ox Tllh' ri.W'llMi or .1 r/..|»' 'IliKE 



239 



eiunl to be ready for all trials ainl dilliciil- 

 ties. Winter found me strong of stem and 

 branch, bare but capable of resisting cold 

 and wind which earlier would have been 

 fatal. T was not so gay, not so tender, as I 

 once had lieen, but I had suffered and groAvii 

 stout of heart and strong of body. Well, 

 what now? My masters, let nic tell you a 

 secret, it concerns you as Avell as nie. Pres- 

 ently, I shall grow green again! Once again, 

 unwarned by past experience, my tender 

 leaves will spread toward the sky. Again I 

 shall find myself a freshman, timidly setting 

 out on a new journey. Hope and love and 

 joy once more will impel me forward, mind- 

 less of the perils on the way. I shall for- 

 get, for the time being, that there are storms 

 or worms, forget the cruelty of frost and 

 hail, and the withering summer drought. The 

 old story will be as new as if told for the 

 first time, yet I shall be stronger and better 

 for the experience of past years. Thus I 

 shall win through to the fall and winter, to 

 wait for another spring. So it Avill be year 

 after year, and as I renew my growth I shall 

 think of you, and wonder whether you have 

 done the same. 



For life is rhythmic, — is a process of re- 

 newal. The freshman stage is not to be 

 passed and forgotten: we are continually 

 seeking new adventures, exposing our tender 

 hearts and minds to the unknown. Wisdom 

 fosters ignorance, in the sense that it leads 



us to new jiositioiis, where we are compelled 

 to learn. Hope feeds on the unknown. Love 

 delights in mystery. Some day, when we are 

 old and rigid, the only renewal possible will 

 lie through the gates of merciful death; but 

 let us preserve as long as may be the ability 

 to I'enew our verdure, to wonder and to hoi)e. 

 Yet as the years pass, the fruits of our la- 

 bors will accumulate. Nothing need be 

 wasted, and posterity may yet bless us for 

 '.vhat we have done. I, your tree, silent after 

 this, shall stand and bear witness, and may 

 I not hope, in the words of a great American 

 poet,' that . . . the eyes that look upon me 

 in Miy later, nobler growth, 



"Look also on a nobler age than ours ; 

 An age, when, in the eternal strife between 

 Evil and Good, the Power of Good shall win 

 A grander mastery; when kings no more 

 Shall suTuinon millions from the plough to 



learn 

 The trade of slaughter, and of populous 



realms 

 Make camps of war; when in our younger 



laiul 

 The hand of ruffian Violence, that now 

 Is insolently raised to smite, shall fall 

 Unnerved before the calm rebuke of Law, 

 And Fraud, his sly confederate, shrink in 



shame. 

 Back to his covert, and forego his prey." 



^ William CuUen Bryant in Among the Trees. 



