A Wise Old Oak 



Russell R. Lord 



Battery C, Maryland Field Artillery 



A wise old owl sat on an oak. 

 The more he heard the less he spoke. 

 The less he spoke the more he heard. 

 Why can't we all be like that bird? 



— Old Song. 



True, very true; but have you heard 

 About the oak on which the bird 

 Would sit and look so wise? The tree 

 Was many times as wise as he. 



Everywhere you go, almost, you will find wise old oaks, and if 

 you can get them to talk to you there's no end to the things they 

 can tell you. Maybe you don't believe that; maybe you think 

 you know a lot more than any old oak that ever grew. And maybe 

 you do, but again maybe you don't. But be sure of one thing — 

 an old oak tree has a lot more sense than any owl that ever sat in 

 its branches and hooted. 



Owls haven't such an awful lot of sense; they look a lot wiser 

 than they really are. We are always a little afraid of owls — they 

 are so silent and spooky and unfriendly, and they seem to be think- 

 ing so deeply all the time, that they have made us think them really 

 remarkable animals. But did you ever hear of an owl doing any- 

 thing about all of the things it thinks so hard about ? Now, trees 

 don't make such a show of their thinking, but they are doing some- 

 thing every minute and the "thinks' ' they do are generally calculated 

 to make people happy and friendly, instead of scaring them to 

 death. 



But before you can learn anything from an old oak tree you must 

 know it pretty well. This may mean that you know the kind of 

 bark it has and the family it belongs to, and the way it lives and the 

 work it does, and so on, or it may mean that you just know how 

 that oak feels, whether it feels like playing and throwing its 

 branches about to the winds, or whether it feels strong and brave as 

 it looks out over the quiet country. Some people come to know 

 trees one way and some the other, but everybody that wants to can 

 be good friends with them and talk with them when he feels like it. 



An oak has talked to you before this — No? Well, you know 

 this, don't you? An oak is big and strong and very kind and 

 friendly. Who told you? Why, the oak itself! And it told you 



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