CHAPTER IV. 



OAK-TBEB. 



Quercus Rolur. 



" It seems idolatry with some excuse, 

 Wh'en our forefather Druids in their oaks 

 Imagined sanctity." 



BEHOLD in me, said a stately Oak, one of those vast vege- 

 table columns which owe their uprising to the quiet yet 

 unwearied labours of a small sisterhood of lichens and 

 bright mosses. 



The rock from whence I sprang was bare and rugged, 

 till they came, with loving labours, calling on the elements 

 to aid them ; and forth from out the atmosphere hastened 



