Ertile parts of Virginia in a southerly direction, and crossing Maryland and e

E comes a broad slice of the bark, leaving an ominous, gaping wound. Another pair of blows extends the gash, and when twenty such have
fallen,
behold a girdled tree. This would suffice to kill, and a melancholy death it is; but to fell is

quite another thing.... 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. Anoth er 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. "It costs nothing," will poor Mrs. Ashburn observe; "let 'em enjoy it. It isn't often we have such

good luck." * * * * * =_Margaret Fuller Ossoli, 1810-1850._=
(Manual, p. 502.) From "At Home and Abroad." =_210._=