THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



105 



"The Forest of Arden " at Sound Beach. 



One hundred acres of forest land, as 

 wild, primitive and picturesque as it was 

 in the days of the Indians, have had their 

 natural history attractions added to those 

 of ArcAdiA. Mr. Cyrus C. Miller of 

 Miller & Bretzfelder, Counselors at Law, 

 No. 55 Liberty Street, New York, has 

 placed his extensive forest, so far as its 

 nature interests are concerned, at the dis- 

 posal of the Agassiz Association. He 

 will hereafter allow this wild and beauti- 

 ful tract to be known as "The Forest of 

 Arden." He writes as follows under 

 date of May 17: 



"I have no objection to your calling- 

 it 'The Forest of Arden' if you wish, but 

 I presume such names, to be lasting, 

 must be adopted by the community. I 

 have refrained for a long time from post- 

 ing signs on the property forbidding 

 trespassing, as I like to have the people 

 of the neighborhood exercise the privi- 

 lege of rambling over the property and 

 enjoy the woods and fields, but I found 

 it necessary to warn people generally to 

 keep away, as they knocked down and 

 took away the fences and gates and even 

 cut down the trees. It is to be regretted 

 that they could not enjoy the woods and 

 fields without destroying fences, shrub- 

 bery and trees. If the people of the 

 neig'hborhood would take it upon them- 

 selves to prevent such vandalism I should 

 be very glad to have them do so and to 

 enjoy the natural delights of the place." 



■Mr. Aliller desires to keep this tract 

 of land in its present primitive state. 

 In a later letter he writes: "I have with- 

 stood the temptations of fellows who 

 wished to buy the trees to cut down, and 

 it was a matter of regret to me when 

 the chestnuts were blighted so they had 

 to be destroyed. I do not like to see 

 even a single tree injured. There are 

 not many pieces of woods left now-a- 

 days near the big cities so that we can 

 destroy one lightly." 



It would be difficult to find a more 

 easily accessible or picturesque forest 

 than this. It is within six minutes' walk 

 of ArcAdiA. ]\Iany visitors and stu- 

 dents have been taken there to examine 

 the trees, the plants, the insects, the birds 

 and among other things the various 

 phases of aquatic microscopy. Every 

 one interested in nature study will com- 

 mend the selection and the appropriate- 

 ness of the name "The Forest of Arden," 



an idyllic place of enjoyment in nearness 

 to nature. It will form an acceptable ad- 

 junct to our present equipment for na- 

 ture study. Of course everybody knows 

 that the Forest of Arden was made fa- 

 mous by Shakespeare's play, "As You 

 Like It." What could be more fitting 

 than a name from such a play? What 

 one gets out of nature depends entirely 

 upon how it is liked. "We love things 

 not because they are beautiful but they 

 are beautiful because we love them." 

 Shakespeare fittingly portrayed the valu- 

 able knowledge we may obtain from 

 "The Forest of Arden'^ when he refers 

 to the common myth that a toad, though 

 erroneously regarded in those days as 

 ugly and venomous, "Wears yet a 

 precious jewel in his head." The myth 

 of the toad applies well to all phases of 

 nature. Often a swamp may seem very 

 commonplace or even ugly and forbid- 

 ding, and yet if one searches faithfully 

 into the near recesses of things there will 

 be found many "jewels" or good things. 

 Shakespeare sums up the value of "The 

 Forest of Arden" in these classic words : 



"And this our life, exempt from public haunt, 

 Finds tongues in trees, books in the running 



brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 



It will be remembered by the read- 

 ers of "As You Like It" that Orlando 

 was of poetic, sentimental tendency, and 

 that Adam, an old fellow, who lived near 

 to nature, thus describes himself : 



"Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty; 

 For in my youth I never did apply 

 Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood ; 

 Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo 

 The means of weakness and debility : 

 Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, 

 Frosty, but kindly." 



That was a pretty good combination 

 for exploring "The Forest of Arden" 

 and the result was that Orlando saw 

 the poetical commonplace trees and ex- 

 pressed his love by hanging poems there- 

 upon. They were only ordinary trees, just 

 such trees as may be found in this Sound 

 Beach "Forest of Arden," but looked at 

 with the heart o£ love they became per- 

 meated with beautiful thoughts. Thus 

 the elderly people of kindly heart will 

 enter "The Forest of Arden" fittingly 

 accompanied by the poetic, yotithful en- 

 thusiasm of tl\^ young people. 



