16 THE TREE FOLK 



them with big stones, and there he stands to this day 

 as vigorous and handsome as ever. 



Time would fail me to tell of ''Spudaios/' and ''The 

 Ice Box," and ''The North Pole"; and of "The Tree of 

 Heaven," to which ascent is made by "Jacob's Ladder"; 

 and of "Shagamenticus," Big Chief of Elms; and of 

 "Massasoit," the great Wild Cherry, who still stands 

 guard by the Indian Corn Field on Huckleberry Island; 

 and of "Noah"; and the patriarch "Job," who through 

 patient continuance in well doing, attained a height of 

 a hundred feet, shaded cattle, guided sailors at sea, and 

 gave farmers' boys a glimpse of the golden dome of the 

 State House twenty-five miles away. These all grew^ old 

 gracefully, bearing witness to the fact that all things 

 work together for good to the children of God. 



Have a look at Plate XIV. I called that group of trees 

 the Tiptop Battalion, because I found it on guard on 

 the tip-top of Mount i\rarat, where the New England 

 edition of the ark landed (I can show you where our 

 Noah dumped his ballast, to prove it!). For a hundred 

 years, these two valiant Pines have stood their ground 

 side by side — like Harmodius and Aristogiton, or Cas- 

 tor and Pollux — meeting the fierce drives of the south- 

 west winds in summer and of the northeast gales in 

 winter. During recent years they have been reinforced 

 by the Rock Maple they sheltered in his youth, beneath 

 whose protection in turn, young Pines are flourishing. 



