The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1903-04-03
ARBOR DAY.

Arbor day exercises were appro-
Ipriately observed last Friday at
the high school building. Pr.
| Brown nnaned the exercises with
an address outlining the purpose
Of the meeting, after which MT.
Tom Pierce, orator Of the occasion,
entertained the audience with an
eloquent address. This paper was
highly compllmented and is repro
duced as follows:
Old mannersand old customs are the
best, and we have met here to-day TO
revive and perpetuate a practice which
has fallen into desuetude, but which
is as ancient as it is beautiful. and
which no nation has been so Grass and
cultureless as to neglect; one which
has fiourished among the Druids Of
England and the ,Aborigines OF Amer
lea; among the barbarous Saxons and
civilized Romans; among the peoples
of antiquity and the moderns OF the
present-the practice Of planting and
cultivating the growth Of trees. And
surely no design could be more lauda-
BILE, no object more worthy than to
endeavor to make the barren places Of
the earth GASES Of shade and grateful
retreats during the eneryating hours
of the summer season.
Neither by the most tender solicit
tude nor the most careful nurture can
mankind repay the trees the debt 1t
owes them, for with their bodies they
made possible the discoveries which
reyolutionized the world and laid open
the path of progress to the advance Of
civilization and the uplifting OF the
human race. The age of wood was as
important in it's results and conse-
duences as the age Of gold or OF iron.
Freighted in ship Of wood Jason ana
the Argonauts sought the golden
fleece and founded mythology from
which the poets have drawn their
most beautiful concepts; in banks OF
cedar and of ash the Grecian hosts
sailed to the destruction OF Troy ana
gave to the divine Homer the theme
for the greatest of all eplc.,s master
pieces, the Had; borne in wooden
ships William the Conqueror and his
followers crossed the sea for the sub
iugation Of nation, and established
the unity of the English speaking
races from which we sprung. The
wooden fleets of the Crusaders poured
an irresistless torrent of the followers
Of Christ and the Cross against the
MOhammedans Of the East, rescued
the sepulchre of our Redeemer from
the impious and sacreligious hands,
curbed the fiery zeal of the Saracenlc
empire and made the name OF Chris
tian both reverenced and feared. With
dauntless spirit, Columbus, in wood
en- ship, breasted the unknown pillows
of an unknown ocean and provided pos
terity with the home and habitations
which we now hold in happiness and
plenty. For countless ages the bat
ties of war and the trade conflicts Of
peace have been waged through the
medium of vessels fashioned from the
product of the forest, and that we are
here now is due to the fact that years
ago our ancestors journeyed htther,
borne across the waters Of the wide
Atlantic in ships of wood. Living, as
we do, in this land of the free what
could be more appropriate than that
we devote our particular attention &c
the symbols of liberty, for the truest
and most beautiful symbol of liberty
is tree. Liberty has it's roots in the
hearts of the people, as a tree IN the
heart of the earth; like a tree it raises
and spreads it's branches to heaven;
like a tree it is ceaseless in it's growth,
and it covers generations with its
shade. Hence it is, that with wise
counsel, the authorities have decided
to institute and set apart a day each
year when this school and it's students
will meet and with fitting exercises
dedicate the trees Indigenous to this
country to the service of future gen.
erations. We plant that Others may
enjoy the fruits of our labor and per-
haps catch the inspiration OF high
resolve. The trees which we shall
consign to the earth will be placed
there with two-fold purpose, both tc
beautify and enhance the scene as
well as to hereby show commemora'
tion of this occasion, so that in aftel
years it will please us to remember
these things, and after time has pass
ed away and some of us have Travelled
along that lone and mysterious high
/ way all mortal souls must tread, we
will come back to this spot and view
with eyes of love and recollection tht
trees planted by ourselves and deal
companions now gone to the great be
yond.
History tells us that Greece, tb'