_MAJESTY AND STRENGTH: THE OAK_.
"Here," said Miss Harson, "is a small branch from an oak tree containing
the young leaves and the catkins, which come out together; for the oak
belongs, like the willow and the maple, to the division of
_amentaceous_ plants."
"Oh dear!" sighed Clara at the hard name.
But Malcolm repeated:
"_Amentaceous_--_ament_. I know, Miss Harson: it's _catkins_"
"Yes, it means trees which produce their flowers in catkins, or looking
as if strung on long drooping stems; and the oak is the monarch of this
family, and in Great Britain of all the forest-trees. It is especially
an English tree, although our woods contain several varieties. But they
do not hold the pre-eminence in our forests that the oaks do in those
of England. The oak ordinarily runs more to breadth than to height, and
spreads itself out to a vast distance with an air of strength and
grandeur. This is its striking character and what gives it its peculiar
appearance. Oaks do not always go straight out, but crook and bend to
right and left, upward and downward, abruptly or with a gentle sweep.
[Illustration: MALE CATKIN OF THE OAK.]
[Illustration: THE OAK]
"The white oak is the handsomest species, and takes its name from the
very light color of the bark on the trunk, by which it is easily known.
The leaves are long in proportion to the width and deeply divided into
lobes, of which there are three or four on each side. There is a great
variety in the shape of oak-leaves, those of our white oak being long
and slender, while the red oak has very broad ones, and the foliage of
the scarlet oak is almost skeleton-like. The chestnut oak has leaves
almost exactly like those of the chestnut. The acorns of the different
varieties, too, differ in size and shape.
[Illustration: WHITE-OAK LEAF.]
"There is so much to be said of the oak," continued Miss Harson, "it is
such an ancient and venerable tree and has so many stories attached to
it, that it is not easy to begin an account of it. The blossoms,
perhaps, will be the best starting-point: and I should like to have you
examine this branch and tell me if you see any difference in the
blossoms."
"They are nearly all alike," said Malcolm, "but here at the ends of the
twigs are one or two that look like buds."'
"That is just what I wanted you to notice," replied his governess, "for
the flowers are of two kinds, one bearing the stamens, and the other the
pistils. The flowers that bear the stamens grow on loose scaly catkins,
as you may see in this branch. Those with the pistils are also in
catkins, but very small, like a bud. The bud spreads into a little
branchlet and bears the flowers at the tip. The calyx is not seen at
first; it is a mere membrane covering the ovary. By degrees the ovary
swells into the acorn and the membrane becomes part of the shell."
"I like acorns," said little Edith, "they're so nice to play with."
"But they're not nice to eat," said Clara.
[Illustration: SQUIRREL AND ACORN]
"Some animals think they are," continued Miss Harson. "If you should
come here in October, you would find the squirrels feasting on them. In
old times in England the oaks were valued highly on account of their
acorns, and great herds of swine were driven into the forests to feed
upon them. In the time of the Saxons a crop of acorns often formed a
part of the dowry bestowed upon the Saxon queens, and the king himself
would be glad to accept a gift or grant of acorns; and the failure of
the crop would be considered as a kind of famine. In those days laws
were made to protect the oaks from being felled or injured, and a man
who cut down a tree under the shadow of which thirty hogs could stand
was fined three pounds. The herds of swine were placed under the care of
a swineherd, whose sole employment was to keep them together, and they
formed a staple part of the riches of the country. But when the Norman
kings began to rule, they brought with them a passionate love of hunting
and took possession of the forests as preserves for their favorite
sport. The herds of swine were forbidden to roam about as heretofore,
and their owners were reduced to poverty in consequence."
"Wasn't that wicked, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm.
"Yes; it was both unjust and cruel, and it was one of the great
grievances of the nation. Even at this day the laws for the protection
of game are one of the grounds of ill-feeling on the part of the poor
toward the nobles. In Spain the acorns have the taste of nuts, and are
sold in the markets as an article of food. They grow abundantly in the
woods and forests. Once, in time of war, a foreign army subsisted almost
entirely on them. Herds of swine range the forests in Spain and feed
luxuriously upon acorns, and the salted meats of Malaga, that are famous
for their delicate flavor, are thought to owe it to this cause. Some of
our American Indians depend upon acorns and fish for their winter food;
and when the acorns drop from the tree, they are buried in sand and
soaked in water to draw out the bitter taste."
"I shouldn't like them," said Clara, with a wry face at the thought of
such food.
"Well, dear," replied her governess, laughing, "as you are not an
Indian, you will probably not be called upon to like them; but it would
be better to eat acorns than to starve. You may have noticed the trunk
and branches of the oak are often gnarled and knotted, and this helps to
give the tree its appearance of great strength. It is just as strong as
it looks, and for building-purposes it lasts longer than any other
wood. Beams and rafters of oak are found in old English houses, showing
among the brick-work, and many of these half-timbered houses, as they
are called, were built hundreds of years ago.
"Bedsteads and other articles of furniture, too, were 'built' in those
days, rather than made, for they were not expected to be moved about;
and a heavy oak bedstead is still in existence which is said to have
belonged to King Richard III. It is curiously carved, and the king
rested upon it the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, where he
was killed. Clumsy as the bedstead was, he took it about with him from
place to place; but after the fatal battle it passed into the hands of
various owners, and nothing remarkable was discovered about it until the
king had been dead a hundred years. By that time the bedstead had come
into the possession of a woman who found a fortune in it. One morning,
says the story, as she was making the bed, she heard a chinking sound,
and saw, to her great delight, a piece of money drop on the floor. Of
course she at once set about examining the bedstead, and found that the
lower part of it was hollow and contained a treasure. Three hundred
pounds--a fortune in those days--was brought to light, having remained
hidden all those years. As King Richard was not there to claim his gold,
the woman quickly possessed herself of it. But, as it happened, she had
better have remained in ignorance and poverty. As soon as the matter
became known one of her servants robbed her of the gold, and even caused
her death. Thus it was said in the neighborhood that 'King Richard's
gold' did nobody any good."
The children were very much pleased with this story, and Malcolm said
that he always liked to hear about people who found gold and things.
"I think that I do, myself," replied Miss Harson, "although, as in this
poor woman's case and in many others, gold is not the best thing to
find. It often brings with it so much sorrow and sin as to be a curse to
its owner. The only safe treasure is that laid up in heaven, where
'neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break
through nor steal,'
"From the very earliest times the oak has been used for shipbuilding.
The Saxons, we are told, kept a formidable fleet of vessels with curved
bottoms and the prow and poop adorned with representations of the head
and tail of some grotesque and fabulous creature. King Alfred had many
vessels that carried sixty oars and were entirely of oak. A vessel
supposed to be of his time has been discovered in the bed of a river in
Kent, and after the lapse of so many centuries it is as sound as ever
and as hard as iron."
"Do oak trees ever have apples on 'em?" asked Clara. "In a story that I
read there was something about 'oak-apples.'"
[Illustration: THE OAK-GALL INSECT (_Cynips_).]
"They are not apples such as we eat, or fruit in any sense," said her
governess. "They are the work of a species of fly called _Cynips_, which
is very apt to attack the oak. 'The female insect is armed with a sharp
weapon called an _ovipositor_, which she plunges into a leaf and makes
a wound. Here she lays her eggs; and when she has done so, she flies
away and we hear no more of her. But the wound she has made disturbs the
circulation of the sap. It flows round and round the eggs as though it
had met with some foreign body it would fain remove. Very soon the eggs
are in the midst of a ball-like and fleshy chamber--the most suitable
provision for them, and one which the parent-insect had provided by
means of puncturing the leaf. As the eggs are hatched the grubs will
find themselves safely housed and in the midst of an abundance
of food.'"
[Illustration: OAK-APPLES.]
"Well," exclaimed Malcolm, in great disgust, "_apple_ is a queer name
for a ball full of little flies!"
"It's a very pretty ball, though," said Miss Harson, "with a smooth skin
and tinged with red or yellow, like a ripe apple. If it is cut open, a
number of granules are seen, each containing a grub embedded in a
fruit-like substance. The grub undergoes its transformation, and in due
course emerges a perfect insect. These pretty pink-and-white apples used
to be gathered by English boys on the twenty-ninth of May, which was
called 'Oak-Apple Day.'"
"Did they eat 'em?" asked Edith.
"I do not see how they could, dear," was the reply; "they were probably
gathered just to look at. Yet 'May-apples,' which grow, you will
remember, on the wild azalea and the swamp honeysuckle, are often eaten,
and they are formed in the same way; so we will not be too positive
about the oak-apples."
"What are oak-_galls_, Miss Harson?" asked Malcolm. "Are they the same
as oak-apples?"
"Not quite the same," was the reply, although both are produced by the
same insect. This is what one of our English books says of them: 'When
the acorn itself is wounded, it becomes a kind of monstrosity, and
remains on the stalk like an irregularly-shaped ball. It is called a
"nut-gall," and is found principally on a small oak, a native of the
southern and central parts of Europe. All these oak-apples and nut-galls
are of importance, but the latter more especially, and they form an
important article of commerce. A substance called "gallic acid" resides
in the oak; and when the puncture is made by the cynips, it flows in
great abundance to the wound. Gallic acid is one of the ingredients used
in dyeing stuffs and cloths, and therefore the supply yielded by the
nut-gall is highly welcome. The nut-galls are carefully collected from
the small oak on which they are found, the Pyreneean oak. It is easily
known by the dense covering of down on the young leaves, that appear
some weeks later than the leaves of the common oak. The galls are
pounded and boiled, and into the infusion thus made the stuffs about to
be dyed are dipped,'"
"I should think," said Clara, "that people would plant oak trees
everywhere, when they are so useful. Is anything done with the bark?"
"Yes," said her governess; "the bark, which is very rough, is valuable
for tanning leather and for medicine. The element which has the effect
of turning raw hide or skin into leather is called _tannin_; it is also
found in the bark of some other trees and in tropical plants."
"Didn't people use to worship oak trees," asked Malcolm--"people who
lived ever so long ago?"
"You are thinking of the Druids, who lived in old times in Britain and
Gaul," replied Miss Harson, "and whose strange heathen rites were
practiced in oak-groves; and they really did consider the tree sacred.
These Druids have left their traces in some parts of England and France
in rows of huge stones set upright; and wherever an immense stone was
found lying on two others, in the shape of a table, there had been a
Druid altar, where the priest offered sacrifices, often of human beings.
So horrible may be a so-called religion that men themselves devise,
and that has not come from the true God.
[Illustration: DRUIDIC SACRIFICE.]
"It was an article in the Druids' creed, and one to which they strictly
adhered, that no temple with a covered roof was to be built in honor of
the gods. All the places appointed for public worship were in the open
air, and generally on some eminence from which the moon and stars might
be observed; for to the heavenly bodies much adoration was offered. But
to afford shelter from wind or rain, and also to ensure privacy and shut
out all external objects, the place fixed upon, either for teaching
their disciples or for carrying out the rites of their idolatrous
worship, was in the recess of some grove or wood. An oak-grove was
supposed to be the favorite of the gods whom they ignorantly worshiped,
and therefore the Druids declared the oak to be a sacred tree. The Druid
priest always bound a wreath of oak-leaves on his forehead before he
would perform any religious ceremony. One of these ceremonies was to go
in search of the mistletoe, which sometimes grows on the oak and was
considered as sacred as the tree itself, being much used in their
worship. One priest would climb to the branch on which the misletoe was
growing and cut it with a golden knife, while another priest stood below
and held out his white robe to receive it.
"These sacred groves were all cut down by the Romans, who waged fierce
war against the Druids, and nothing is left of them now but the circles
of stones that formed their temples. At a place called Stonehenge,
'cromlechs,' or altar-tables, are still standing, and very ancient oaks
stood in a circle round these stones for many centuries after the Druids
were swept away."
"Miss Harson," said Clara when all had expressed their horror of the
Druids and rejoiced that they _were_ swept away, "are there any oak
trees in the Bible?"
"Look and see," was the reply; "and first you may find Genesis xxxv. 4."
Clara read:
"'And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their
hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid
them under the _oak_ which was by Shechem.'"
"In the eighth verse of the same chapter," said Miss Harson, "we read
that Rebekah's nurse was buried under an oak at Bethel. We are told in
the book of Joshua[2] that 'Joshua took a great stone and set it up
there under an _oak_, that was by the sanctuary of the Lord;' and in
Judges[3], 'There came an angel of the Lord and sat under an _oak_ which
was in Ophrah.'--Malcolm, you may read Second Samuel, eighteenth
chapter, ninth verse."
[2] Josh. xxiv. 26.
[3] Judg. vi. II.
Malcolm read:
"'And Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule,
and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great _oak_, and his head
caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the
earth; and the mule that was under him went away.'"
"Poor Absalom!" said Edith, softly. "Wasn't that dreadful?"
"Yes, dear," replied her governess, "it _was_ dreadful; but it is still
more dreadful that Absalom was such a wicked man. In Isaiah[4] we read
of the oaks of Bashan, that, like the cedars of Lebanon, were 'high and
lifted up,' and the oaks of Bashan are mentioned again in Zechariah[5].
Several varieties of the oak are found in Palestine.
[4] Isa. ii. 13.
[5] Zech. xi. 2.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM'S OAK, NEAR HEBRON.]
"In his _Ride Through Palestine_, Dr. Dulles tells of a great oak near
Hebron known as 'Abraham's oak,' supposed to occupy the ground where the
patriarch pitched his tent under the oaks of Mamre. It is an aged tree,
and a grand one. Here is a picture of it, from the _Ride_[6]. The crests
and sides of the hills beyond the Jordan are still clothed, as in
ancient times, with magnificent oaks.
[6] See page 85
"We get a good idea of the strength and durability of this wood from the
fact that there is an old wooden church near Ongar, in Essex, the nave
of which is composed of half logs of oak roughly fastened by wooden
pegs. The ancient fabric dates back to the time of King Edmund, who was
slain by the robber Leolf in the year A.D. 946. The oaken church was
hurriedly put together--according to report--in order to make a
temporary receptacle for the body of the murdered prince on its way to
burial. Be that as it may, it was afterward used as a parish church,
and, though the oaken logs are corroded by the weather, they are still
sound, and, having been beaten by the storms of a thousand winters, bid
fair to defy those of a thousand more."
"I should think, then," said Malcolm, "that people would always build
their houses with oak if it lasts so long."
"Yet they do not do this even in England," was the reply, "where the
trees grow to such an immense size and the ancient buildings still in
existence prove the great endurance of the oak. Now brick and stone and
iron are used, which outlast any wood. And now," continued Miss Harson,
"I am going to tell you something about a foreign species of this tree
which I am sure will surprise you. It is found in the South of Europe
and in Algeria, and is called the _cork oak_."
"'The _cork_ oak'!" exclaimed Clara, quite as much surprised as she was
expected to be. "Do the corks that come in bottles grow on it?"
"Not just in that shape, dear, but they are made from its bark. The
outside bark, or _epidermis_, consists of a thin, transparent,
tissue-like substance, which covers not only the bark, but the whole of
the tree, stem, leaves and branches, and beneath the epidermis is found
a layer of cellular tissue, generally green. It covers the trunk and
branches, fills up the spaces between the veins of the leaves and
contains the sap, which flows in canals arranged for it in the most
beautiful and wonderful manner. In one species of oak this layer--which
is called the _suber_--assumes a peculiar character and is of remarkable
thickness. When the tree is some five years old, its whole energy is
directed toward the increase of the suber. A mass of cells is formed
with great rapidity, and layer upon layer is added, until that part of
the trunk grows so unwieldy that it would crack and split of its own
accord. But such a thing is rarely allowed to happen: the suber is of
too much value to man. After it is taken from the tree and has undergone
due preparation, it appears in our shops and houses under the name
of _cork_"
"I should like to see how they get it," said Malcolm.
"The trunk is regularly marked around in deep cuts, which begin close
to the branches and go down almost to the roots. A ladder is used to
mount to the upper part of the trunk, and the cuts, or incisions, are
made with a long knife or with an axe. Then they strip off the sheets of
cork between the circles. This operation is a very delicate one, and
requires much care and skill lest the inner part should be injured. If
the operation is carried out successfully, the cork-like substance will
grow again and become as abundant as ever.
"The next thing to be done to the pieces of bark is partially to burn,
or char, them, and also to make them quite flat, as they come from the
trunk in a rounded shape. The burning makes the pores close up, so that
the liquid in a vessel for which it is used as a stopper cannot come
through; and this is done over a brisk fire, in what is called a
_burning-yard_. Another process, called _rounding_, removes every trace
of the fire, unless the cork has been too much burned, and then, having
already been flattened by the pressure of heavy stones, it is ready for
the cork-maker, who cuts the material first into strips and then into
squares according to the size of corks wanted.
"Cork is very light and elastic, and can be used successfully in
contrivances for the rescue of men from the perils of the deep. The cork
jacket and the lifeboat have been the means of saving many lives, for
cork will float on the surface of the water and bear up the person
wearing the jacket and the shipwrecked people in the lifeboat. 'The
shallowness of the boat and the bulk of cork within allow but little
room for water; so that even when filled it is in no danger of
overturning or sinking, like other crafts. Also, the lifeboat can move
across the waves with perfect safety, and can make its way from one
object to another in a broken sea as easily as an ordinary boat can pass
from one ship to another.'"
The children declared that the cork-oak was the best tree of all, but
they agreed with their governess that the entire oak family was made up
of grand and useful trees.
"Our American oaks," said Miss Harson, "are very handsome in autumn
because of their brilliant foliage; the _scarlet oak_, which turns to a
deep crimson and keeps its leaves longer than any of the other forest
trees, is the most showy of the species. But we have no cork oaks, and
no oaks that we know to be a thousand years old. There was once a famous
oak in this country, called the 'Charter Oak,' which fell to the ground
in August, 1856, before any of us were born. I wonder if you would like
to hear the story about it?"
This question was thought extremely funny by three such devourers of
stories as the little Kyles, and they eagerly assured their governess
that they would like it.
"If that is really the case," continued Miss Harson, smiling at the
excited faces, "I must tell you the history of
"THE CHARTER OAK.
"This tree grew in Hartford, Connecticut, and it is said that before the
English governor Wyllis went there to live his steward, whom he had
sent on before to get a house ready for him, came near cutting down this
very oak. He was clearing away the trees around it on the hillside when
a party of Indians appeared and begged him to leave that particular
tree, because, they said, 'it had been the guide of their ancestors for
centuries.' So the oak was spared; even then it was old and hollow.
"King Charles II. granted the people of Connecticut a very liberal
charter of rights, which was publicly read in the Assembly at Hartford
and declared to belong for ever to them and their successors. A
committee was appointed to take charge of it, under a solemn oath that
they would preserve this palladium of the rights of the people.
"When James II., the tyrannical brother of Charles II., came to the
throne, he changed the government of New England and ordered the people
of Connecticut to give up their charter. This they refused to do; and
when a third command from the king had been sent to them, they called a
special meeting of the Assembly, under their own governor, Treat, and
resolved to hold on to the charter which had been given them.
"On the 31st of October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andros, attended by members of
his council and a bodyguard of sixty soldiers, entered Hartford to take
the charter by force. The General Assembly was in session; he was
received with courtesy, but with coldness. He entered the assembly-room
and publicly demanded the charter. Remonstrances were made, and the
session was protracted till evening. The governor and his associates
appeared to yield. The charter was brought in and laid upon the table.
Sir Edmund thought that he had succeeded, when suddenly the lights were
all put out, and total darkness followed. There was no noise, no
conflict, but all was quiet. When the candles were again lighted, _the
charter was gone_! Sir Edmund was disconcerted. He declared the
government of Connecticut to be in his own hands, and that the colony
was annexed to Massachusetts and the other New England colonies, and
proceeded to appoint officers. Captain Jeremiah Wadsworth, a patriot of
those times, had hidden the charter in the hollow of Wyllis's oak,
whence it was afterward known as the Charter Oak."
"Then the English governor couldn't get it!" exclaimed Malcolm,
delightedly. "Wasn't that splendid?"
"It was a grand hiding-place, certainly, for no one would think of
looking inside a tree for such a thing as that, and they were grand men
who preserved their country's liberties in those trying times. But more
peaceful years were at hand. About eighteen months after the charter had
disappeared so mysteriously, the tyrant James II. was compelled to give
up his throne to his daughter and son-in-law, the prince and princess of
Orange, and Governor Treat and his associates again took the government
of Connecticut under the old charter, which the hollow oak had
faithfully kept from harm. No tree in our whole country has received
more attention than this historic Hartford oak; and when, at last, its
mere shell of a trunk was laid low by a storm, it seemed as if a large
part of the city had been swept away.
"Ancient oaks are apt to be almost entirely without branches; the huge
trunk, with an opening at the top, and often with one also at the
bottom, stands like a maimed giant, just tottering, perhaps, to its
fall, because of the decay going on within, while outside all seems fair
and sound. It was so with the Charter Oak; and when this monarch of the
forest was unexpectedly laid low, rich and poor, great and small, were
gathered to mourn its loss. A dirge was played and all the bells in the
city were tolled at sundown, for this monument of the past was a link
gone that could not be replaced."
"Thank you, Miss Harson," said Clara; "_true_ stories are so nice! But I
wish I had seen the Charter Oak before it was blown down."
"You could not have done that, dear," was the reply, "unless you had
been born about thirty years sooner."