72 VOICES PROM THE WOODLANDS. 



composed the Eoman civic crown. Nuptial processions 

 were graced with my boughs, and men carried them on 

 commemorative days as emblems of victory. 



Time was when my acorn was impiously placed by 

 lawless men in the British crown, in order to supersede 

 the cross, which had presided there for ages. And yet, 

 though reckless in itself, methinks that strange act seemed 

 as a presage that the tree which bore such fruit was 

 destined to shelter England's king from the fury of re- 

 bellion. Hence it is that my boughs are waved in triumph 

 on the twenty-first of May. 



My leaves are also conspicuous in the order of the Iron 

 Cross, an order instituted by the late king of Prussia, to 

 commemorate the struggles, and oppression, and, at length, 

 the triumphs of his country; commemorative also of that 

 noble-hearted woman, whose memory is held dear through- 

 out its length and breadth. 



Three of my largest leaves were placed in the midst of 

 the iron cross, designed to show, by this arrangement, the 



