XIV FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



for details. The tree exists as an individuality wholly 

 aside from its name and classification and botanical 

 technicalities. There are, then, two ways of know- 

 ing a tree. One is the way of human feeling and 

 sympathy, through which a tree becomes a part of 

 one's self, as the sunshine does. It is identified with 

 every hallowed experience. The influence of its be- 

 nignant branches throws a savor into the commonest 

 nooks and corners of our lives. Another way to 

 know the tree is the botanical or analytical way. 

 This method sternly scrutinizes every detail. This is 

 essential to truth, but not to feeling. It is so likely 

 to restrict and dwarf the vision and the sympathies as 

 to make the tree but a laboratory filled with curiously 

 fashioned mechanisms. Some persons are slaves to 

 facts. There are botanists, no doubt, who know all 

 the kinds of trees, but who have never seen the 

 greenness and verdure and sublimeness of the woods. 

 Yet, despite the narrow vision which may come 

 from the analytical study of plants, there is no in- 

 herent reason why the person who traces the veins in 

 the leaf, counts the seeds in the pod, and unravels 

 the structure in the wood, may not also see the tree of 

 which all these charming details are but the various 

 parts. Fortunately, the greater number of persons 

 will always desire to know the tree as an entirety ; 

 but they may enjoy it the more if at the same time 



