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."
CHAPTER V.
_BEAUTY AND GRACE: THE ASH_.
"What tree comes next, Miss Harson?" asked Clara, on an April day that
was mild enough for the piazza. "You told us so many interesting things
about the oak that I suppose we needn't expect to hear of another tree
like that."
"No," was the reply; "not just like that, perhaps, for the oak is grand
and venerable above all our familiar trees, but the ash, which is more
especially an American tree, belongs to a large and interesting family,
and I am quite sure that you will very much like to hear something about
it.
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