PREFACE 
This little book was written in response to the demand 
for a school reader about Nature which would tell, not 
merely sentimental anecdotes about the bunny, the violet 
and the rose, but a continuous story of the life history 
of some living thing. The author chose the Oak Tree 
as her subject simply because its story serves as a 
complete illustration of that underlying fact of Nature, 
the interdependence of all things—the inseparable link¬ 
age of animate and inanimate, of atom, molecule, and 
substance, of soil, plant, animal, and man. 
To Professor Edward Hart, Dean of the Scientific 
Department, Eafayette College, and to Dr. James 
Waddell Tupper, Professor of English Eiterature at 
Eafayette College, the author wishes to make grateful 
acknowledgment for their helpful criticism in the prepa¬ 
ration of this book. 
Mrs. Ezra Bowen 
