6 OCTOBER 1917, Page 11

WOODEN WALLS AND PIT-PROPS.

Ito THE EDT/OR OT THE SPECTATOR.")

Sua,—The quotation which your correspondent maks for in your

September 29th issue is from Cowper's " Yardley Oak," and rune:

"Thou west is bauble once. a cup anal ball

Which babes might play with; and the thievish jay.

Seeking her food, with ease might have purloined The autumn nut that held thee, swallowing down Thy yet close folded latitude of boughs And all thy embryo vastness at a great gala-

But Fate thy growth decreed."