ARBOR DAY ITS HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 65 



the planting of trees, and to the protection of them where nature has already 

 planted them, a national importance. Our wicked wastefulness and contempt for 

 the teaching of science in this matter will most surely be avenged on our descend- 

 ants. Nature may not instantly rebuke, but she never forgives, the breach of her 

 laws. 



I am glad, therefore, to join in this tribute of friendly gratitude to the inventor of 

 Arbor Day. I think that no man does anything more visibly useful to posterity than 

 he who plants a tree. I should answer the cynic's question, " What has posterity 

 done for me that I should do anything for it?" by saying that it is all the pleasanter 

 to do something for those who can do nothing for us. 



Marco Polo relates that the great Kublai Khan planted trees the more willingly 

 because "his astrologers and diviners told him that they who planted trees lived 

 long." Let me hope that this may prove true in the case of Mr. Morton. James 

 Russell Lowell. 



No instructed agriculturist is unacquainted with the ameliorating influence on 

 climate, rainfall, freshet, windstorms, etc., produced by the liberal planting of trees 

 on waste lands. The cheering thingTias been that the same wise ideas have crept 

 into the minds of our people and made them set resolutely to work in carrying out 

 the simple, practical, and benignant suggestion of Mr. Morton. 



An essay might be written on this topic by any thoughtful man acquainted with 

 the phenomena of meteorology, and if Mr. Morton's plan shall be persevered in by 

 the whole country, nature herself will write that essay in beautiful style before 

 quarter of a century is passed. George H. Boker. 



The best and highest thing a man can do in a day is to sow a seed, whether it be 

 in the shape of a word, an act, or an acorn. Last year, on less than half an acre of 

 ground, at my summer home by the seaside at Hull, I planted 227 individual lives, 

 of creeper, shrubs, and tree. All through the winter, from the city, my mind reached 

 out, as it were, to observe and care for the young things in their strange soil. Last 

 week I went to see them, and Mr. Morton will know the thrill of pleasure, unlike 

 all other pleasures, which came from the signs of health and growth in the plants. 

 John Boyle O'Reilly. 



It is not very long since, especially in the Eastern States, when the enemy of the 

 tree was considered the friend of the human race, but the time has now come when 

 the friend of the tree is the friend of the race. 



Mr. Morton deserves the gratitude of the whole land. How many naked spots on 

 this vast continent will be clothed in verdure by reason of his happy suggestion ! 

 The birds and animals, as well as the people, profit by his wise forethought. Every 

 tree planted upon this day will serve to keep green his memory. John Burroughs. 



If, as has been wisely said, he is a public benefactor who causes two blades of 

 grass to grow where only one grew before, we well may honor the man to whom his 

 country will owe, in the near future, so many beautiful groves and orchards and 

 trees, blessing with their shade its village streets. J. T. Trowbridge. 



Most of the States have sinking funds with which to provide for debts not yet due. 

 It would be a simple and wise policy for a State to invest a considerable sum annu- 

 ally from its sinking fund in forest. Individuals hesitate about a form of investment 

 which does not pay for many years. A State need not hesitate, because it does not 

 need the money for many years. A State has also the power to make and enforce 

 the laws which will protect its forests. Edward Everett Hale. 



The practice of systematic tree planting is a most excellent one, and those who 

 have encouraged and promoted it deserve well of their country. I am very glad 

 that the West has been roused to a sense of the importance of planting trees, and 

 hope that all parts of the country will soon feel the necessity of preserving them. 

 Francis Parkman. 



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