I 



Time and the Tree 9 



Tree. They who plant orchards and eat the fruit 

 of them think of them as a man thinks of his own 

 children, — more tenderly than of other children. 

 Your children cannot know your association with 

 the tree because they did not plant it. Now and 

 then we meet a man or a woman — usually a bache- 

 lor or a maid — ^who, in lack of other lovables, 

 cherishes the farm because of ancestral associa- 

 tions. This differs from the pride which flourishes 

 on genealogical trees. That your ancestors came 

 over on the Mayflower is a matter of pride, but 

 that these orchards and vineyards were your 

 father's before you, or that you planted them your- 

 self, gives a different sense of association. It is 

 possible for you to have feelings with your parents 

 or for their work, but sympathy, in this sense, is 

 impossible between you and any Puritan on the 

 Mayflower, You may as easily establish sympa- 

 thies with your ancestors of the third century. 

 Time and the Tree form associations but not 

 longer than two generations. A man is proud that 

 his farm belonged to his great-grandfather because 

 this points to family dignity and stability, but he 

 can have no lively associations further back than 

 his parents. 



As the years pass, our associations become more 

 tender, our plantation more productive: a curious 

 commingling of sentiment and potatoes. The 

 lively sense of possession always kindles the 

 faculty of appreciation. What man, past middle 

 life, sitting on his porch and casting his eyes over 



