1900.] essays. 49 



knowledge of their life, habits and value. The child who has 

 thrown a handful of earth about the roots of a tree, will ever 

 after watch its growth, and through the love of one will conic 

 interest in the woodlands. 



Tree planting is educational in the largest sense, the handling 

 and planting encourages observation, and cultivates a love of all 

 natural objects, and above all teaches unselfishness in seeking to 

 enrich the future. 



Speaking of investing a tree with interest, recalls a sugar 



maple, from whose rugged trunk the life blood flowed freely in 



the spring-time. It grew on a mountain roadside, and was a 



noble specimen with wide spreading branches. Upon it was a 



board bearing this verse : 



" Most sacred tree that ever grew, 

 True type of Him whom sinners slew, 

 From thy pierced side thou dost bedew 

 Witli sweetness, those who thrust thee through. 

 Now a new name give I to thee, 

 Be called henceforth the Christus tree." 



Just below it, over a spring, was this inscription : 



" Oh ! Traveler stay thy weary feet, 



Take from this fountain, pure and sweet, 

 A cup of water in His name. 

 It flows for rich and poor the same. 

 Then go thy way, remembering still 

 The wayside spring beneath the hill." 



Old and vounp; in the neighborhood had learned the verses, 

 and it occurred to me that appropriate inscriptions hung on favor- 

 ite trees in the school-yard, or upon especially noble trees in 

 our parks, would idealize and sanctify them. 



What are the possibilities for Women's Clubs? Arbor Day 

 history is yet to be written. What greater service can Women's 

 Clubs do than to first inform themselves on the subject of forestry 

 and seek to impress the present generation with the imperative 

 need of tree planting and tree preservation. It would be a most 

 worthy ambition to infuse into our school system, reaching as it 

 does the heart and life of every child, the purpose and the will 

 to exert every effort to change this destructive process to one of 

 increase, in every State and territory, and teach those habits of 



