240 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Brother Jonathan 



By Ciiari.ks Ai.kxanmkr Richmond 

 President of Union College 



Reprinted from the Outlook by permission 



I 

 Brother Jonathan sat by the kitchen fire, 



Nnrsin' his foot on his knee. 

 "It's a tumble fight they're bavin' out there, 



But they can't git over to me." 

 And Jonathan jingled the coins in his han' 



An' thanked the good God for the sea. 



II 

 "They'll be wan'tin' my cattle and hogs and corn 



An' powder and guns, mebbe, 

 But they'll pay on the nail ! cash down, by gum ! 



For all they git from me." 

 An' he smiled kinder slow and jingled the coins ; 



"It's good for business," sez'ee. 



Ill 

 "They're killin' 'em off like flies, they say. 



They can't blame it onto me. 

 It ain't my war. yet I do feel bad 



For them poor Belgiums," sez'ee. 

 And he took a few dollars out of his jeans 



And sent it across the sea. 



IV 

 Then he heard they'd drowned a thousand men, 



And some from Amerikee. 

 So he said right out, "If you do that ag'in 



You'll git me mad," sez'ee. 

 An' he kep' on jinglin' the coins in his ban' 



An' thankin' God for the sea. 



V 

 They did it ag'in and then ag'in. 



"You quit that now," sez'ee. 

 "I'll give you fellers a piece o' my mind 



If I git hoi' o' ye." 

 An' he winks one eye with his tongue in his cheek ; 



"I'm too proud to fight," sez'ee. 



VI 

 Then they got to plottin' and blowin' up things, 



An' he sez : "You let n\e be. 

 I won't stand these furrin tricks o' yourn 



In this here land o' the free." 

 And it got old Jonathan all het up, 



An' he took his foot from his knee. 



VII 

 An' he got to thinkin' and thinkin' hard, 



Worry in' how it would be, 

 An' wonderin' what in Sam Hill he'd do 



If some pesky enemy 

 With all them dreadnoughts and submarines 



Came a-rippin' across the sea. 



VIII 

 An' he thought of the army he wished he had. 



An' he reckoned up his navy. 

 "I guess I've set here long enough; 



I'll have to get busy," sez'ee. 

 But the last I saw he was a-settin' there yit 



An' strokin' his long goatee. 

 IX 

 It ain't no time to be settin' 'round, 



I kin tell ye no sirree. 

 lie better be gittin' up and out o' that cheer 



An' git outdoors and see, 

 An' do his chores and fix things up 



The way they oughter be. 

 X 

 He might be helpin' them cousins o' his'n 



To fight fer liberty. 

 An' he might git in a few licks hisself 



Jes' fer humanity. 

 Anyhow, I wish he'd quit jinglin' them coins 



An' thankin' God fer the sea. 



MORE LAND FOR NATIONAL FORESTS 



THE National Forest Reservation Commission has 

 approved the purchase by the Government of 

 47,600 acres of land, comprising sixty-one tracts 

 in the Appalachian and White Mountains. Approxi- 

 mately 25,000 acres of this lies in the western part of 

 Maine, contiguous to the Government's previous pur- 

 chases in Xew Hampshire, and is the first land to be 

 acquired in the State of Maine for National Forest pur- 

 poses. More than 300,000 acres have now been ac- 

 quired in the White Mountains in New Hampshire and 

 .Maine, the area acquired and approved for purchase 

 being almost one-half of the total area which it is ex- 

 pected that the Government will acquire in the principal 

 White Mountain region. 



Additional tracts were also acquired in the Southern 

 Appalachian States. In Macon and McDowell Counties, 

 North Carolina, a number of small tracts were acquired 

 which together comprise 2,060 acres. In Virginia, the 

 purchases were mostly in Shenandoah, Amherst. Augusta 

 and Rockbridge Counties, where additional acreage 

 amounting to 7,300 acres was acquired. Some 3,000 

 acres of the new lands are situated in Polk, Carter and 

 Unicoi Counties, Tennessee, while in Rabun and Fannin 

 Counties, Georgia, about 1,100 acres were acquired and, 

 in Oconee County, South Carolina, 300 acres. 



Unless provision is made by this Congress for addi- 

 tional funds the work of purchasing additional areas can- 

 not be continued. In order to keep the machinery intact 

 and to make reasonable progress it is essential that at 

 ieast one million dollars be available for the fiscal year 

 1917, and two million dollars for the fiscal year 1918. 

 It is understood that proposals have been made in the 

 Senate to include an item appropriating these sums in 

 the agricultural appropriation act for the fiscal year 

 1917 when it is under consideration by that body. 



