1893.] ESSAYS. 55 



if any objects in inanimate life serve the purposes of humanity to so 

 great an extent. But it often happens, as in our own land and time, 

 that trees are such a commonplace thing and are so essential to our 

 well-being and very existence even that we do not pause in a single 

 thought of their economic value. As we never miss the water till 

 the well runs dry, we will never realize how great and beneficent is 

 the blessing of trees until we are in a section of the country where 

 they are most in our thoughts because of their absence. Where trees 

 exist to a considerable extent the temperature is more equable, the 

 rainfall is more evenly distributed, and the ground retains its mois- 

 ture for a longer time. Here in Worcester the winters are warmer 

 and the summers cooler because of the trees planted along the streets. 

 The health and well-being of every resident of this City is benefited 

 and improved because of the work of the Parks-Commission in the 

 planting of these trees, for every tree with its foliage is a guardian 

 of the public health. The deadly carbonic acid gas with which the 

 atmosphere of a city like Worcester is impregnated, is absorbed and 

 destroyed by the leaves of trees. Indeed, so many and varied are 

 the functions of trees, which directly or indirectly conserve to the 

 health of mankind, that leaving aside all questions of sentiment, 

 their planting and cultivation is to be commended. Looked at from 

 a purely utilitarian point of view, and without considering in the 

 least their value for ornamental purposes, the City of Worcester, in 

 its corporate capacity, never expended its money to better advantage, 

 nor in a manner from whence it has received better returns, than that 

 invested in the 20,000 or more trees which line its streets. Never 

 have the people of Worcester had an official board from whence it 

 has received a greater favor, and to the membership of which, both 

 past and present, they owe a greater debt of gratitude than that of 

 the Parks-Commission. When the work of the men of tliis commis- 

 sion shall have assumed mature form, then there will be a generation 

 that shall award to them their full meed of praise and reward, and 

 the answer to the inquiry, " Where are their monuments?" will be 

 " Look about you," and the reply will be as full of meaning and as 

 significant as is that in regard to Sir Christopher Wren. 



Thus it is, that in considering trees in their relation to the public 

 weal, they serve another purpose than to beautify and embellish 

 highway or park. So also in considering the forest growths of this 

 entire county it is proper that their value be not wholly regarded 

 from a commercial standpoint. The trees which cover the hillsides 

 and clothe the valleys and dot the fields and intervales of Worcester 



