©afe. 
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^ v 
The wild swine fa^ia-the foresfs thhp, 
And hungry La^#|hre th#^ ; y d, 
They crunched themast where’er it fell? t j 
And they feasted well that day. 5 ,■ t , 
C ■ t'V, 
But as they trampled all about 
With heavy hoofs, t^eyJftcL^ ' jt , j 
That acorn— perc^anc^&undredfe more—* ^ 
Deep in the yifl&iifgfKd. r * ’ » 
f * > ' % 
Years came and wenfo — t iffe ajfcorn grew 
And became a young’&ftK treei f 
With a slender, straight, and flexile stem* j 
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. 
