Children's Department 



Devoted to unpayting information about trees, woods and forests to boys and girls so that they may grow to know 

 hozv neeessa.ry trees are to the health, wealth and future of their country. 



By Bristow Adams 



' THREE TREES 



OXCl{ 111)011 a time, a long while ago — for that is 

 ju'^t the way that all Christmas stories begin — 

 three trees stood fairly near together in the forest. 

 But before we begin, let me make it clear thai lhi> is a 

 fable. It is trne, with variations. 



The three trees were blood brothers, and the}- had 

 grown fur a number of years; but because nf the cnii- 

 ditions under which thev had started, each mie haii 

 developeil a dift'erent character; one might almost say 

 that each had developed a soul. 



(Jne of them — the tallest — had started in gnod grciund. 

 Straight abo\e him there was an opening in the crowns 

 of the tallest trees around. Just at noon a shaft of sun- 

 light came down through this opening in the leaf caiiop)- 

 and the tree lifted its head up toward the life-giving 

 light, and grew straight, tall, and slender, with a long 

 space Ijetween each annual whorl of branches. 



The second tree had a much h.irder time nf it. It was 

 more crowded by the other trees, and it had to start in 

 a rocky place. So it grew twisted, and knotty, and cross- 

 grained ; it had no decided aspirations ;ind it therefore 

 did not get any place in particular. 



The third tree, the smallest of all. started in rocky 

 ground, but there was more than ennugh sunshine, 

 because of a big opening all around it in the forest. This 

 little tree rejoiced in the light ; it spread out all of its 

 arms to welcunic the brightness, and was indeed able 

 to de\elop new arms, i.ir branches, because it had so much 

 sun. 



AT the lime this story begins, it was nearly Christ- 

 mas and the brjinches of the three trees were laden 

 with siiiiw. The slender limbs of the tallest tree did 

 iKJt alTiird much of ,i resting place for the snowflakes, so 

 tb.it e\en in winter it w;is nut in much danger of being 

 broken down. The gnarlv tree held some snow on one 

 side, which made it e\en more twisted and bore some 

 of its limbs down to the ground. The little tree was 

 covereil all n\er evenly, and its sturdv little branches 

 readily held up the white mantle. 



Two small buNs came trudging thniugh the woods 

 looking carefullv from side to side as if they were search- 

 ing for something. Thev came first to the tallest tree, 

 and the smaller lad suggested that they cut that one. 

 Rut the larger boy thought otherwise, and explained that 

 when it was brought into the house to be tised as a Christ- 

 mas trt'C there wuuld not be enough close liranches to liear 

 the ornaments and to hold tlie candles. You have guessed 

 bv iinw that these two boys were looking for a Christmas 

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tree. You ha\e also guessed that they could not take 

 the gnarly tree, because it was crooked, and that their 

 eyes alighted on the little tree with glee, for it was just 

 the kind they wanted. 



So the little tree was borne awav and made a whole 

 household happy with its greenness and its sturdiness and 

 its exact fitness for the purpose for which it was intended. 

 It stood in the midst of the living-room, and the children 

 danced around it with shouts of joy. And upon the walls 

 there were festoons of what is variously called crow'.: 

 foot, or running cedar, or ground pine, or lycopodium. 

 There were wreaths of holK' in the windows, and at night 

 a candle burned above each wreath and lighted the snow 

 iiutside the house. There were colored prints from 

 Christmas editions of the illustrated London [)apers. and 

 (i\er the fireplace the father of the household had let- 

 tered a motto intertw'ined with yule-tide designs in 

 green, red, and gold ; 



"God blesse ye mastre of thys house. 

 And eke ye mistresse too. 

 And all ye litel childrenne 

 Thatte rounds ye table goe." 



The little tree was glad because it had given service 

 where it «as best able to serve. If it b.ad thought into 

 the future it would h;ive known that it could not serve 

 mankind by being made into lumljer f()r his needs, for 

 each one of the man\- limbs would ha\e meant a knot ir 

 ,■1 board. 



A.Xl) what became of the other trees? They grev/ 

 on fin- main- \ears, and the crooked tree grew 

 crookeder liecause it had got into the habit of lioing 

 so, ami it became more gnarled, knotted, and cross- 

 grained. Because it was crowded and elbowed by its 

 lieighbors, and because it had lost the jiovver to reach up 

 and hold itself straight, it finally gave up in despair and 

 became a decayed, unsightly object in the forest. 



The tall tree kept growing, and reached uji for its spot 

 of light. It knew as well as a tree can know, that if it did 

 not reach that opening above it before the larger trees 

 had closed in that it might as well give up. too. then 

 and there. Finally some lumbermen and foresters went 

 through the woods selecting the trees which should be 

 cut. and those wdiich descr\-ed to be left to continue grow- 

 ing. The tall, straight, slender tree was growing so 

 well that they left it and made use of some of the older 

 ones around, taking care when the\' felled the others that 

 they should not injure the slender one. When they had 

 taken out the trees which they thought should be cut, and 



