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 t