THIRD WEEK] 



December 



333 



brethren. It pre-eminently attracts the bolts of Jove and 

 the lesser trees see a blinding flash, hear a rending of heart 

 wood, and when the storm has passed, the tree, before 

 perfect in trunk, limbs, and foliage, is now but a heap of 

 charred splinters. 



Many a great willow overhanging the banks of a wide 

 river could tell interesting tales of the scars on its trunk. 

 That lower wound was a deep gash cut by some Indian, 

 perhaps to direct a war-party making their way through 

 the untrodden wilderness; this bare, unsightly patch was 



