pends itself in a host of
branchlets which feather the limbs, and give rise to a false impression
of vigor.

Never has tree been cherished with greater care, but its days are
numbered. A few years more or less, and, like Penn's Treaty Elm and the
famous Charter Oak, it will be numbered with the things that were.

THE ELIOT OAK

When John Eliot had become a power among the Indians, with far-reaching
sagacity he judged it best to separate his converts from the whites, and
accordingly, after much inquiry and toilsome search, gathered them into
a community at Natick--an old Indian name formerly interpreted as "a
place of hills," but now generally admitted to mean simply "my land."
Anticipating the policy which many believe must eventually be adopted
with regard to the entire Indian question, Eliot made his settlers
land-owners, conferred upon them the right to vote and hold office,
impressed upon them the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and
taught them the rudiments of agriculture and the mechanic arts.

In the summer of 1651, the Indians built a framed edifice, which
answered, as is the case to-day in many small country towns, the double
purpose of a schoolroom on week-days, and a sanctuary on the Sabbath.
Professor C.E. Stowe once called that building the first known
theological seminary of New England, and said that for real usefulness
it was on a level with, if not above, any other in the known world.

It is assumed that two oaks, one of the red, and the other of the white,
species, of which the present Eliot Oak is the survivor, were standing
near this first Indian church. The early records of Eliot's labors make
no mention of these trees. Adams, in his Life of Eliot, says: "It would
be interesting if we could identify some of the favorite places of the
Indians in this vicinity," but fails to find sufficient data. Bigelow
(or Biglow, according to ancient spelling), in his History of Natick,
1830, states: "There are two oaks near the South Meeting-house, which
have undoubtedly stood there since the days of Eliot." It is greatly to
be regretted that the writer did not state the evidence upon which his
conclusion was based.

Bacon, in his History of Natick, 1856, remarks: "The oak standing a few
rods to the east of the South Meeting-house bears every evidence of an
age greater than that of the town, and was probably a witness of Eliot's
first visit to the 'place of hills.'" It would be quite possible t