The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-11-04
TREES ARE PLANTED
IN SOLDIERS MEMORY
Norfolk, Conn, Adopts Plan of Having
Living Monuments to its
Dead Heroes.

In the little Connecticut town of Nor
folk there is a triangular piece of
/ ground belonging to the people. Fori
years il stood useless. almost aban-
| doned, and to certain extent UNI
notieed.S Norfolk sent to France early
in 1918 a score and half of her boys
to fight with the American armies. 9th
/ er boys followed and still more in due
course were called from the small but
hardy class representing the fighting
| quota.
t. A few months after the first contin
| gent marched out of the town on its
| way to the training camp and thence
to the line of battle, Norfolk began to-
Ircceive its share of tidngs from the
front. Names of boys known to every
one in the town were found in the lists
of those ''hilled in action Boys whose
faces were bright and smiling and
whose voices were strong and CHEEKY
were never to return. They were lying
in the fields of France. covered with the
earth of France, and over the graves
of each stood the small but noble cross
of wood bearing q name and a date.
The return of these names to Nor
folk instead of flesh and blood that
went away, gave Norfolk its inspira-
ton. The little green triangle became
a tract Of glory. No more viii it be
looked upon as a waste, no more will
the people of Norfolk call il worthless
bit of ground. For someone thought of
way to make it rich; someone thought
of way to make it the most cherished
spot in Norfolk.
On Flag day in the year that the war
made heroes of these lads from Nor
folk the people of that place dedicated
the point of this triangle to the memory
of those who were not TO come back
from France At that time four of
Norfolk s boys We're lying in France
under the cheap little cross of wood,
and on this day four little crosses of
wood similar to those in France, with
a name and a date on each, We're driven
! in the ground at the point of the tri-
; argyle and there they will stay until
they are perhaps replaced by more en-
. during and impressive marks of tribute.
But the little crosses of wood are not
! all that the people of Norfolk placed in
: the village triangle in memory of the
9 boys who will not come back. Some
thing that will live and thrive and beau.
: tify the barren triangle was placed
: there for each boy, and it is named foI
It
). and it will always be known as his tree
: by his name; and long after the great
Il grandchildren of those who now live in
Norfolk are dead and gone, these trees
| will still be standing and they viii be
known through all the sunshine and
n storm OF the ages TO come by the names
4, they received at the christening. They
" will grow TO be tall and mighty ant
d they will spread their branches, winter
Il and summer. over the cross that was
q won on the battlefelds Of Franee-th,
simple cross of honor that every MAJ
le wins when he gives up his life for hi
= country.
81 The thought is beautiful one. Tina
a little triangle in Norfolk viii have man,
$ trees and crosses before the war i
le over; the bows who die in France vii
IA live and grow to an age far beyond th'
re years of the oldest of men. The 'JohI
n Perkins Elm,' or the Henry Smitl
ID Oak, as the case may be, will be hvin.
in Norfolk two hundred years after tn,
day on which they were so lovingl,
named by a forgotten generation.
n And how simple, how easy this wa.
at of concentrating the deeds and tn
Of spirit of the boys who go forth to TIL
as war today, never to come home again
rs 4 little cross of wood for the present
lc 4 towering tree for the future, and tn
n name of hero preserved for an ag
is to come.
n What better example could be Sc
IL for the rest of the country than thi
beautiful act of the people of Norfolk
Why not in every community, a plot o
hallowed ground with its trees bearing
u the names of the boys who went out ans
- did not come back \ living monu
=. ment, green and spreading with tn
!, years, to stand as a guardian over tn
memory Of him who fell in battle; ne
lv the artificial product of man, but the in
i comprehensive handiwork Of Him win
i first put life into the body of the DO,
- whose death dignfes the communit.
that lost him-George Barr MeCutch
con.