OUR BROTHERS, THE TREES 



inward graces. By the latter classification 

 high rank is accorded to the mahogany, oak, 

 ash, Circassian walnut, ebony, and bird's-eye 

 maple. But birches belong to "the upper 

 middle class," according to the estimate of 

 Mr. H. E. Parkhurst. In distinctly "higher 

 circles" are the beeches, which proclaim their 

 rank by the slender, lance-like shape of their 

 leaf -buds, the simple, classic lines of their 

 thin, silky leaves, and the unadorned beauty 

 of their trunks, limbs, and twigs in winter. 

 There are trees which depend upon their 

 leafage for most of their charm, as Mark 

 Twain tells us some women depend upon 

 their clothes for most of theirs. But the 

 beech can be naked and not ashamed. More- 

 over, was it not long ago admitted to pa- 

 trician circles by the Roman orator, Pas- 

 sienus Crispus, who poured wine on its 

 roots? 



If any tree belongs to the lower middle 

 class, or plebeian rank, it should be the dwarf 

 juniper and yet, much might be said in 

 praise of that ground-loving tree. Thus are 

 we confronted by the world-old problem of 



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