To fell so large a tree had been a great labour, for the axes were of poor quality, cut badly, and often required sharpening.

He could easily have ordered half-a-dozen men to throw the tree, and they would have obeyed immediately; but then the individuality and interest of the work would have been lost.

Unless he did it himself its importance and value to him would have been diminished.

It had now been down some weeks, had been hewn into outward shape, and the larger part of the interior slowly dug away with chisel and gouge.
He had commenced while the hawthorn was just putting forth its first spray, when the thickets and the trees were yet bare.

Now the May bloom scented the air, the forest was green, and his work approached completion.