The Laurel Bush: An Old-Fashioned Love Story

It was a very ugly bush indeed; that is, so far as any thing in nature can be really ugly. It was lopsided-having on the one hand a stunted stump or two, while on the other a huge heavy branch swept down to the gravel-walk. It had a crooked gnarled trunk or stem, hollow enough to entice any weak-minded bird to build a nest there-only it was so near to the ground, and also to the garden gate.