ARBOR DA V MANUAL. 
20 7 
of young trees of various kinds, and here we found nine nests, one in a locust, 
the other eight in maples. Then following the street with trees irregularly 
planted on either side, a few here, a few there, we counted forty-nine nests, all 
of which were in maples, although several elms and locusts were mingled with 
these: frequently there were several nests in the same maple. * * * Such 
was the state of things in the principal streets through which~we passed, mak¬ 
ing in all one hundred and twenty-seven nests, and of these, eighteen were in 
various kinds of trees, the remaining one hundred and nine were in maples. 
Susan Fenimore Cooper in “ Rural-Honrs .” 
ACORN AND CHESTNUT. 
O NE pleasant day in October an acorn and a chestnut were lying side by side 
on the brown earth where they had fallen. 
“ I hope I shall be safe in the ground before winter comes,” said the acorn. 
Snow and ice do not agree with me. In fact, if they come before I am under 
shelter they will kill me ; and it would be sad indeed, if so fine and large an acorn 
.as I am should be lost ; for I expect to become a great oak some time, and oaks, 
as you know, are the kings of the forest.” 
“Yes, 1 hope so too,” said the chestnut, “I want to be safe before winter 
• comes. I would like to grow into a tree; for the swallows have told me that 
in all lands a strong, tall tree is thought to be one of the finest things in the 
world.” 
“ Oh, chestnut trees are not much,” said the acorn. “ No one cares any thing 
about them except the boys, who think it fun to climb up among their branches 
and shake down the nuts. For my part, if I were a tree, I shouldn’t care to 
live just to please a few children; and 1 am sure it would make me very angry 
to see them eating the fruit which I had taken the trouble to bear.” 
“ Well, ” said the chestnut, “every tree to its taste. Some trees would rather 
lhave their food liked bybo)^ and girls than have it be fit for nothing but pigs.” 
“ What? ” said the acorn, growing angry. “ The oak is the noblest of all the 
trees. From its wood are made the great ships that go sailing over the ocean. 
It lives hundreds of years, and gives shade to thousands of people, and homes 
to millions of birds; and if, as I heard a man say one day, ‘great oaks from 
little acorns grow,’ what a noble tree may be expected from such an acorn as 
I am ! ” 
•“ But how will you be planted ? ” asked the chestnut. 
“Oh, that’s easy enough,” answered the acorn. “Everyday I feel myself 
-sinking deeper and deeper into the ground; and when I am deep enough the 
wind will throw some fine rich earth over me, and there I shall lie snug and 
“warm until spring. 
“Then, after putting out two little green leaves, I shall grow no more above 
ground for some time, bpt only keep spreading my roots and making them 
-stronger. I shall grow slowly for years, until at last I shall spread out my 
branches for a great distance around, and become the king of the forest. Ah, 
ihow glad I am that I’m an acorn and not a chestnut ! ” 
