Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-02

of majesty, strength and beauty
"The oak stands at the head of British timber
trees, as we'll account of its utility as OF the
grandeur and majesty of its figure 1t forms a
mass which fills the eye of the spectator, and
impresses him with gigantic ideas" 1t is pc
culiarly the favourite of England ("Woodand
Companion" 1902, i. ~.
Now that the eyes of our people are turned to
forests their rapid destruction and the neces-
sity for their protection, it is interesting to learn
something of the tree of greatest historic import
ance in Europe and so highly priced in America.
"The religious veneration paid to this tree by the
original natives in the time of the Druids is well
known to every reader of British history. We have
reason to think that this veneration was brought
from the East, and that the Druds did no more
than transfer the sentiments their progenitors had
received in Oriental countries" CTaylor: Cabinets
Dictionary" 1928, ii. Oak).
Chambers notices that: THE oak especially
sacred among the Druds. In oak groves they fire.
quently performed their rites and they even de-
rived their name from this custom They also
had a special reverence for the mistletoe when
growing on an oak. According to Pliny Druid,
clothed in white, mounted the tree, and with
knife of gold cut the mistetoe, which was received
by another standing on the ground, in his white
robe" (ii 676).
Parkhurst remarks that in Britain we find the
highest religious regard paid to the same tree and
its misetoe under the direction of the Druids $50
called from the Celtic DerU, Greek DTuS an oak,
t. e. the oak prophets priests. The Druids,'
says Pliny ("Natural History" blk xvii. A;
universal History xviii SAB, 546-54S; xix. "a,
and the tree on which it is produced provided it
be the oak They make choice of groves of oak,
on their own account, nor do they perform any of
their sacred rites without the leaves of those trees
so that may suppose that they are for this
reason called by a Greek etymology, Druids And
whatever mistletOe grows on the oak they think
it sent from heaven, and is sign God Himself
having chosen that tree This, however, is very
rarely found, but when discovered is treated with
great ceremony" ('Hebrew Lexicon" 1S13 p.
44). The nruids were so called from their per-
forming sacred rites in oak woods Welsh der1o,
an oak; derlOydd, a Druid.
On opening some of the neighboring barrows
(at Aubery) cets have been found, wherewith the
Archdrud cut down the mistletoe of the oak. The
association of the oak with the mysteries of Druid
ica religion is very remarkable. Grove worship,
and that high places there is sut1clent evidence
to prove was practised by the Druids: Lucan, in
reference to them expressly says "they worship in
darkened groves high"
A writer considers the Druids were branch of
the Phgnican priesthood; and "both were adj
dicted to oak worship"
MANY places bear the name, as Sevenoaks in
Kent Oakingham, etc, the site, probably, of eel
ebrated Druidic oak groves. The word is also
used in other connections, as oak-beauty Clutter
fy) oaklungs, ETC., Oakamoor, Oakhill, Oakr1dge,
Oaksev There are also many celebrated oaks
connected with historical or other events. good
sized oak tree grows on the roof of the castle at
Colchester
In A. D. $50. the Popish monk Austin held a
synod with the British clergy at Austin Oak,
where being unable to make them submit to
Rome, he had them massacred (WaddloVe:
Lamp in the Wilderness" 79). Noble specimens
of oak trees, and of them historically cele-
brated. exist in almost all parts of Britain CEN
cyclopRda, vii. 10.
The trunk of oak filled with white shells
was dug up on Keston Common, Kent Fossil
oaks have been found on Park Farm estate, in West
Wickham When Pitt lived at HOLLYWOOD Park, Kes
ton several trunks of oaks found in the
trenches of Caesars Camp