Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1890-01-03
MY NEIGHBOURS TREE.
LESSON TAUGHT BY CLOSE STUDY
OF THE MYSTERIES OF NATURE.

As 1t Looks aud Seems to BE +, Summe,
and winter-Tho Glitter After Spring
showcr-The Thunder Storms AMI Au
tun,s of Lire--what They Mean.
My room, which is in high house, i:
on an even height with the crown of the
tree opposite. For seven years this tree
has been true friend to me. How often
it has refreshed my sightA 1 have here
at different times iotted down what
saw, thought and dreamed about it.
Everything in nature has its fixed des'
tiny-man alone has tho worry. In ma
ture there is "must," with man it is
"you SHALL" anil, therefore, there is q
desire of freedom in the heart OF man
kind, an endeavor to discern our natural
destination. Schiller says:
Seek you tho highest, the greatest: the plant can
teach You It;
What it is without VIII, you should be willingly,
The history ofTelision begins with di'
vine alteration of certain trees, and this
culture became so deeply rooted that ii
WAS difficult to destroy it. The ENJOYS
of Christianity had to apply the ax to
the holy trees to destroy this kind of
worship.
The crown OF the tree is too high to be
reached by regulating garden shears; ii
rounds itself. Take Il lesson from the
tree, raise yourself up, man; learn TO
stand high il Yourself and the world
cannot mold YOU against your will.
Ny tree stands in my neighbours gar
den. 1t is not mine, and yet my pleas
urc is not decreased b? the thought that
it is not my property. In tho contcm-
plation of that which is eternal there is
no mine and thine, ana the pleasure
makes one happy and asks not from
whence it came.
1t is withered tree during the winter,
and the thought arises. ''Who knows if
it yet lives? Will leares. branches and
fruit thrive again" Spring-new or re-
turning life-wi!l show.
After 4 spring sun shower, how al The
branches glitter with The hanging drops,
which play in wonderful coiors. What
an absorption there must be in the trees.
As soon rs the rain ceases the finch ap-
pears and sings his song SO Sayl; that it
seems the merry fellow had freshly
moistenel his throat: and. indeed, it is
50, for man and bird sing better af:sr a
rain than il dry and close sir.
The tree has It's hours Of animation.
| Science has discovered that the lie OF Il
plant is stronScst under the influence of
the light, specialiy-in The hours before
middaE.
In April there was another SNOW. All
the branches were laden, all day long
the fakes whirlcd about, and it was al
still and quiet, except now ard then a
complaint from the finch. \ Chill per-
vaded nature; even people in heated
rooms could not keep warm. 1t seemed
as if life and soal wore il sympathy with
the milionfo!l soIrow of the scarce
away birds and newly opened blossoms
| Whoever enjoys the lie of nature must
also suffer with 1t. Natures life is harsh
and sharp, for all life IS . struggle. Even
if 4 thousand blossoms, which have
scarcely bloomed, pass away, the Gevel-
opment of natures forces is Overlooking;
also in human life ONLY little comes to
pass which blossoms il The mind rs wis:
and aspiration.
The tree takes in onl.. Hui! food, -
corresponds in this poi1t witli the frs;
life Of the child or animal
y child destroying playtl.ins which
Is put together by strange handsis forced
to do so By its curiosity to examine the
i2ncr works. Neither can science act
differently than to follow natural life,
and by investigation it kills that taken
in hand. To be separated from nature
has q tendency to make tender.
4 hail storm las broken of 4 branch
and another will not grow again in lis
place, but the tree may add new branches
and twigs, and the wound of the torn
OFF branch may heal up.
y thunder storm III the vicinity has
snapped of trees and uprooted others.
and when tree is down and its roots
are exposed it is not questioned how it
was thrown down and uprootcd, but
how it could have existed and grown in
such q thin layer of soil. So it is with
many so called heroes; when they have
fallen one can scarcely conceive the pos
sibility Of their former state.
Autumn comes with such force that
you feel as though you were parting with
the dearest associates; that you had not
fully returned their friendship, and that
you had not enjoyed them as you could
and should have done. The reflection
returns how you could have hoped in
the spring to take in the life of summer
in full draughts, and, having neglected
it, it is now too late; and so it will be in
the autumn Of your life.
Cease remorse, which overcomes you
with the falling of the leaves. Wake up
and work in the new day. Inasmuch as
the fallen leaf returns to its stem, sowill
day passed return to you, but there
will be new leaves and new days as long
as life is allowed to you.
The stripping of the leaves seems to
go on more quickly than the leafng, be-
cause the falling of the leaves is more
plainly visible, although the dying off of
the tree really lasts as long as its return
to life.
He who studies nature in winter is
nearer to it than the season enjoying
ones, the city people, who only go into
the country when the table of nature is
set. Can one say of such persons, who
are unfaithful to nature: yesterday
they seemed so near to you, and today