LIKE A TREE 19 



the marvelous stream of life, the thrilling glory 

 of life, and in like splendor of manhood, tall and 

 erect toward God, carry on a life that is im- 

 mortal. 



The scientific name of one of those great Cali- 

 fornia tree families is Semper wrens ever-living 

 and a man may be like a tree ; he shall live for- 

 ever in the lives of those who come within his 

 influence. 



Yet once more. By and by the great tree 

 comes to an end, as man does. It may be that 

 man will use the keen axe, the roaring machinery 

 the tree is cut down, and cut up. Then, in sor- 

 row for it, you say, "What a pity that it should 

 not have stood for another thousand years !" But 

 the tree is gone. Where is the tree? 



Nothing in God's universe ever disappears. 

 Where is the tree? Yonder is a part of it; it is 

 a brace in a great ship, that carries safely a thou- 

 sand people over the ocean ; yonder is a bit of it, 

 a beam in a great building, that may shelter the 

 lives of scores of persons ; here is a part, it is but 

 a bit of a board, but it helps to build a home; 

 yonder is some of the tree, only the tiniest bit, as 

 compared with the magnificence of its great life, 

 only a shingle, but it makes a roof to shelter a 

 man and a woman and a baby. All the joy of a 

 family is beneath the life of the tree, that some- 

 how has been transmuted into manhood, into 

 service, into life, into the generations of the 



