NATURE'S CATHEDRAL. 227 



"In such green palaces the first kings reigned; 

 Slept in their shade, and angels entertained ; 

 With such old counsellors they did advise 

 And by frequenting sacred shades grew wise." 



Here in this glen alone with the oaks almost 

 a Druid am I this Sabbath morn. Next to the sun 

 among all of nature's objects I love my mother 

 earth. Rather do I love her best and most re- 

 vere the sun. The oak trees and their kin, the 

 maples and the beeches, hold next place in my 

 affections, for they are hereabouts the oldest, the 

 tallest, the most sturdy of the living things of 

 earth. On the hills about me there are doubt- 

 less oaks that dropped their acorns before Co- 

 lumbus knelt upon the sands of Salvador. There 

 are beeches that gave shelter to deer and elk 

 .when Shakespeare was a boy. There are maples 

 which yielded in spring the sweetness of their 

 sap. in summer the shelter of their shade to the 

 grandfathers and great-grandfathers of Tecum- 

 seh and his tribes. There they stand in sun and 

 shower, the broad-armed witnesses of perished 

 centuries and most worthy are they of the love 

 and reverence of every man. 



Yes, birds do I love and the graceful flight 

 and brilliant hues of butterflies, but trees best 

 of all. For. full three hundred years have these 

 three oaks stood here. How wide the sward of 

 blue-grass which their long spreading limbs do 

 shelter. "Why should they not be the homes of 



16-B28 



