posture by some shock or infringing of its neighbor

felled by the axeman.

Sometimes you see this diversity in trees of the same species. The elm here stands erect and shoots up high without branches, its summit only being surmounted by a few, gracefully curving and pendant in the form of an umbrella. By its side stands another, or rather leans; its body short and making a sharp angle with the surface; its branches low and thick, and far spreading. Near this a third sends forth from a short but erect trunk, a score of slender, graceful branches, running up to a great height and gradually diverging like an inverted cone.

In Berlin, Ct. near the first tavern site on the old New Haven and Hartford road stand two venerable elms, whose branches have waved in the winds of two centuries, but very dissimilar in their form and appearance. The body of one of them is short; between five and six feet through, containing buried under its surface some two dozen bridle hooks for the weary horse, of the traveler, or of the tavern lounger; but remarkable particularly for its enormous top under the pressure of which it stands inclined. It consists (the top) of twelve or fifteen huge branches, fantastically interwoven, crossing, wooing and shunning each other in such various ways as to bewilder the eye to trace them, letting down their low boughs almost to the ground, and covering an area of about eight rods in diameter. It is an object of curiosity to the now and then singular traveler in this good old way in which his fathers walk

ed; long since deserted for the turnpike, and that now for the cars of the railroad, hurrying the dozing, nodding through swamps and gulfs; and over cowtraps, and quagmires, entertained by whizzing, boiling water, the nose and eyes being accommodated with smoke and embers.

The other is remarkable for the symmetry and comeliness of its parts; and the beauty of its appearance as a whole, and its lofty height; its stock being erect; and limbs commencing near the ground and shooting up circularly to a great height; gradually spreading and then converging to a point.

Near them also once stood a majestic pine, such as is rarely seen even now in the green mountains, or in the granite state, planted for ornament, and having weathered the storms of nearly two centuries; the admiration of the stranger passenger, affording ample room for a score of blackbirds in its lofty branches to build their nests within the sight, but beyond the trespassing hand of the truant school boy, it fell at last a prey to the tyrant alcohol. Cut down and converted into building materials, it went to repair the buildings of the rum-drinking and prescribing physician for his ineffectual, and even aggravating efforts to repair the rum-broken constitution and health of the owner, his patient! What then would that pestilential destroyer spare? Shade and ornamental tree, it is hoped now in the prevalence of temperance, you will no longer be subverted by the stream, "whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."

The beech is perhaps more abundant in Vermont than any other tree. It grows fast and becomes a large and often a beautiful tree; but as timber, rots soon if exposed to the weather. As it regards the United States, this tree seems to be a lover of a northern, cold climate; being seen not very often as far south as Connecticut, and less frequent in lower latitudes. It is found in every nook and corner of the state; and the same may be said of New Hampshire; but not of any other entire state, being confined to the northern and hilly portions of Massachusetts and New York. But it was found, it seems, in Italy, in what abundance, Virgil has not informed us, although he has so described it as to leave little doubt of its identity even with that growing on the green mountains (potula) with wide spreading branches.

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CHAPTER XXIII.

Vermont well watered.-Water power.-Little subject to drought. -Torrents.-Floods in the spring.-Devastations by water.-On the banks of the Connecticut.-Passage between cakes of ice. Droughts.-Rivers.-Otter creek,-Onion.-Lamoille.-West river.-Valley through which it passes.-Its channel in summer.-In the spring and in floods.-Snow in different seasons and places.-Travel over drifts.-Snow bridges.—Seasons of plunging and slumping.-Funerals, and tombs for winter accommodations.-The winter of 1842-3 remarkable. -March and April.-A great flood.-Its ravages.—P revalence of the erysipelas in some parts of the state.—A season of suffering.A young man perishing in the snow near Windsor.

VERMONT is well watered. The innumerable fountains in her mountains and hills send forth streams and rivulets and rivers in almost every direction, affording water power and the means of irrigating the soil. It is thus less subject to the diminution of its crops by the influence of droughts. The channels of the streams and rivers are filled in the spring as the snow dissolves and the water descends from the mountains. Innumerable are the torrents rushing down from the mountains as the warm sun of April, and the showers overcome the frost, and accumulated snows of almost half a year.

The sound of many and sometimes mighty waters is heard a great distance, and the travelers way is foreclosed.

The bridges are swept away, and the vallies and causeways filled with water and large fragments of ice. Many a cascade is thus presented him; on either hand water falls foaming and sparkling as the rays of the sun fall upon them. The scene around him is often impressive, fixing his eyes attentively, and absorbing the soul. But this breaking up of winter, and the commencement of spring, with their attendant circumstances of deep toned sounds to the ear, and beauty and grandeur to the eye, are of short duration. For such uproar of the elements; so violent is it at times, nature could not long endure; and man could less abide its protracted continuance. The dwellers on the banks of the Connecticut are sometimes overtaken suddenly by green mountain visitors, coming without ceremony; but with urgent demands, and requiring immediate attention. The rains and warm gales washing down, and scouring the sides of the mountains, innumerable streams carry each its signals of victory in uprooted evergreens; in lofty pines, and spruce; and beech and maples; and timbers and plank; the subversion of man; and art and labor. These crowd their way through the numerous outlets into the Connecticut; and with masses and fragments of ice; with spreading, and deepening and fast rising flood arrest the ears and eyes of those sojourning along its margin, even through the land of its name. Corresponding work also for their hands and feet they