58 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



the heir in his cradle, can hope to see that unsightly 

 gap filled up. 



The keeper does not hesitate to say that of the 

 great trees in the avenues numbers stand in constant 

 danger of such overthrow ; and so it is that by slow- 

 degrees so many of the kings of the forest have 

 disappeared without leaving successors. No care is 

 taken to plant fresh saplings, no care is taken to 

 select and remove the trees which have passed the 

 meridian of their existence, and the final result is 

 the extinction of the avenue or group. Perhaps the 

 temper of the times is to blame for this neglect : men 

 look only to the day and live fast. There is a sense 

 of uncertainty in the atmosphere of the age : no one 

 can be sure that the acorns he plants will be permitted 

 to reach their prime, the hoofs of the ' iron horse ' 

 may trample them down as fresh populations grow. 

 So the avenues die out, and the keeper mourns to 

 think that in the days to come their place will be 

 vacant. 



Suddenly he pauses in his walk, stoops, and 

 points out to me in the grass the white, smooth, round 

 knob-like tops of several young mushrooms which are 

 pushing their way up. He carefully covers these 

 with some pieces of dead bark and desiccated dung, 

 so that none of 'them lurching fellows as comes 



