enough, however, for us to think about these things, and at any rate, they are not to come in till you havo made a proficiency in what is yet more useful and necessary. But I see you have now finished what I set you about, so you shall take a walk with me into the market-place, where there are two or three things I wish to purchase.

K. Shall we not call at the bookseller's, to inquire for those new books that Miss Reader was talking about?

M. Perhaps we may. Now lay up your work neatly, and get on your hat and tippet.

SIXTH EVENING.

ON THE OAK.-A DIALOGUE.

Tutor-George-Harry.

Tut. COME, my boys, let us sit down awhile under yon shady tree. I don't know how your young legs feel, but mine are almost tired.

Geo. I am not tired, but I am very hot.

Har. And I am hot, and very thirsty too.

Tut. When you have cooled yourself, you may drink out of that clear brook. In the mean time, we will read a little out of a book I have in my pocket. [They go and sit down at the foot of a tree.] Har. What an amazingly large tree! How wide its branches spread! Pray what tree is it?

Geo. I can tell you that. It is an Oak. Don't you see the acorns ?

Tut. Yes, it is an Oak-the noblest tree this country produces; not only grand and beautiful to the sight, but of the greatest importance from its uses.

Har. I should like to know something about it. Tut. Very well; then instead of reading, we will sit and talk about Oaks. George, you knew the oak

by its acorns-should you have known it if there had been none?

Geo. I don't know-I believe not.

Tut. Observe, then, in the first place, that its bark is very rugged. Then see in what manner it grows. Its great arms run out almost horizontally from its trunk, giving the whole tree a sort of round form, and making it spread far on every side. Its branches are also subject to be crooked or kneed. By these marks you might guess at an oak even in winter, when quite bare of leaves. But its leaves afford a surer mark of distinction, since they differ a good deal from those of other English trees, being neither whole and even at the edges, nor yet cut like the teeth of a saw, but rather deeply scolloped, and formed into several rounded divisions. Their colour is a fine deep green. Then the fruit

Har. Fruit!

Tut. Yes-all kinds of plants have what may properly be called fruit, though we are apt to give that name only to such as are food for man. The fruit of a plant is the seed, with what contains it. This, in the oak, is called an acorn, which is a kind of nut, partly enclosed in a cup.

Geo. Acorn-cups are very pretty things. I have made boats of them, and set them swimming in a basin.

Tut. And if you were no bigger than a fairy, you might use them for drinking-cups, as those imaginary little beings are said to do.

"Pearly drops of dew we drink

In acorn-cups, filled to the brink.”

Har. Are acorns good to eat?

Geo. No, that they are not. I have tried, and did not like them at all.

Tut. In the early ages of man, before he cultivated the earth, but lived upon such wild products as nature afforded, we are told that acorns made a considerable

part of his food, and at this day I believe they are eaten in some countries. But this is in warmer cli mates, where they probably become sweeter and betterflavoured than with us. The chief use we make of them is to feed hogs. In those parts of England where oak woods are common, great herds of swine are kept, which are driven into the woods in autumn, when the acorns fall, and provide themselves plentifully for two or three months. This, however, is a small part of the praise of the oak. You will be surprised when I tell you, that to this tree our country owes its chief glory and security.

Har. Ay, how can that be?

Tut. I don't know whether, in your reading, you have ever met with the story, that Athens, a famous city in Greece, consulting the oracle how it might best defend itself against its enemies, was advised to trust to wooden walls.

Har. Wooden walls!-that's odd-I should think stone walls better, for wooden ones might be set on fire.

Tut. True; but the meaning was, that as Athens was a place of great trade, and its people were skilled in maritime affairs, they ought to trust to their ships. Well, this is the case with Great Britain. As it is an island, it has no need of walls and fortifications, while it possesses ships to keep all enemies at a distance. Now, we have the greatest and finest navy in the world, by which we both defend ourselves, and attack other nations when they insult us; and this is nearly all built of oak.

Geo. Would no other wood do to build ships?

Tut. With the exception of teak, an East Indiar wood, none nearly so well, especially for men-of-war ; for it is the stoutest and strongest wood we have; and therefore best fitted, both to keep sound under water, and to bear the blows and shocks of the waves, and the terrible strokes of cannon-balls. It is a peculiar excellence for this last purpose, that oak is not so liable

to splinter or shiver as other woods, so that a ball can pass through it without making a large hole. Did you never hear the old song,—

Geo. No.

"Hearts of Oak are our Ships,

Hearts of Oak are our men," &c.?

Tut. It was made at a time when England was more successful in war than had ever before been known, and our success was properly attributed chiefly to our fleet, the great support of which is the British oak; so I hope you will henceforth look upon oaks with due respect.

Har. Yes; the oak shall always be my favourite tree.

Tut. Had not Pope reason, when he said, in his Windsor Forest,

"Let India boast her plants, nor envy we

The weeping amber or the balmy tree,

While by our Oaks the precious loads are borne,

And realms commanded, which those trees adorn!"

These lines refer to its use as well for merchant-ships as for men-of-war; and in fact nearly all our ships are built of either native or foreign oak.

Har. But are not some ships made of iron ?

Tut. Yes; of late years, since steam has been brought into operation for the propulsion of vessels on the water, as well as for a thousand other purposes, numbers of ships (called steam-ships, or steamers), and many of them very large, and capable of proceeding against wind and tide, have been constructed of iron.

Geo. Are the masts of ships made of oak?

Tut. No-it would be too heavy. Besides, it would not be easy to find trunks of oak long and straight enough for that purpose. They are made of various sorts of fir and pine, which grow very tall and taper.

Geo. Is oak wood used for anything besides shipbuilding?

Tut. O yes! It is one of the principal woods of the carpenter, being employed wherever great strength and durability are required. It is used for door and window frames, and the beams that are laid in walls, to strengthen them. Floors and staircases are sometimes made with it; and in old houses in the country which were built when oak was more plentiful than at present, almost all the timber about them was oak. It is also occasionally used for furniture, as tables, chairs, drawers, and bedsteads; though mahogany has now much taken its place for the better sort of goods, and the lighter and softer woods for the cheaper; for the hardness of oak renders it difficult and expensive to work. It is still, however, the chief material used in mill-work, in bridge and water-works, for waggou and cart bodies, for large casks and tubs, and for the last piece of furniture a man has occasion for. What is that, do you think, George?

Geo. I don't know.

Har. A cofn.

Tut. So it is.

Har. But why should that be made of such strong wood?

Tut. There can be no other reason than the weak attachment that we are apt to have for our bodies when we have done with them, which has made men in various countries desirous of keeping them as long as possible from decay. But I have not yet done with the oak. Were either of you ever in a tanner's yard?

Geo. We often go by one at the end of the town; but we durst not go in for fear of the great dog.

Tut. But he is always chained in the daytime. Har. Yes-but he barks so loud, and looks so fierce, that we were afraid he would break his chain.

Tut. I doubt you are a couple of cowards. However, I suppose you came near enough to observe great stacks of bark in the yard.

Geo. O yes; there are several.