\VILLISON 



6296 



WILLOW 



Companion. While at Yalo. whore ho was 

 graduated, he wrote some religious verso which 

 was much admired, and which appeared in a 

 paper then edited by his father. He edited 

 two annuals for S. G. Goodrich and conducted 

 the Anurican Monthly Magazine till its union 

 with the New York Mirror, in which he became 

 associated with George P. Morris. For six 

 years he traveled in Europe, nominally as an 

 attache of the United States embassy at Paris, 

 but really as a correspondent of the Mirror. 

 He met many famous writers, and in Pencil- 

 lings by the Way wrote of them in a rather 

 unpleasantly personal manner. He married in 

 England, and returning to America, wrote three 

 ::il plays, and conducted, one after an- 

 other, three short-lived journals. His wife died 

 in 1845, but he soon married again. With 

 Morris, he founded the weekly Home Journal, 

 a fairly successful paper, on which, despite ill- 

 ness, he worked steadily until his death. His 

 many books include sketches of society and 

 travel, poetry and stories. His style is easy 

 and graceful, but his work shows too little 

 thought to be enduring. Most widely known 

 of his writings is his poem on The Death oj 

 Absalom. 



WILLISON, wil'ison, SIR JOHN STEPHEN 

 (1856- ), a native of the Canadian province 

 of Ontario, born in Stanley, Huron County. 

 At the outset of his career he turned to jour- 

 nalism, and finding himself adapted to it he 

 rejected all overtures in the direction of other 

 occupations. His knowledge of men and of 

 politics was broadened by service for a number 

 of years as parliamentary reporter for the To- 

 ronto Globe; in 1890 he had risen to the post 

 of editor-in-chief of that paper. 



After twelve years' service on the Globe, in 

 1902 he became editor of the Toronto News, 

 and in this position some of his most important 

 work has been done. In 191 1 he was able to con- 

 tribute to the defeat of the reciprocity treaty 

 with the United States, and he is credited with 

 influencing public opinion leading to the down- 

 fall of the Laurier Ministry, which followed 

 shortly afterwards. 



In 1910 Willison became Canadian corre- 

 spondent of the London Times, and in 1913 he 

 was knighted by King George V. His educa- 

 tion was received in the public schools, but in 

 recognition of his worth he was given the 

 honorary degree of LL.D. by Queen's College. 

 He has written several books, among them 

 being The Railway Question in Canada, Les- 

 cons from the Old World, Sir Wilfrid Laurier 



and the Liberal Party, Anglo-Saxon Amity and 

 Canada and the United States. 



WILL-O'-THE-WISP. See IGNIS FATITS. 



WILLOW, -wil'o, a family of trees and shrubs 

 common in the cold and temperate regions of 

 both hemispheres. There are more than 150 

 species, ranging from tiny plants one inch in 

 height, found on the European mountains and 



THE WILLOW 



Characteristic form of the tree, at left. At the 

 right appear staminate and pistillate flowers and 

 leaf cluster, showing the form of the leaves. 



in Arctic regions, to the white, or Huntingdon, 

 willow, growing eighty feet high. Representa- 

 tives of the family have been discovered even 

 in the tropical regions of Australia and the 

 South Sea Islands. 



The willow is a tree of rapid growth and 

 thrives best in damp ground or along streams. 

 Early in the spring, before the budding of the 

 slender leaves, the silken, downy catkins ap- 

 pear. These bear the flowers and are popu- 

 larly known as pussy willows. The shrubs and 

 trees are reproduced by the rooting of twigs 

 or by little seeds, which, sailing on downy 

 parachutes, are distributed over wide areas by 

 the wind. 



Among the most common varieties growing 

 in America are the yellow and black willows, 

 the tall white willow, the crack willow, the real 

 pussy-willow shrub and the weeping willow. 

 The latter species is a native of China, and 

 there are many varieties cultivated throughout 

 America and Europe as ornamental trees. It 

 is also known as Napoleon's willow, because his 

 tomb at Saint Helena was shaded by one of 

 the species. 



Economic Value. Few trees have more varied 

 uses than the willow. Because of its rapid 

 growth it is used as a hedge and shade tree, 

 and owing to the immense quantities of water 

 absorbed by its roots it is often planted to dry 

 out damp soil or to improve sanitation. The 



