1 8 TREES AS GOOD CITIZENS 



found ease and inspiration in shaded nooks, and the writer 

 of to-day turns likewise to the shelter of his favorite tree. 



One of the beauty spots of the world is the site of the 

 tomb of Virgil, overlooking the Gulf of Naples. This 

 tomb marks the great poet's favorite retreat during his 

 last years of life, and it was there, according to tradition, 

 that he wrote his undying epics. The visitor to Posilippo 

 finds it easy to understand why these wooded slopes, over- 

 looking the blue Mediterranean, held such charm for the 

 poet and made him choose this spot for his final resting 

 place. In the same way, a visit to Cambridge shows 

 why our own Longfellow sought the soothing shade of his 

 beloved Elms for the writing of poems no less enduring 

 than those of Virgil. For each of them, as for all man- 

 kind, the shade trees held irresistible charm. 



Trees have had their part in history no less than 

 in literature. In modern warfare the great generals 

 pitched their tents and held their councils under 

 the trees, as did the captains of Carthage, Greece and 

 Rome. The Cedars of Lebanon and the trees of Gethsem- 

 ane have deathless place in man's memory. It was under 

 an Oak that Abraham received the angel, and it was in 

 the shade of a tree that Socrates and Plato held discus- 

 sion. Turn where one may, in the pages of history or in 

 the life of to-day, the shade tree makes constant appeal to 

 the imagination and to the sense of romance because of its 

 unchanging role as man's faithful friend. Through all 

 the ages the sheltering tree has had no rivals. "The 

 Groves were God's first temples," and man's apprecia- 

 tion of their use and beauty gives them everlasting place 

 in his affections. 



This permanent kinship entitles the shade tree to a 

 foremost place on the bookshelf. Shade trees merit the 



