... Two deep incisions are made,
yet the towering crown sits firm as ever. And now the destroyer
pauses,--fetches breath,--wipes his beaded brow, takes a wary view
of the bearings of the tree,--and then with a slow and watchful care
recommences his work. The strokes fall doubtingly, and many a cautious
glance is cast upward, for the whole immense mass now trembles, as if
instinct with life, and conscious of approaching ruin. Another blow! it
waves,--a groaning sound is heard--... yet another stroke is necessary.
It is given with desperate force, and the tall peak leaves its place
with an easy sailing motion accelerated every instant, till it crashes
prone on the earth, sending far and wide its scattered branches, and
letting in the sunlight upon the cool, damp, mossy earth, for the first
time perhaps in half a century.
* * * * *
From "Western Clearings."
=_209._= THE BEE TREE.
One of the greatest temptations to our friend Silas, and to most of his
class, is a bee hunt. Neither deer, nor 'coons, nor prairie hens, nor
even bears, prove half as powerful enemies to anything like regular
business, as do these little thrifty vagrants of the forest. The
slightest hint of a bee tree will entice Silas Ashburn and his sons from
the most profitable job of the season, even though the defection is sure
to result in entire loss of the offered advantage; and if the hunt prove
successful, the luscious spoil is generally too tempting to allow of
any care for the future, so long as the "sweet'nin" can be persuaded to
last.
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