The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-05-06
The Healing of the Trees

In his vision of the heavenly city
which lieth four square, Saint John
saw a river of water of life and on
either side of the river, the tree Of
life, which bare twelve manner of
fruits and yielded her fruit every
month; and the leaves of the tree
were for the healing of the nations"
This prophetic vision, in part, at least
might we'll be applied to the world in
which we live as well as to the New
Jerusalem, for the leaves of the tree
in very truth are a sovereign remedy
for the healing of the nations.
In these days of strain and stress.
when millions of men and women are
compelled to live and to labor in
great cities, with hardly glimpse of
grass or tree, the summer outing in
Gods out-of-doors, with the rest and
quiet to be obtained in the shade of
the trees, brings a healing to tired
nerves and weary bodies such as no
medicine can bring. 1t is good
time, on this Arbor day set apart by
the governor to consider the beauty
and the utility of our trees. In Yer
mont we do not observe the day as
we ought. The planting of trees on
this day still is the exception rather
than the rule. Although we have
made beginning in the establish
ment of forestry policy and have
secured the Services of capable and
faithful state forester, our people are
not yet aroused to the importance of
preserving our forests from wasteful
cutting, and planting trees to repair
the waste already permitted.
With her extensive mountain sys-
TEN reaching from end to end of this
Green Mountain state, Vermont con-
tains tens of thousands of acres that
never can raise any crop save trees
with the exception of the perpetual
harvest of beauty reaped by him who
has eyes to see the glories of nature,
and this glory is immeasurably height
ened by the green forest mantle
spread over the rocky slopes of the
The law of self preservation de-
mands that we conserve our forests
lest our streams dry up, Gripping the
industries dependent upon our water
powers reducing our rainfall and in
creasing the probability of freshets
as well as drouths. We should fol-
low such a policy because if we are
to attract summer tourists to our
state with all the revenue these
guests bring, we must have something
more than naked rocks at our noun
tain resorts. More than that we do
not want to live always in sight of de
nuded hillsides stripped of all that
makes them good to look upon. What
right have we to the name Vermont
given to our state, or to boast of our
Green Mountains, If the lumberman
strips the hills and mountains OF their
verdure?
A symmetrical tree is one of the
most beautiful objects in nature. To
sit in the grateful shade of it's leaves
and hear the summer wind singing
in its branches, and catch the whole
some odor of the woods, is to learn
how truly the leaves of the trees may
bring healing to tired bodies and com
Tort and hope to weary souls. Let us |
earn to love the trees, teach our chill
iren their charm and worth, and ex-
.ract from them that healing that led |
he late Richard Henry Stoddard to
write:
Summer or winter, day or night,
rhe woods are an ever-new delight,
They give us peace, and they make
US strong,
Such wonderful balms to them be-
long;
So, living or dying, I'll take mine
ease
Under the trees, under the trees"
Montpelier Journal.