TREES OF AMERICA. 33 



Wallace Oak for a very long time ; so long 

 that nobody knows when it was not called by 

 that name : so you see that must have been 

 a very old tree. You have heard of the royal 

 oak, I suppose, in which Charles the Second, 

 one of-'the kings of England, hid himself from 

 his enemies, and which is still standing at 

 Boscobel in Staffordshire ; it is not as large 

 as the other two I have mentioned, but a 

 great many curious people go to look at it, on 

 account of its age, and the circumstance of a 

 king having to hide in it to save his life ; when 

 you are older you may read in one of the vol- 

 umes of the l Family Library,' about Charles, 

 and his father, whose head was cut off." 



"But, Uncle Philip, are there no famous 

 oaks in this country ?" 



" None that I know of, boys ; I have not 

 seen or heard of any that are remarkable 

 either for size or age ; our people are more 

 apt to think of the use they can make of a 

 good tree than of keeping it as an object of 

 curiosity, and there are not many oaks left 

 standing after they have grown large enough 

 for timber or firewood ; besides, as I have 

 already told you, trees grow so very large 

 only where there are not a great many of them, 



