than before, and although my lungs, I am thankful to say, are as strong as most, yet I felt so choked, that I could hardly breathe. How to get rid of this now was the difficulty; yet the clearance must be made, and at once; so, rousing myself for one final blow, I was about to start afresh, when, "Hold!" cried an old oak tree that stood beside the road, "for mercy's sake, have a little pity on my rheumatic limbs. I am not so young as I once was, and I cannot stand this much longer."

But, look!" cried I, " only look at the state of this road. Surely you cannot be unwilling to suffer a temporary inconvenience for the sake of so great a result.

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"Look!" exclaimed the old oak tree, why, I have been looking at this road for the last three hundred years; and if you fancy you are going to clear away the dust at one blow, you are much mistaken. I have seen many a one such as you set about this very work before now,

and imagine he had nothing to do but to open his mouth, and the very dogs would cease to bark; but, after having upset every thing, and done a deal of mischief, he has slunk away at last out of the pother he had raised, leaving other folks to suffer by his folly. It is just one of those evils which are unavoidable in the present state of things. A few April showers will do more to allay the mischief than all the blasts you can blow ; therefore do not spend your breath any longer upon it. Just rest a little, and the dust will lie quietly enough upon the road, and be but a small inconvenience to any one.'

"Rest!" cried I, "there is no time for rest; my life is but for a month, and there is so much to be done. Oh, if I had but three hundred years like you, what a different place the world would then be. But no doubt you have performed many great and noble deeds, too, during those long years."

"I shall leave no great works to call forth the acclamations of posterity," replied the old oak. "Those whom I have benefited are not prone to gratitude, and, in their enjoyment of what they get, seldom think of the giver. Nevertheless, I have some satisfaction in remembering, that very many generations of pigs would have been the worse, had I not lived."

"Feeding pigs!" cried I, "what an employment for so noble a creature as you; and is this all the account which you can render of your long life for three hundred years. One hundred and nine thousand five hundred days spent in providing food for pigs!"

"Nevertheless," said the old oak, "it was a good and true work, for it was the work appointed for me to do, however you may regard it, and I did it as well as I could. My acorns were accounted the finest and most fattening in the whole country round; and the farmers always sent their pigs here to feed.