144 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Red Oak. I begin to feel my pride rising, and I hope, Mr. 

 tDhairman, you will give me a chance to recite a poem written in 

 honor of our family. 



The Chairman. We shall be glad to hear it. 

 Red Oak. 



''A glorious tree is the old gray oak ; 

 He has stood for a thousand years — 

 Has stood and frowned 

 Oil the^trees around, 

 Like a king among his peers ; 

 As 'round their king they stand, so now. 



When the flowers their pale leaves fold, 

 The tall trees around him stand, arrayed 

 In their robes of purple and gold. 



"He has stood like a tower. 

 And dared the winds to battle, 

 He^has heard the hail. 

 As from plates of mail 

 From his own limbs shaken, rattle; 

 He has tossed them about, and shorn their tops, 



When the storm has roused his might. 

 Of the forest trees, as a strong man doth 

 The heads of his foes in tight.'" 



Black Spruce. This beautiful poem recited by Red Oak reminds me 

 of an old saying of Dr. Holmes : He says. ^'I wonder if you ever 

 thought of a single mark of supremacy which distinguishes this tree 

 from those around it? The others shirk the work of resisting gravity, 

 the Oak defies^it. It chooses the horizontal direction lor its limbs 

 so that their whole weight may tell, and then stretches them out 50 

 or 60 feet so that the strain may be mighty enough to be worth 

 resisting. You'^will find that in passing from the extreme down- 

 ward droop of the branches of the weeping willow to the extreme 

 upward inclination of those of the poplars, they sweep nearly half a 

 circle. At 90 degrees the oak stops short ; to slant upward another 

 degree would mark infirmity of purpose, to bend downward weak- 

 ness of organization.'' 



Poplar. This sounds scientific. I want to tell you something 

 that begins with ''Once upon a time." Once upon a time the devil 

 agreed with a man that he should have the latter's soul at the time 

 when the oak leaves fell ; but when he came to look at the oak in the 

 autumn he found it still in leaf, nor did it part with its old leaves 

 till the new ones began to sprout. lu his rage and disappointment 



