A Place to dream in 175 



and underwood are thinner, as is generally the case close 

 under a tree ; and it is easy to push through just there. 

 On the other side, a huge root covered with deep green 

 moss affords a pleasant seat, leaning back against the 

 trunk. Upon the right, close by, is the ash copse, with 

 its border of thick fir trees ; on the left oaks at intervals 

 stand along the hedge ; in front stretches the undulating 

 surface of an immense pasture field called The Warren. 

 Like a prairie it rolls gently away, dotted with hawthorn 

 bushes, here and there a crab tree, and two rows of noble 

 elms, in both of which the rooks are busy in spring. 

 Beyond, the ground rises, and the small upland meadows 

 are so thickly timbered as to look like distant glades of a 

 forest ; still farther are the downs. 



Under this great oak in the stillness is a place to 

 dream in summer, looking upward into the vast expanse 

 of green boughs, is an intricate architecture, an inimitable 

 roof, whose lattice-windows are set with translucent lapis 

 lazuli, for the deep blue of the sky seems to come down and 

 rest upon it. The acorns are already there, as yet all cup, 

 and little of the acorn proper showing; there is a tiny black 

 speck on the top, and the young acorn faintly resembles 

 some of the ancient cups with covers, the black speck 

 being the knob by which the cover is lifted. After the 

 first frosts, when the acorns are browned and come out of 

 their cups from their own weight as they fall and strike 

 the ground, the lads select the darkest or ripest, and 

 eat one now and then ; they half roast them too, like 

 chestnuts. 



In the early spring, when the night is bright and clear, 

 it is a place to stand a moment and muse awhile. For 

 the copse is dark and gloomy, the bare oaks are dark 

 behind ; the eye cannot see across the prairie, who3e 



