240 
RURAL HOURS. 
it is not yet in flower, and the plants have been so much gathered 
that comparatively few are left. 
There is the skeleton of an old oak lying on the gravelly beach 
of this point, which was well known in the early years of the 
little colony. Deer were very common here at that time, and of 
course they were much hunted ; these poor creatures, when pur- 
sued, always take refuge in the water, if there be a lake or river 
at hand ; and when a party was out hunting in the hills it was a 
common practice to station some one in the old oak at this spot, 
which overhung the water, and commanded a view of the lake in 
its whole length ; a set of signals having been agreed on before- 
hand, the scout in the tree pointed out to the hunters, by this 
means, the direction taken by the game. Some few years since 
this signal-oak fell to the ground, and a fragment of it now lies 
on the shore. This whole grove was formerly very beautiful, 
composed chiefly of noble oaks of primeval growth, many of 
them hung with grape-vines, while a pretty clump of wild roses 
grew at their feet ; some of the vines and many of the rose-bushes 
are still left, but the trees are falling rapidly. They have 
been recklessly abused by kindling fires against their trunks, 
using them as chimney shafts, which of course must destroy 
them. In this way, oaks that might have stood yet for centuries, 
w^ith increasing beauty, have been wantonly destroyed. Not a 
season passes that one does not fall, and within tlie last few 
years their number has very sensibly diminished. The spot is 
but a wreck of what it was. 
It is a long time since the signal-oak was needed by the hunt- 
ers, the deer having disappeared from these woods with wonder- 
ful rapidity. Within twenty years from the foundation of the 
