72 ARBOR DAY ITS HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 



DOING GOOD. 



When we plant a tree we are doing what we can to make onr planet a more whole, 

 some and happier dwelling place for those who come after us, if not for ourselves. 

 0. W. Holmes. 



NOBILITY. 



True worth is in being, not seeming, 



In doing each day that goes by 

 Some little good not in the dreaming 



Of great things to do by and by. 



[Alice Gary. 



THE BANK OP CONTENTMENT. 



While I liv.e, I trust I shall have my trees, my peaceful idyllic landscape, my free 

 country life, at least half the year; and while I possess so much, * * * I shall own 

 100,000 shares in the Bank of Contentment. Bayard Taylor. 



TREES COMPOSITE BEINGS. 



A tree is a composite being; a kind of community by itself. The leaves and limbs 

 are all the time striving with each other to see which shall have the most room and 

 the most sunshine. Each strives for all he can get. While some perish in the 

 attempt, or meet with only very indifferent success, the strongest of the strongest 

 buds survive. Each leaf helps to sustain the limb which carries it, and each limb 

 furnishes some nourishment to the common trunk for the common welfare. The tax 

 is always adjusted according to the ability of each to contribute. As the limbs of 

 a tree are constantly striving for the mastery, so each bush and tree in grove or forest 

 is striving with others for the mastery. The weakest succumb to the strongest; 

 some perish early; some lead a feeble existence for many years, while even the 

 strongest are more or less injured. With plenty of room, the trunk will be short, 

 the branches many and widespread ; where crowded, the lower limbs perish for want 

 of light. Dead limbs fall to the ground to protect and enrich it for nourishing the 

 surviving limbs and the trunk. The scars heal over, more limbs perish as new ones 

 creep upward, and thus we find tall, clean trunks in a dense forest. Anon. 



TEACHING. 



One impulse from a vernal wood 



May teach you more of man, 

 Of moral evil and of good, 



Than all the sages can. 



[Wordsworth. 



OBSERVATION. 



It is better to know the habits of ooe plant than the names of a thousand; and 

 wiser to be happily familiar with those that grow in the nearest field than arduously 

 cognizant of all that plume the isles of the Pacific or illumine the Mountains of the 

 Moon. Ruskin. 



