A Baby Forest 



being so married, in most instances, that 

 it seemed a cruelty to separate them. 



Hope and faith are qualities that find 

 splendid exercise in tree-planting, and no 

 pursuit can be more unselfish ; for, as we 

 watch the tardy growth of our plantations, 

 it is with the stern conviction that other 

 eyes than ours will see the waving of tree- 

 tops above them, and that far younger feet 

 will tread the fragrant woodland ways 

 when they are at last carpeted with Pine- 

 needles. It is by this spirit that we be- 

 come one with Nature, sharing humbly in The 



, . i T i of Nature, 



her patience, in her vast unending plans, 

 in her bountiful provision for the future. 

 What better boon to the race can a man 

 leave than a wood that he has planted, in 

 which a future generation may walk and 

 bless his name ? Or, if the name be for- 

 gotten, there shall abide the forest-bless- 

 ing, ever beneficent, the mother of springs 

 that fertilize the plain, a shelter to the 

 weary, a delight of the eye, a source alike 

 of profit and pleasure while it endures. 



We have friends who scoff when we 

 take them to walk in our forest and beg 

 them not to step on the Oaks ; but, to us, 



29 



