CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE LAFAYETTE ELM 



Sirs, cover the while; the duke will drink under this tree. 



Shakespeare 



AMONG those few trees which, in 

 point of size, may be called elms 

 of the first class, is the Lafayette 

 Elm. This tree is situated southwest of 

 the village of Ware, on the road to Palmer, 

 and is twenty feet, seven inches in circum- 

 ference, seventy-five feet in height, and one 

 hundred and ten feet in the spread of its 

 branches. The enormous trunk divides at 

 about ten feet into three branches, the 

 largest of which subdivides into four more. 

 The smallest of the four is fifteen inches 

 in diameter. In general appearance the tree 

 is slightly over-developed on the east side, 

 one great limb stretching in this direction 

 for more than sixty-five feet. 



Tradition says that, during Revolutionary 

 times, Lafayette rested underneath this tree 



