240 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Brother Jonathan 



Bv Charles Alexander Richmond 

 President of Union College 



Reprinted from the Outlook by ferniission 



I 



Brother Jonathan sat hy the kitchen fire, 



Xiirsin' his foot on his knee. 

 "It's a turrihle fight tliey're havin' out there. 



But they can't git over to me." 

 And Jonathan jingled the coins in his han' 



An' thanked the good God for the sea. 



II 

 ■'They'll Ije wantin' my cattle and hogs and corn 



An' powder and guns, mebbe, 

 But they'll pay on the nail ! cash down, by gum I 



For all they git from me." 

 An' he smiled kinder slow and jingled the coins ; 



"It's good for business," sez'ee. 



Ill 

 "They're killin' 'em off like (lies, they say. 



They can't blame it onto me. 

 It ain't my war, yet I do feel bad 



For them poor Belgiums," sez'ee. 

 And he took a few dollars out of his jeans 



And sent it across the sea. 



IV 

 Then he heard they'd drowned a thousand men, 



And some from Amerikee. 

 So he said right out, "If you do that ag'in 



You'll git me mad," sez'ee. 

 -An' he ke[)' on jinglin' the coins in his han' 



An' thank'in' (lod for the sea. 



V 

 They did it ag'in and then ag'in. 



"You quit that now,'' sez'ee. 

 "I'll give you fellers a piece o' my mind 



If I git hoi' o' ye." 

 \n he winks one eye with his tongue in his cheek ; 



"I'm too proud to light," sez'ee. 



VI 

 Then they got to ])lottin' and bkiwin' up things. 



An' he sez : "You let me be. 

 I won't stand these furrin tricks o' yourn 



In this here land o' the free." 

 And it got olfl Jonathan ,-ill het u|>, 



.\n' he took his foot from his knee. 



VII 

 An' he got to thinkin' and thini<in' hard, 



W'orrvin' how it would be. 

 An' wonderin' what in Sam 1 lill he'd do 



If some pesky enemy 

 With all them dreadnoughts and submarines 



Came a-rippin' across the sea. 



VIII 



An' he thought of the army he wished he had, 



.\n' he reckoned uj) his navy. 

 "I guess I've set here long enough; 



I'll have to get busy," sez'ee. 

 But the last I saw he was a-settin' there yit 



An' strokin' his long goatee. 

 IX 

 It ain't no time to be settin' 'round, 



I kin tell ye — no sirree. 

 He better be gittin' up and out o' that cheer 



An' git outdoors and see, 

 An' do his chores and fix things up 



The way they ougliter be. 

 X 

 He might be helpin' them cousins o' his'n 



To fight fer liberty. 

 An' he might git in a few licks hisself 



Jes' fer humanity. 

 Anyhow, I wish he'd c|uit jinglin' them coins 



An' thankin' Cod fer the sea. 



T 



MORE LAND FOR NATIONAL FORESTS 



HE National Forest Reservation Commission has 

 api^roved the purchase by the Government of 

 47,000 acres of land, comprising sixty-one tracts 

 in the Appalachian and White Mountains. Approxi- 

 mately -..'.J.oOO acres of this lies in the western part of 

 Maine, contiguous to the Government's previous pur- 

 chases in Xew Hampshire, and is the first land to be 

 act|uired in the State of Maine for Xational Forest pur- 

 poses. More than 300,000 acres have now been ac- 

 quired in the White Mountains in Xew Hampshire and 

 Maine, the area acquired and approved for purchase 

 being almost one-half of the total area which it is ex- 

 pected that the Government will acquire in the principal 

 White .Mountain region. 



Additional tracts were also acquired in the Southern 

 Appalachian States. In .Macon and McDowell Counties, 

 North Carolina, a luunber of small tracts were acquired 

 which together comprise 2,000 acres. In \irginia, the 

 purchases were mostly in Shenandoah, Amherst. Augusta 

 and Rockbridge Counties, where additional acreage 

 amounting to 7,300 acres was accpiired. Some .'J.IIOO 

 acres of the new lands are situated in I'olk, Carter and 

 Unicoi Counties, Tennessee, while in Rabun and Fannin 

 Counties, Georgia, about I.IOO acres were acquired and, 

 in Oconee County, South Carolina. :iOO acres. 



Unless provision is made by this Congress for addi- 

 tional funds the work of purchasing additional areas can- 

 not lie continued. In order to keep the machinery intact 

 and to make reasonable progress it is essential that at 

 least one million dollars be available for the fiscal year 

 1!M7, and two million dollars for the fiscal year 11)18. 

 It is understood that proposals ha\-e been made in the 

 Senate to include an item appropriating these sums in 

 the .agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 

 J!»17 when it is under consideration by that body. 



