CHAPTER XXI 

 DEERFIELD TREES 



Happy are they and charmed in life 

 Who through long wars arrive unscarred 

 At peace. 



Herman Melville 



THE name Deerfield suggests, to the 

 average New Englander at least, all 

 manner of things historic; and one 

 glimpse of the main street of this town, 

 with its quaint houses and the arching 

 branches of its trees, is sufficient to establish 

 in any visitor's mind, a never-to-be-forgotten 

 picture. In the writer's opinion, one of 

 the highest tributes which can be paid to a 

 New England town is this that it com- 

 pares favorably as to beauty with "Old 

 Deerfield." 



If all of the larger trees should be removed, 

 the old houses, many of which were built 

 during the time of fierce struggle with the 

 Indians, would still lend their enchantment 



