OAK. 
225 
in the pains and pleasures of the present age. 
The stormy winds sometimes strive for the 
mastery over this monarch of the forest; at first 
he murmurs only, but soon a dull, deep, melan¬ 
choly sound issues from his sturdy branches. 
You listen and fancy that you hear an indistinct, 
mysterious voice speaking from the tree ; which 
furnishes a clew to the ancient superstitions that 
prevailed respecting it. 
10 * 
