BITS OF OAK BARK. 27 



branch to branch, the sidling out to the extreme end 

 of the bough, and the inward chuckling when a friend 

 lets his acorn drop tip-tap from bough to bough. 

 Amid such plenty they cannot quarrel or fight, having 

 no cause of battle, but they can boast of success, and 

 do so to the loudest of their voices. He who has 

 selected a choice one flies with it as if it were a nugget 

 in his beak, out to some open spot of ground, followed 

 by a general Caw ! 



This was going on above while the boy slept below. 

 A thrush looked out from the hedge, and among the 

 short grass there was still the hum of bees, constant 

 sun-worshippers as they are. The sunshine gleamed 

 on the rooks' black feathers overhead, and on the sward 

 sparkled from hawkweed, some lotus and yellow weed, 

 as from a faint ripple of water. The oak was near a 

 corner formed by two hedges, and in the angle was a 

 narrow thorny gap. Presently an old woman, very 

 upright, came through this gap carrying a faggot on 

 her shoulder and a stout ash stick in her hand. She 

 was very clean, well dressed for a labouring woman, 

 hard of feature, but superior in some scarcely defined 

 way to most of her class. The upright carriage had 

 something to do with it, the firm mouth, the light blue 

 eyes that looked every one straight in the face. Pos- 

 sibly these, however, had less efiect than her conscious 

 righteousness. Her religion lifted her above the rest, 

 and I do assure you that it was perfectly genuine. 

 That hard face and cotton gown would have gone to 

 the stake. 



When she had got through the gap she put the 

 faggot down in it, walked a short distance out into 



