OUR BROTHERS, THE TREES 



surgeons have used their disinfectants, 

 cement, and bandages, and done all that hu- 

 man hands can do, dear old nurse nature 

 takes charge of the patients, dresses their 

 wounds, and gives her wonderful cordials, 

 manufactured by sun, air, earth, and cloud. 

 So faithfully does she administer her hourly 

 potions from the vials of April, May, and 

 June, that another year we shall scarcely 

 recognize the maimed trees, with their 

 wounds all healed, and brave in the green 

 garments of summer. 



Bravo! one cries. Even a wider social 

 union than Burns craved has at last been 

 recognized, and the trees also have been 

 elected to the Larger Brotherhood of Man, 

 and granted the full protective rights of 

 citizens. 



But fewer years ago than one likes to 

 admit, trees were commonly regarded as 

 potential lumber, and a man would glance at 

 a noble grove and, seeing neither the grove 

 nor its trees, ask, "About how many foot of 

 timber will that cut?" very much as poverty- 

 stricken parents sordidly compute the value 



79 



