OAK-TEEE. 63 



up abundantly from the river that flows beneath me, col- 

 lected by rain from out the atmosphere ; and with them 

 came a friendly gas called oxygen, winning its way into the 

 sisterhood of lichens and bright mosses, nay, even into the 

 rock itself; thus gradually destroying its equilibrium, and 

 rendering fit for soil the hardest aggregate belonging to 

 the globe. 



Hence it happened, that scarcely had my tiny roots 

 begun to penetrate the small deposit of vegetable mould, 

 than masses were ruptured by degrees on either side of 

 the ravine, and chasms opened in the solid rock. Other 

 trees found in them a place of growth; and far as the 

 eye can reach, on either side the river, are well-timbered 

 glens and hollows, with bold masses of projecting rocks 

 starting from their midst. 



Small, therefore, was my origin, nurtured by viewless 

 elements, an acorn a cup for babes to play with ; but 

 now a monarch of the forest, rising with umbrageous 

 majesty among my tributary trees. 



