St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-26

their cdDlIlS anu fel1eVe the eye Oh us
| hunger. So tenacious is this instinct
| i've love Of trees that what were mo-
notonous stretches of grass-clad earth,
unbroken by tree or shrub in all the
circle whose circumference was the
horizon, that the prairie regions of
| our state that were first settled differ
little in appearance from the wooded
regions reduced to farming lands.
The similarity of characteristics Of
trees and men has led the magma
| ton to trace the evolutionary proc
esses by which the race has reached
its present stage, back to the times
when men were trees, taking with
them, when the process Of differentia-
ton set in that began with trees and
ended with man, those characteristics
that distinguished and continue to
mark the difference in trees. The oak
still answers to the sturdiness and
conservatism of some men, unemo-
tional, undemonstrative, unlovable,
but reliable, and never more so than
in times of stress and danger. The
venturesome, imprudent man, rush
lllS dllcdu WllIlOul iOOhillS3 duCdo, I'LL
provident, finds his prototype among
the trees in the pussy-willow, the first
to send forth it's fuzzy buds to greet
the ascending sun, needless OF the
| frosts and SHOWS and cold winds that
may come to blight them.
The pine and the hemlock are the
pessimists among the trees, with their
inc tfpir
needles draw from every wind that
passes; while the Eastwood typifies the
| Chadbands of the church as we'll as
| the hypocrites of the political field, ex-
ternally pretentious, but internally
| hollow. The good-natured, easy-go-
| ing fellow, generous, indulgent, but
| weak and yielding, incapable of re-
sisting pressure, finds his similar in
| the soft maple, while the elm, in all
its varieties, differing in qualities, but
uniform in gracefulness, finds in the
confidence men Of all kinds the de-
| scendan'ts of its slippery variety,
combining grace and beauty with de-
| ceit; while the mingling of strength,
| tenacity, utility with gracefulness
| of the rock elm is typified by the men
| having those qualities in combina-
| ton.
In tree planting, too, the character
| istics of men are shown. The i'm
| patient man, eager for quick returns,
| sharp at a bargain, keeping his six
| pences nimbly moving; the penny-wise
and pound-foolish fellows, those who
| believe that sufficient unto the
day is the good as well as the evil
thereof, all these, if they ever find
| time to plant trees, choose the quick
growing kind, the soft NAPLES and
the cottonwoods. They get their
| shade quickly, but the former is dis
| figured by the rough winds that
break off its fragile branches, and
the latter makes life burdensome for
| the housewife when 1t sheds its
fluffy coat in June, while the gen
Grafton that plants them sees them
decay. On the other hand, the men
who are patient, far-sighted, willing
| that returns on investments should
be small, if permanent, the investors
in consols, choose the slow-growing,
| hard maple or elm, knowing that
their old age will find them growing,
| and that the children of their grand
children will disport themselves un-
| der their leafy branches.
| But to return, it was Secretary Nor
ton. that sturdy oak of Democracy,
who persistently urged the planting
of trees in Nebraska, and finally sue
ceeded in getting that state to set
apart spring day and designate it
| Arbor day, whence. the good COM
! tagion has spread until many states
have followed it, and the children of
our schools observe it by planting
trees about the school houses or their
| homes. Villages, repulsive in their
| bleakness, are coming to be restful
places of beauty as the trees plant
ed along their streets expand, and
| the solitude of farm life is robbed
OF some of its terrors by the groves
that shelter the homes No one will
contest the right Of the secretary of
agriculture to the crest that he has
chosen, full-leaved tree, with the
| legend PLANT trees" or lay it to
the snobbishness that hunts the her.
| 'aldry of England for armoriaI bear
ings.