The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1922-07-25


Somewhere in the collected let
tiers of Charles Darwin, If memory |
does not lead us astray, the great
friend and interpreter of Nature con-
fesses to a strange stirring of his
soul as he stood beneath the mighty
trees of the Amazon forest. There
came to him, if not sense of God,
at least quickening of dormant
spiritual perceptions, an involuntary
question for the mystery which lay
beyond the realm of his knowledge.
It is not surprising that this man,
who had the intellect of genius and
the simple heart of a child, should
have felt so knowingly the influence
of a vast solitude and the inspira-
ton of his lofty companions. Only
the mind and heart which have sue
cumbed utterly to the deadening
process of materialistic living can be
unaffected by the witchery of Ma
sures silence or the appeal of her
giant children, who stretch their
arms heavenward in eager gesture
for more light.
Greatest among the blessings of
the summer time is the chance which
comes to many of us to escape from
the things builded by mans labor,
and to seek the comradeship which
awaits us in the remoter out of
doors.
And no comradeship beneath the
skies is more rewarding to the dis
corning mind and the responsive
soul than that of trees.
Let the eye follow some tall oak
from it's deep-rooted base to leafy
SUBMITS. Let the mind picture the
slow growth upward, from the slen.
der sapling, overtopped by under.
brush, until the thickening stem be.
comes a stout, aspiring trunk, lift
ing it's green hands in glad greeting
to the sun.
Strongly it held to the soil, from
which it was begotten. Bending tt
the wind in it's youth, it yet main
tanned it's integrity, and ever push
ed toward the welcoming blue.
This is not mere poetic fancy
1t is profound truth, to which thu
facts of science bear witness. Their,
is a skyward urge in the life of trees
1t needs the upper air and the sun
light as surely as it needs the eartl
and it's moisture. Leaves are as nee
essary to it's thriving as roots
Do we think of them as vestur
only, as beautiful adornment
designed for the pleasing of the eye
Is the tree but setting us the fash
ion of decking starkness with color
ed drapery?
More, far more, than that is tn
significance of foliage. We spoke
moment ago of green hands lifte,
in glad greeting to the sum-" o
farms stretched heavenward in ca
ger gesture for light" And thes
are not merely pretty phrases.
They are the very truth about tn
leaves. By a chemistry more magi
cal than that of any human labora
, tory they derive from the sunligh
an energy without which the life O
the tree could not endure. 1t wa
for this the stem thickened. 1t is i
the upper air, above the showing en-
vironment, that the irresistible urg
of the tree finds answer.
There are heights it can not reach
Far above it the sun scars; far abov
it the blue sky arches. But it live
in their light. 1t spreads widely it
foliage and takes gratefully the1
bounty. 1t is not forgetful of tn
soil, but the sunshine is it's goal.
So William Cullen Bryan wrote
Father, Thy hand.
Hath reared these verdant columns
Thou
Didst weave this verdant roof. Tho
didst look down
Upon the naked earth, and forth
with, rose
All these fair ranks of trees. They
in Thy sun,
I Budded and shook their green leave
in Thy breeze,
And shot toward Heaven.
Go out to-day, or tomorrow, o
/. next Sunday and \look upon tn
trees. Rejoice in their beauty
Note the mingling Of strength an
grace. Mark the charm of inter
llacinq branches and the nlav of Gil