All silently and piously it lay Upon the kindly bosom of the earth. It blessed the warmth with which the noonday sun Made fruitful all the ground; it loved the dews, The moonlight and the snow, the frost and rain And all the change of seasons as they passed. It sank into the bosom of the soil. The bursting life, enclosed within its husk, Broke through its fetters; it extended roots And twined them freely in the grateful ground; It sprouted up and looked upon the light; The sunshine fed it; the embracing air Endowed it with vitality and strength; The rains of heaven supplied it nourishment. And so from month to month, and year to year, It grew in beauty and in usefulness, Until its large circumference enclosed Shelter for flocks and herds; until its boughs Afforded homes for happy multitudes-- The dormouse and the chaffinch and the jay And countless myriads of minuter life; Until its bole, too vast for the embrace Of human arms, stood, in the forest depths, The model and glory of the wood. Its sister acorn perished in its pride. A DEFENSE OF SOME BIRDS. ABBIE C. STRONG. _To the Editor of Birds and All Nature:_ In the October number of BIRDS AND ALL NATURE was an article containing a list of the enemies of song birds and ordering their banishment, if one would enjoy the presence of the little songsters. Included in the list were the blue jays. There was also an article entitled, "A new Champion for the English Sparrow."