Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-06-02
THE WEEPING WILLOW.
HOW PRODUCT OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN
IMMIGRATED TO THIS COUNTRY.


HOW A PRODUCT OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN
IMMIGRATED TO THIS COUNTRY.
You have seen and admired the weeping
willow tree-the Salix Babylonica upon
which the captive Hebrews hung their harps
when they sat down by the rivers of Babylon
and "wept when they remembered Zion." 1t
is native of the Garden of Eden, and not
of America, and will tell you how it immi.
grated to this country.
More than $50 years ago merchant lost
his fortune He went to Smyrna, seaside
city in Asia Minor, to recover it. Alexander
Pope, one of the great poets of England, was
the merchants warm friend, and sympathized
with him in his misfortunes.
Soon after the merchant arrived in Smyr-
ma, he sent to Pope, as present, a box of
dried figs. At that time the poet had built a
beautiful villa at Twickenham. on the bank
of the river Thames, and was adorning it
with trees, shrubbery and Towering plants.
On opening the box of figs Pope discover
en- in it small twig of the tree. 1t was a
stranger to him. As it came from the East,
he planted the twig in the ground near the
edge Of the river, close by his villa. The
spot accidentally chosen for the planting was
favorable to its growth, for the twig was from
the weeping. willow tree-possibly from the
bank of one Of the "rivers of Babylon
which fourishes best along the borders of Wa
ter courses.
This little twig grew vigorously, and in a
few years it became large tree, spreading
wide its branches and dropping in gracefully
sprays, and winning the inspiration of the
poets friends as well as strangers. 1t became
the ancestor of all the weeping-willows in
England
There was rebellion in the English-Amer.
lean colonies in ITS. British troops were
sent to Boston to put down the insurrection.
Their leaders expected to end it in few
weeks after their arrival. Some young off.
GERS brought fishing tackle with them to ena.
BILE them to enjoy sport after the brief war.
Others came to settle on the con6scated lands
of the "rebels.
Among the latter was young officer on
the staff of General Howe. He brough with
him, wrapped in oil silk, a twig from Popes
weeping. willow at Thickenham, which be in.
tended to plant on some stream watering his
American estate.
Washington commanded an army before
Boston which kept the British imprisoned in
that city long time against their will. On
his staff was his step-son, John Parke GUSTS,
who frequently went to the British headquar.:
ters, under the protection Of flag, with dis
patches for General Howe. He became ac.
quainted with the young officer who had the
willow twig, and they became friends.
Instead Of "crushing the rebellion in six
weeks" the British army at Boston, at the end
of an Imprisonment of nine months, was glad
to fly by sea, for life and liberty, to Halifax.
Long before that flight the British subaltern,
satisfied that he should never have an estate
in America to adorn, gave his carefully.pre.
served willow twig to young Gusts, who
planted it at Abingdon, his estate in Virgin
ia, where it grew and fourished, and became
a parent of all the weeping. willows in the
United States.
Sometime after the war, General Horatio
Gates of the Revolution, settled on the "Rose
Hill Farm" on New York Island, and at the
entrance to lane which led from country
road to his house he planted twig from the
vigorous willow at Abingdon, which he had
brought with him. That country road is now
Third avenue and the lane is Twenty second
street. Gates mansion, built of wood and
two stories in height, stood near the corner of
Twenty.seventh street and Second avenue,
where saw it consumed by fire in 1915. The
tree which grew from the twig planted at the
entrance of Gates lane remained until com.
paratively few years ago. 1t stood on the
Northeast corner of Third avenue and Twen.
ty.second street. 1t was direct descendant,
in the third generation, Of Pope's willow,
planted at Thickenham about 1722-Benson
j. Lossiny, in Harper's Young People.