There are some moss-covered rails on the place yet that were made
at an early day. How my thoughts go back and linger round that oak whose
branches gave shelter to the deer, furnished them with food, protected
the Indian and his home--the place where I, so long afterward, advanced
to manhood.
It is no wonder that Boston men are so careful in protecting their trees.
With their usual care and foresight they have guarded the celebrated elm
on Boston common. Thousands of the American people from every State in
the Union, even from the Pacific coast, visit the beautiful city of
Boston but are not satisfied until they visit the ancient elm, read its
history, as far as known, from the iron plate, and gaze with admiration
on the wonderful tree and the fence that surrounds it.
The full history of that tree is not known, but it reaches back prior to
the settlement of Boston. It was a good sized tree in 1656. "A map of
Boston made in 1722 showed the tree as one of the principal objects."
That tree is a sacred relic of the past. Its branches waved over the
heads of honored colonial ancestors.
Trees are our most beautiful and best antiquities.
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