The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-05-13
ARBOR DAY In BUTTE
Appropriate Literary Exercises in the
Public Schools.
WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE
Detailed Account OF the Famous
Poem-The Programme Of Su-
perintendent Steere Carried
Out A ialf holiday
WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE

exercises were held in the forenoon
| Inc afternoon was given up to a half
monday and some Of the teachers had
| planned picnics for their schools but
| the cold weather and snow and rain
were not conducive to outdoor pleas
ures and the picnics were abandoned
In the high school special pro-
gramme of patriotic songs and recita-
tons were given and Superintendent
Kern delivered an interesting address
on the origin, uses and general observ-
ance Of Arbor day.
In lthe other schools the programme
suggested by State Superintendent
Steere was generally followed, consist
ing OF songs, readings, recitations. es-
says and responsive recitations APP
propriate to the day.
In the programme outlined by Super
lntendent Steere teachers were re-
quested to tell the pupils how George
r. Morris came to write the poem.
"Woodman. Spare That Tree" The
author, in letter to q friend. dated
New York, Feb. 1, 1887, gave in sub
stance the following account: Riding
out OF town a few days since, in COM
pany with friend, an old gentleman,
ne invited me to turn down a little ro-
mantle woodland pass, not far from
Bloomingdale. Your object?' 1 in
quired. Merely to look once more at
an old tree, planted by my grandfather
long before / was born, under which
l used to play when a boy, and where
my sisters played with me. There l
often listened to the good advice of nv
parents. Father mothers, sisters-ail
are gone; nothing but the old tree re-
mains And a paleness overspread his
fne countenance, and tears came to his
eyes. After a moments pause he add
ed: Don't think me foolish. / don't
know how it is; / never ride out but I
Nrr@ras n l. L.
tree. L have a thousand recollections
about 1t, and always greet IL as a ia
mdlar and well remembered friend
These words were scarcely uttered
when the old gentleman cried out,
There 1t Isl Near the tree stood d
man with his coat off, sharpening an
ak You are not going to cut that
though said the woodman. What
for? inquired the old gentleman, with
choked emotion. What for? / like that
Well, L will tell you. i want the tree
for firewood.' What is the tree worth
to you for firewood?' why, when
down, about So Suppose i should
give you that sum- said the old gem
tleman. would you let it stand?' yes
You are sure of that?' Positive
Then give me a bond to that effect
We went into the little cottage where
my companion was horn, but which Is
now occupied by the woodman. 4
drew UP the bond. 1t was signed and
the money paid over. AS we left, the
young girl, the daughter of the wood
man, assured us that while she lived
the tree should not be cut. These cir
cumstances made a strong impression
on my mind, and furnished me with
the material for the song / send you"
Every man, woman and child who
plants and cares for tree contributes
- ~ -.
terity," wrote ]. Sterling Morton re-
Gently to a friend of the Standard.
"Arbor day is not like other holidays"
said the honorable secretary of agricul-
ture in a recent letter on the subject
"Other holidays repose upon the past
while Arbor day proposes for the flu
ture. 1t contemplates, not the good |
and the beautiful of the past genera |
tions, but 1t sketches, outlines, estab- |
fishes the useful and the beautiful for |
the ages yet to come. Other anniver- |
saries stand with their backs to the |
future, peering into and worshiping |
the past; but Arbor day faces the flu |
ture with am affectionate solicitude, re- |
garding 1t as an artist his canvas, and |
etches upon our prairies and plains gil |
gantic groves and towering forests of |
waving trees, which shall for our pos
terity become consummate living pic |
lures, compared to which the gorgeous |
colorings of Reubens are tame and in
significant.
"Arbor day originated in Lincoln,
Neb., on Jan. 4, 1872. Upon that day
the festival was instituted by a resolu-
ton OF the Nebraska State board of ag-
riculture 1t was my good fortune to
have thought out this plan for popular
izing arboriculture and to have origi-
mated the term or phrase, Arbor
day and to have written, submitted,
and advocated that resolution, and
thus to have established this anniver-
from year to year, until finally IL is
observed universally throughout the
union of American states.
1T has become the scholastic festival |
Of our times. Common schools, colleges
and universities have taken its practi-
cal observance under their own special
and intelligent direction. The zeal of
youth and the cultured love of the
beautiful combine to perpetuate and to
popularize IL.
when Columbus was seeking a new
world, his crew, anxious and incredu-
lous, even unto mutiny, the waves bore
put to his ship twigs and foliage from
the forests of the unknown land, Civ
Ing him hope, faith, victory even, as
the dove with the olive branch had car
RED Gods peace to Noah centuries be-
tore.
Nearly two hundred years after Co
umbus came the Puritans, and then
began the war upon the woodlands of
America Since then. ak in hand. the
ace has advanced from the Atlantic
westward for more than two
centuries, devastating forests with |
most unreasoning energy, always cut
ing them down, and never replanting
hem. Hewing their way through the
Eastern and Middle states. the pioneers
rave wantonly destroyed without
hought OF their posterity millions up
m millions of acres Of primeval wood
ands.
"Cleaving right and left through
ohio. Michigan and Indiana. Telling
liant trees. rolling them into log heaps
nd destroying them by fire. emigration
emerged upon the treeless plains OF IL |
inois and the Northwest.
These treeless plains. stretching |