No. 4.] NATURE STUDY. 220 



ter, and state that a few years ago, Like some others whose 

 lives have been spent among the tree folk, i have been 

 called upon- to give short addresses before different associa- 

 tions, and newspaper men sometimes saw fit to publish a 

 few of the things there stated, and they attracted the atten- 

 tion of the superintendent of schools of our city, and he 

 met me and said, " Friend Draper, you have in your work 

 brought out some ideas I would like to have brought before 

 our teachers in the public schools." I said, "Very well. 

 How shall it be done?" He said, " We shall have a meet- 

 ing of our teachers before long, and I should be glad to 

 have you meet them, and present to them your ideas of in- 

 teresting the school children in this matter." I did so. I 

 met the teachers, and I said to them that my heart was in 

 the work of doing something for the embellishment of the 

 school yard ; that there was room for some trees and room 

 around the edges for planting shrubs and small flower beds ; 

 and if we could interest the children in them, we should be 

 directing them in a line I felt would be helpful. So I sug- 

 gested to them how these children might all be interested 

 in having a strip on one side for the boys and on the other 

 for the girls, and little inner beds of earth, where each 

 child should do something in the preparation of the soil, 

 and also in bringing something for planting. And beyond 

 that very few of the school yards had any shade trees in 

 them ; and I suggested that in a school yard where there 

 were, perhaps, six or eight grades, that that year there be a 

 planting of a class tree, of a grade tree, in the school 

 yard, properly located, and that it be done with proper 

 ceremony, and that day we would designate as Arbor day, 

 in the spring, one for each, grade, and we would have the 

 tree purchased by the contribution of a penny from each 

 of the children, so they would feel they owned the tree. 

 Having arranged for that, let them so arrange their work as 

 to dig the hole and plan for the securing of the loam, and 

 then secure the tree ; and at the proper time arrange for a 

 little ceremony, some little recitation and reading about 

 tree and plant life, and some singing, and then, at the 

 proper time, arrange the classes to go around and each child 



