is given
Power the earth to bless;
And the sloe's small fruit of down,
And the hazel's clusters brown,
Are the tribute they can offer--are their mite of usefulness.

'When the awful words were spoken,
"It is finished!"--
When the all-loving heart was broken,
Bowed the patient head;
When the earth grew dark as midnight
In her solemn awe--
Then the forest-branches all
Bent, with reverential fall--
Bent, as bent the Jewish foreheads at the giving of the law.

'But one tree was in the forest
That refused to bow;
Then a sudden blast came o'er it,
And a whisper low
Made the leaves and branches quiver--
Shook the guilty tree;
And the voice was: "Tremble ever
To eternity:
Be a lesson from thee read--
He that boweth not his head,
And obeyeth not his Maker, let him fear eternally!"

'So thou standest ever shaking,
Ever quivering with fear,
For the voice is still upon thee,
And the whisper near.
Like the guilty, conscience-haunted;
And the name for thee
Is, "The tree of many thoughts"--
Is, "The tree of many doubts;"
And thy leaves are thoughts and doubtings--for thou art the
sinner's tree.

'Thou, O chestnut, richly branched,
Standest in thy might,
Rising like a leafy tower
In the summer light.
And thy branches are fruit-laden,
Waving bold and free;
And the beams upon thee shed
Are like blessings on thy head:
Thou art strong, and fair, and fruitful--for thou art the good
man's tree.

'So, farewell, great forest-teachers:
There is a spirit dwells
In the veinings of each leaflet,
In each flower's cells:
Ye have each a voice and lesson,
And ye seem to say:
"Open, man, thine eyes to see
In each flower, stone, and tree,
Something pure and something holy, as thou passest on thy way."'
F.C.W.

* * * * *

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