18 THE HUMAN SIDE OF TREES 



tions and hopes have created in their forms a uni- 

 versal element of nobility and high-mindedness 

 which is excelled by no other living creatures. They 

 quicken our finer sensibilities and purge our 

 thoughts. To be among their sweet-smelling fra- 

 grance is to get a breath from heaven, and their play- 

 ful charm is felt by all in their presence. Perhaps 

 the day is near at hand when we will better appre- 

 ciate the meaning of the Garden of Eden, and why 

 it was that Adam and Eve were driven from that 

 natural paradise when they had sinned. The for- 

 bidden fruit has a marvellous significance which 

 man does not yet understand. In our relation to 

 different trees there is still much to be solved. 



The world's history is full of instances when men 

 of great mind and sincere purpose have learned to 

 love some grand old tree exactly as they would a 

 human friend. Poets like Lowell and Whittier 

 had their favourite trees to whom they resorted 

 for greatest inspiration; Joyce Kilmer in his poem 

 "Trees" has shown an appreciation which is pro- 

 phetic of our future regard for them. One can 

 understand the sentiment with which a dying man 

 recently bequeathed a little circle of land around 

 a beloved tree to the tree itself! Such a bequest 

 may be invalid in the courts, but it is safe to predict 

 that the little iron fence which was erected to carry 



