MORAL VALUE OF FORESTS. 



ft COMPARATIVELY untouched 

 phase of the question of forest 

 destruction is brought out in a 

 book called " North American 

 Forests and Forestry," by Ernest 

 Bruncken, a prominent western for 

 ester. The author incidentally dis 

 cusses the part which our forests have 

 had in shaping American character 

 and our national history. This phase 

 of the matter is interesting both as a 

 historical study and as a suggestion of 

 the moral as well as economic loss 

 which must come with the denudation 

 of our forest areas. 



All thinking Americans know that 

 the forests are an important factor in 

 our commercial life, and Mr. Bruncken 

 makes an impressive statement of the 

 way in which the lumber industry per 

 meates all the nation's activities. But 

 the part played by the vast primeval 

 forests in creating American character 

 is not so generally realized. From the 

 earliest colonial times the forests have 

 had a moral and political effect in 

 shaping our history. In the seven 

 teenth century England was depend 

 ent upon Norway and the Baltic prov 

 inces for its timber for ships. This 

 was in various ways disadvantageous 

 for England, so the American colonists 

 were encouraged with bounties to cut 

 ship timbers, masts and other lumber 

 for European export. This trade, how 

 ever, was found to be unprofitable on 

 account of the long ocean voyage, so 

 the American lumbermen began to 

 develop a profitable market in the West 

 Indies. This was straightway inter 

 dicted by the short-sighted British 

 government, and the bitter and violent 

 opposition of the colonists against this 

 tyrannical policy ceased only with the 

 end of British dominion. 



From that time to the present the 

 forests of America have exercised a 



most important influence upon the 

 nation, especially in creating the self- 

 reliance which is the chief trait of the 

 American character. The trappers, 

 hunters, explorers and backwoods 

 settlers who went forth alone into the 

 dense forests received a schooling such 

 as nothing else could give. As the 

 forest closed behind the settler he 

 knew his future and that of his family 

 must henceforth depend upon himself, 

 his ax, his rifle, and the few simple 

 utensils he had brought with him. It 

 was a school that did not teach the 

 graces, but it made men past masters 

 in courage, pertinacity, and resource 

 fulness. It bred a new, simple, and 

 forceful type of man. Out of the midst 

 of that backwoods life came Abraham 

 Lincoln, the greatest example of Ameri 

 can statesmanship the nation has pro 

 duced. In him was embodied all the 

 inherent greatness of his early wilder 

 ness surroundings, with scarcely a trace 

 of its coarser characteristics. 



As Mr. Bruncken says, mere remem 

 brance of what the forests have given 

 us in the past should be enough to in 

 spire a wish to preserve them as long 

 as possible, to stop wanton waste by 

 forest fires, and even to repair our 

 losses by planting new forests, as they 

 do in Europe. The time has gone 

 when the silence and dangers of the 

 forest were our chief molders of sturdy 

 character, but it is undeniable that the 

 pioneer blood that still runs so richly 

 in American veins has much to do 

 with causing the idea of Philippine 

 expansion to appeal so powerfully to 

 the popular imagination. The prophets 

 who see in the expansion idea the 

 downfall of the nation forget that the 

 same spirit subdued the American wil 

 derness and created the freest govern 

 ment and some of the finest specimens 

 of manhood the world has ever seen. 



EASTER LILIES. 



Though long in wintry sleep ye lay, 

 The powers of darkness could not stay 

 Your coming at the call of day, 

 Proclaiming spring. 



Nay, like the faithful virgins wise, 

 With lamps replenished ye arise 

 Ere dawn the death-anointed eyes 

 Of Christ, the king. 



John B. Tabb. 



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