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(OhlfUUS alba. Natural Order: Cu'puliJ r cvcz—Oak Family. 
V ERA one is familiar with the appearance of this noble genus 
p h - ees, or has read more or less in its praise. The wood 
* 01 timber of many of the varieties is exceedingly useful to 
man, in many of the mechanical arts, but more especially in 
|ship-building, on account of its great strength and durability. 
It is also of historic interest to all Americans, as it was in 
_ 5 § the hollow of an oak at Hartford, that the Charter obtained by Gov. 
^ ift Winthro P’ the y oun ger, for the colonists of Connecticut, from Charles I. 
of England, was secreted from October 31, 1687, to May, 1689. Sir 
Edmund Andros made an unsuccessful attempt to rob them of it, but 
St^was thwarted by William Wadsworth, who spirited it off and hid it 
in the Oak, which from this circumstance was called the Charter Oak. 
It is supposed to have been upward of three hundred years old when 
blown down by a storm, Aug. 20, 1856. The Oak has been considered by the 
heathen as honored above all other trees, because the sacred mistletoe grows 
upon its branches. 
Jf nnur + 
r J"'HESE be the sheaves that honor’s harvest bears; 
The seed thy valiant acts; the world the field. 
HONOR and shame from no condition rise: 
Act well your part, there all the honor lies. 
— Pope. 
— Fairfax. 
jy[INE honor is my life; both grow in one; 
Take honor from me, and my life is done. 
— Shakespeare. 
[JEAV’N. that made me honest, made me more 
Than ever king did when he made a lord. 
— Rowe. 
OO much the thirst of honor fires the blood; 
So many would be great, so few be good; 
for who would virtue for herself regard, 
Or wed without the portion of reward? 
—Dry den. 
'T'HE tall oak, towering to the skies. 
The fury of the wind defies; 
From age to age, in virtue strong, 
Inured to stand and suffer wrong. 
— Montgomery. 
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