THROUGH THE CHANGING YEAR 141 



have been fertilised; and, where was the 

 flower, the fruit now is growing. Summer is 

 the time of maturity. The trees have married, 

 and now they are bearing children. And how 

 prolific they are! What more than adequate 

 provision they seem to make for the propaga- 

 tion of their species ! Could every acorn be- 

 come a tree, the world would be one vast oak- 

 forest. Tennyson was troubled in mind because 

 nature brings so few out of the unnumbered 

 seeds to bear. Here we will not concern our- 

 selves with the great problems that confront 

 humanity; we will only permit ourselves to 

 wonder at the prolific fruit fulness which makes 

 it seem impossible for any species to be killed 

 off in the fierce struggle for existence. 



The struggle, of course, is not between in- 

 dividuals of different species only. Oak-seed- 

 ling contends with oak-seedling, ash with ash, 

 and so with them all. How familiar is the 

 story of two brothers, each planting a tree, and 

 then going out into the world to seek his fortune. 

 Both trees flourish for a time ; then one decays. 

 As with the trees, so it is said to have been 

 with the fortunes of the brothers who planted 

 them. Here we have a survival of the belief 



