The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-04-27
-four Read Essays on Trees" at
Morning Worship at Methodist
Protestant Church
Yesterday.
Pastor Plans an Unusual Program
Which IL Successfui-He
Makes Short Talk
Also.

dav morning at the Methodist Protes-
tant church, -Four Of the younger
members OF the church assisted the
pastor, the Rev. ]. o. Ledbetter in
the presentation Of the general sub
ject of Trees The pastor asked
four OF the children to write short
essays on trees, and these were read
yesterday.
Besides the essays by the children,
Rev. Ledbetter made short talk on
the subject. There was special music
by the choir, especially a solo ~
Miss Alta vinson, which was greatly
enjoyed
The four essays which the pastors
young assistants yesterday prepared
and read, follow:
Nothing Grander.
Dear Pastor: AS you ask me to
write an essay on trees I take plea
ture in doing So think there is
nothing grander than trees, and moth
ing more beautiful, especially just
now. AS l look out into this world
that ha. been asleep all winter and
see the green, the white and the pink
trees / can't help but think how good
God was to adorn this dear old
Mother Earth SO beautifully. There
are many kinds OF trees and each
has its mission here on earth, Just
like us boys and girls. I am sure God
has a plan for each OF US as he has
the trees. There have been trees ever
since there was an earth, and even
before. The Bible tells US there were
trees in the garden of Eden, and God
told man to eat the fruit OF the trees.
/ think if there were no trees on the
earth that it would be a poor place
for us to live. And now let US as a
part of Gods great plan, try and Ill
our mission, h ere as we see the trees
doing.
EMANUEL yINsON.
The Cone Bearers.
The following on cone bearers was
read by Goldie Thon:
Almost all cone bearing trees are
called pines by people who have not
studied them The pine family In
cludas not only the true pines. but
the fir, spruce, hemlock, larch and
cedar. Thsy are also called ever
greens. Evergreen leaves do not look
much Hike those Of other trees They
are sometimes long and pointed like
needles; they may be narrow and
fiat; they may be like fattened scales
on the branches, or they may be short
and awl-like. They are much sitter
than other leaves and therefore have
way of protecting themselves
against the cold. In each leaf there
is thick, sticky gum, which we call
balsam.
The fruit Of the pines Is called a
econe. They are usually round OIL
oval In shape, and consist Of cen
trail axis from which grow many stiff
hard, brown scales. Sometimes These
! are thin and fiat, and sometimes thick
and rough. In the pines they over
lap, but in the expresses and cedars
; their edges may fit together so thai
they are rather ball-like and have
4 hard ridges.
The Norway spruce Is the easiest
to find of this group. 1t is cultivated
in almost all the parks. 1t is an ever
green tree with straight, slsnde'
trunk and circles Of slightly dropping
branches. The mature cones are from
four to six inches long.
The spruce has the needles arrsns
ed on all sides of the stems: eaci
needle is a little bit four-sided. Tn
cones fall as one piece.
Spruces and Fir Trees.
The black spruce of America an
the white spruce both grow in tn
northern United States and Canada
The black spruce has dark bark an
small cones. The white spruce ha
light green foliage and a cone abou
two inches long. The Colorado spruc
has sharp pointed, pungent leaves an
the branches grow upward.
The hemlocks differ from tn
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