TREES WITH AN EDUCATION 61 



they all do. Would that men were so courageous ! 



Some trees, like many men, never get beyond the 

 necessity of struggling for an existence. Competi- 

 tion is so keen and the distribution of natural as 

 well as human wealth often so faulty that whole 

 groups of trees are forced to live in the slums of 

 plantdom. Hunger, cold, and the buffets of a re- 

 morseless world keep the pinch of poverty con- 

 stantly upon them. They never get beyond the 

 bare essentials of existence and must leave the de- 

 velopment of the beautiful and esthetic in other 

 words, the cultivation of the fine arts to more 

 fortunate tree-citizens. 



On the other hand, propitious circumstances of 

 the past have brought about a race of tree aristo- 

 crats, plant beings of strong physique and heredity, 

 who are free to develop all those elements of beauty 

 and nobility toward which all trees strive. The 

 stately elm, the sturdy oak, the spreading chestnut 

 these are some of the first families, though pros- 

 perous individuals of other stocks often attain great 

 prominence. It is these trees which may be said 

 to attend the College of Nature, where they learn 

 all those gentle graces and accomplishments which 

 make up the best in plant civilisation. 



Many trees go higher and take a post-graduate 

 course of marvellous efficiency. Strange to say, 



