78 ARBOR DAY ITS HISTORY AND OBSERVANCE. 



LEAVES. 



The leaves of the herbage at our feet take all kinds of strange shapes, as if to invite 

 us to examine them. Star-shaped, heart-shaped, spear-shaped, arrow-shaped, fretted, 

 fringed, cleft, furrowed, serrated, sinuated, in whorls, in tufts, in spires, in wreaths, 

 endlessly expressive, deceptive, fantastic, never the same from footstalk to blossom, 

 they seem perpetually to tempt our watchfulness and take delight in outstripping 

 our wonder. Ruskin. 



INFLUENCE OP NATURE. 



Therefore am I still 

 A lover of the meadows and the woods 

 And mountains, and of all that we behold 

 From this green earth; of all the mighty world 

 Of eye and ear, both what they half create 

 And what perceive; well pleased to recognize 

 In nature, and the language of the sense, 

 The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse, 

 The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul, 

 Of all my moral being. 



["Wordsworth. 



THE FOREST A HERITAGE. 



I regard the forest as an heritage, given to us by nature, not for spoil or to devas- 

 tate, but to be wisely used, reverently honored, and carefully maintained. I regard 

 the forest as a gift intrusted to us only for transient care during a short space of 

 time, to be surrendered to posterity again as unimpaired property, with increased 

 riches and augmented blessings, to pass as a sacred patrimony from generation to 

 generation. Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. 



STEADFASTNESS. 



A little of thy steadfastness, 

 Bounded with leafy gracefulness, 



Old oak, give me 



That the world's blasts may round me blow, 

 And I yield gently to and fro, 

 While my stout-hearted trunk below 



And firm-set roots unshaken be. 



[Lowell. 



THE WASHINGTON ELM. 



This tree still stands at Cambridge, Mass. It is on Garden street, a short distance 

 from the colleges, and is a large, well-preserved tree. An iron fence is built around 

 it, and on a stone in front is the following inscription: "Under this tree George 

 Washington took command of the American Army, July 3, 1775." 



Beneath our consecrated elm 



A century ago he stood, 



Famed vaguely for that old fight in the wood 

 "Whose red surge sought, but could not overwhelm 

 The life foredoomed to wield our rough- hewn helm : 



***** 

 Firmly erect, he towered above them all, 

 The incarnate discipline that was to free 

 With iron curb that armed democracy. 



[Lowell" Under the Old Elm.* 



