ANNUAL MEETING. 209 



and he wrote liis "last will and testament," he gave directions that no more 

 than five hundred dollars should be spent upon a monument to mark his rest- 

 ing place. Wherever on these broad Michigan plains a Centennial tree stands, 

 there is a monument more beautiful than tlic costliest mausoleum; more sug- 

 gestive than obelisk or pyramid, and not less beneficent than a hospital or an 

 asylum — a lasting memento of the people's big-hearted Governor. 



"Plant a tree." The proposition is in the imperative mood and present 

 tense. I call upon all who hear me to-night to rcgi.ster a vow to plant a tree 

 80 soon as the genial rays of the vernal sun shall liave expelled the frost from 

 the earth. Plant trees about your homes. Plant them in your yards and 

 your fields. Plant them in long lines along your country roads — trees 

 that shall adorn and beautify, that shall be a perpetual sanitarium to 

 ■preserve the public health, that shall temper the fierce winds to the shorn 

 fields as well as the shorn lamb, that shall maintain an equable climate, 

 abating the lieat of summer and the vigors of winter, that shall modify 

 radiation and rain-fall, and neutralize those destructive agencies that have 

 denuded the country of its forests too rapidly for the public weal. 



"Plant trees!" 



"THE POETRY OF THE FARM" 



Was responded to by P. C. Dempsey, of Ontario. He recited a verse of poetry 

 touching upon farm life. Horticulture, said he, is the poetry of farm life. 

 Without the beauty and satisfaction it brings into rural life it would be prosy 

 enough. The growing of great crops of produce out of which to get a living 

 and perhaps something more, has not in itself anything that trains the higher, 

 purer, better nature of man. He who plants a tree, or cares for a flower, or 

 grows a delicate fruit, for the beauty that is in them, derives a similar satisfac- 

 tion to that which is reached by a strain of music, a burst of oratory, or a 

 beautiful picture. All honor to the parents that bring up their children to an 

 appreciation of the beauties of the farm, who educate them so that in all 

 parts of their lives they can appreciate the rhyme and rhythm of the poetry of 

 the farm. 



Lieutenant Governor Crosby, of Grand Eapids, followed with pleasant words 

 commending the work of the society, saying that very early in its history he 

 had become a life member thereof, and had always noted the progressive work 

 of the association with pride. He then spoke earnestly and eloquently upon 

 the sentiment announced in calling upon him : 



INSURE TO THE CHILDREN A LOVE OF CHILDHOOD'S HOME. 



Love, he argued, was begotten by something to love. The babe learned to 

 be affectionately fond of its mother because the mother was lovable, had 

 attributes that begat affection. To insure to children a proper regard, a love 

 for their homes, the homes must be made attractive, lovable; just how to do 

 this may vary with different families. There certainly must be the proper 

 spirit pervading the home life or all efforts to make home attractive to the 

 young will be futile. But beyond this there should be brought into and about 

 the home, things about which the heart tendrils will cling. The children 

 should have a part in the adornment of the home, and the feeling should be 

 engendered that it is their home, and they have a life interest in everything 



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