©ah. 207 
LIFE OF AN OAK TREE. 
Long centuries have come and passed 
Since, in a stormy wind, 
An acorn fell one autumn day. 
Like thousands of his kind. 
The wild swine fed in the forests then, 
And hungry beasts were they ; 
They crunched the mast where'er it fell, 
And they feasted well that day. 
But as they trampled all about 
With heavy hoofs, they trod 
That acorn — perchance hundreds more — 
Deep in the yielding sod. 
Years came and went. — The acorn grew 
And became a young Oak tree ; 
With a slender, straight, and flexile stem, 
Dressed in rich greenery. 
Time passeth on. — The young tree rose 
A bold and noble thing ; 
Each summer showed a leafier crest, 
And a longer shoot each spring. 
There came into the ancient wood 
Some stern official men ; 
They marked the fairest, loftiest trees, 
And they were doomed then. 
