Evening star., 1901-03-30
TOMB oFMERhEiT
|. 1.UhDlSTURBED CRANBER
Z. LOOKING East
SHOWING BACK Of DEFACEO
STEiE
thEASuRES)

warmth, and when you next see your friend
you will stand astoniShed at the change
| You have been surprised again by nature
The ancient sorceress had no mind to be
PRED upon, and must guard well the secret
of her power over your wondering admira-
ton. There you are, outwitted, after all !;
for the tree unfolded every leaf while you
slept. So the grass springs, and the dan
delions are born-by magic, in a twinkling,
myriads at once-So that yesterday they
were unheard of, and today they possess
the earth in their gay panoply, their simple
golden pomp
The trees are the great mitigators and
tempererS of the elements to man. They
shelter us from the fury of the rain and
snow, yet conserve it for our gradual use.
They shade us from the glare of the open
sun, yet in time furnish with heat and
light. A treeless country is not the best of
countries. It's usefulness is limited and
specialized. A normal earth for man has
both forest and prairie But these are only
the gross material blessings of the trees
There remains all their beauty.
And how few of us ever heed those good
ly, patient friends of man. We go forth
and rifle the wilderness of it's laurel or it's
arbutus, but not one in ten among us knows
a beech from a maple, or a pine from a
spruce. 1t is a part of our dense indiffer-
ence to everything save personal luxury.
But 1 tell you that nation which does not
know one tree from another is in peril of
vanishing from the earth. Puny dwelers in
cities, let us get down to earth more often
than we do.
L suppose ones love of trees changes like
ones love of everything else. At one time
of life we adore the oak; at another the
elm commands our allegiance. 1t is mat
ter OF circumstance and environment, since
each tree differs from it's fellow and each is
lovely after it's kind. To name the elm is to
nave a vision of great meadows, and sum-
mer barns, and fields of hay, and sweeps of
blue river. The elm is lover of such
scenes, and if we have lived through them
in youth, always it's swaying, feathery top
Will recall the memories of that perished
time doubt if l should choose anything
tWere the chance given mel to have for a
remembrance of native country before
Just such vision of intervale lands There
is some great river winding slowly down
between the hills. blue under the summer
SKY. And there are it's broad. deep-sojied
islands. shoulder high with hav. where the
!eW gray, Wide-chinked barns stand await
ing their harvest Along the edges of the
islands are few choke cherries and water
naples, but no great trees save the stately
blue. 'o
Or, again, it may be the marvellous mamie
OF the north that would enlist all your
friendship. Its brave scarlet and golden
coat makes the autumn world a mediaevai
crusade for brilliancy and courage II is
impossible to be craven or hopeless in the
race OF such gorgeous beauty, surely. Oc-
toper IN the mountains. when the NAPLES
are all in their spIendor, is no time for
trlners or the mean. To see those beautiful
trees arrayed for the closing days of the
year is to partake of the nobleness of ma
ture. While we know it not, something of
that oriental richness Of color enters into
our suptier makeup, and we arise on the
morrow with unguessed acquisitions of
soul. VI
This looking behind and beyond the plants.
as 1t were, perceving something spirituai
forming halo around the material object,
IS. IS characteristic Of the true lover of ma
rure, ,,is,a II is the secret Of many lovely
VISION VI, or the poet. AS James Russell Low
-, FLOWERS are not flowers to the poets ewes
Iheir beauty thrills him by an inward
sense; ~ ""iu
He knows that outward seemings are but
lies, "'e "u'
Or at the most. but earthly shadows
whence "e'
The soul that looks within for truth NAV
guess i may
ness" '' Si1ii-
sn;L; ~ rs not given to every one to express the
slu sp,rituailty In measured lines, but none the
less Is the poetical feeling present In tho
mind OF the loving student Of nature.