The Chorus of the Forest 



of white oak-leaf buds covei'S a tree with a pale, 

 silvery pinkish ert'ect that is lovely and very showy ; 

 much more attractive than the flowers. All vari- 

 eties of acorns are interesting with their shiny hulls, 

 pointed tips, and flat bases that flt into their rough 

 cups securely, until the nuts drop, or else at ma- 

 turity are shaken out by the wind. Few of the 

 cujjs fall until pushed ofi^ by the growth of the 

 following spring. These little cups, clinging to 

 a tree all winter, make it appear as if it might be 

 a table spread for a fairies' tea party. The leaves 

 of oak, and also beech, hang with the same te- 

 nacity, and in winter days of hoar-frost or drift- 

 ing snow they form the most beautiful fringy 

 and mossy sprays among the branches. 



There are two j^eculiarities about the oak that 

 as j^et science has failed to explain satisfactorily: 

 why it is that all through the forest, field, and 

 woods these big trees so frequently die in the very 

 top branches — a deatli that too often spreads to 

 the roots ; and why they are more f recjuently struck 

 by lightning than any other tree. Government re- 

 ports tell us they are, but they neglect to state the 

 reason. 



These and other large trees of the forest some- 

 times deceive the lumbermen who fell them by be- 

 ing a mere shell, and so they are left where they 

 are cut. But nothing is ever useless, and birds and 

 animals are quick to take possession of anything 



147 



