“Wasn’t that wicked, Miss Harson?” asked Malcolm.

“Yes; it was both unjust and cruel, and it was one of the great grievances of the nation.  Even at this day the laws for the protection of game are one of the grounds of ill-feeling on the part of the poor toward the nobles.  In Spain the acorns have the taste of nuts, and are sold in the markets as an article of food.  They grow abundantly in the woods and forests.  Once, in time of war, a foreign army subsisted almost entirely on them.  Herds of swine range the forests in Spain and feed luxuriously upon acorns, and the salted meats of Malaga, that are famous for their delicate flavor, are thought to owe it to this cause.  Some of our American Indians depend upon acorns and fish for their winter food; and when the acorns drop from the tree, they are buried in sand and soaked in water to draw out the bitter taste.”

“I shouldn’t like them,” said Clara, with a wry face at the thought of such food.

“Well, dear,” replied her governess, laughing, “as you are not an Indian, you will probably not be called upon to like them; but it would be better to eat acorns than to starve.  You may have noticed the trunk and branches of the oak are often gnarled and knotted, and this helps to give the tree its appearance of great strength.  It is just as strong as it looks, and for building-purposes it lasts longer than any other wood.  Beams and rafters of oak are found in old English houses, showing among the brick-work, and many of these half-timbered houses, as they are called, were built hundreds of years ago.

“Bedsteads and other articles of furniture, too, were ‘built’ in those days, rather than made, for they were not expected to be moved about; and a heavy oak bedstead is still in existence which is said to have belonged to King Richard III.  It is curiously carved, and the king rested upon it the night before the battle of Bosworth Field, where he was killed.  Clumsy as the bedstead was, he took it about with him from place to place; but after the fatal battle it passed into the hands of various owners, and nothing remarkable was discovered about it until the king had been dead a hundred years.  By that time the bedstead had come into the possession of a woman who found a fortune in it.  One morning, says the story, as she was making the bed, she heard a chinking sound, and saw, to her great delight, a piece of money drop on the floor.  Of course she at once set about examining the bedstead, and found that the lower part of it was hollow and contained a treasure.  Three hundred pounds—­a fortune in those days—­was brought to light, having remained hidden all those years.  As King Richard was not there to claim his gold, the woman quickly possessed herself of it.  But, as it happened, she had better have remained in ignorance and poverty.  As soon as the matter became known one of her servants robbed her of the gold, and even caused her death.  Thus it was said in the neighborhood that ’King Richard’s gold’ did nobody any good.”