we had a 

 good-sized tree he advised that it should 

 be cut down, and if there was a square 

 inch of territory without a seedling he 

 thought it would be a good plan to put in 

 a handful ; and he even showed a disposi- 

 tion to discredit our crack story about a 

 yield of forty bushels in the palmy days 

 of our great Pear-tree, Methusaleh, but 

 225 



