ID Em* in ?^sDe Parfe, 175 



without bark, and beside it stands another tree, the twin 

 brother of its desolation. These trees are very aged, for 

 the oldest inhabitant in the neighbourhood remembers to 

 have seen them in the same condition when he climbed 

 their trunks, a playful boy in search of the owl's nest ; but 

 she was too wary to confide her young to so poor a 

 shelter. 



Those who, in their haste, wish to accomplish the 

 designs which they have proj ected with too precipitate haste, 

 may derive a moral lesson from these once noble trees. 

 Each was once enfolded within an auburn nut, a cup and 

 ball that babes might play with, and which the joyous 

 squirrel, when seeking her food, might have carried off 

 with ease; and nibbled in a moment all the delicate 

 ramifications, and the embryo vastness of the future tree. 

 Autumnal rains mellowed the ground on which the 

 acorns were deposited, we know not whether by the hand 

 of man, or whether, dropping from a bough before the 

 forest had disappeared from the moor, some skipping deer, 

 dibbling the soft earth with his pointed hoof, prepared a 

 receptacle in which the acorns might rest secure, till the 

 return of spring. Here then lay the auburn nuts. 

 Leaves reft by the winds of Autumn fell thick and fast 

 upon the earth, and over them the snow formed a light 

 covering ; and though the wind howled in its fury, and 

 the heavy storm raged through the forest, the acorns 

 remained safe till the winds ceased their contention, and 

 the storm-clouds passed by. Then did the acorns open 



