ARBOR DAY. 123 



The "inventor" of Arbor Day may justly be classed as 

 a public benefactor. Its adoption has added to the interest 

 taken in the science of forestry. 



Yours very truly, 



C. H. SAWYER. 



FROM HON. J. B. GRINNELL. 



NORMAL, ILL., April 13, 1888. 



MY DEAR SIR From my home at Grinnell, Iowa, 

 your complimentary invitation was forwarded here, where 

 I am making a family visit. 



I heartily approve of your purpose to make the most 

 of Arbor Day, and set on an honored pedestal the name 

 of my old friend, Hon. J. Sterling Morton. 



In this literary city of Bloomington, of which Normal 

 is a suburb, there lived the lamented Jesse W. Fell, an 

 arboriculturist and savant of eminence thirty years agone. 

 A million of birds skip on the fruit and ornamental 

 boughs which adorn this country, and for him I seem to 

 hear the plaintive refrain to his memory on the opening of 

 the buds, to lend variety to luxuriant evergreen sentinels 

 waving in grace on the prairie expanse. 



I know nothing to so effectually drive away discontent 

 and the demon of unrest as the tree-embowered rural 

 home. Let, then, Nebraska and Iowa plant and cherish 



