162 ARBOR DAY. 



" Give me of year bark, O, Birch tree! 

 Of your yellow bark, O, Birch tree! 

 Growing by the rushing river, 

 Tall and stately in the valley! 

 I a light canoe will build me, 

 That shall float upon the river, 

 Like a yellow leaf in Autumn, 

 Like a yellow water lily! 

 Lay aside your cloak, O. Birch tree! 

 Lay aside your white skin wrapper; 

 For the summer time is coming, 

 And the sun is warm in heaven, 

 And you need no white skin wrapper." 



White Oak : Let us hear from the Elms. 



American Elm (Lida) : I have been called the Queen 

 of the Forest, and stand without a rival at the head of the 

 list of ornamental deciduous leaved trees. I claim this 

 rank on account of hardiness, rapid growth, and the grace- 

 ful and majestic beauty of my drooping branches. We 

 are very proud of our Massachusetts relative under whose 

 venerable shade Washington first took command of the 

 Continental Army, July 3, 1775. How the affection of 

 every lover of the country clings around that tree ! What 

 care has been taken of it, what marks of esteem have been 

 shown it by the citizens of Cambridge, may be judged by 

 those who have seen it standing, as it does, in the center 

 of a great public thoroughfare, its trunk protected by an 

 iron fence from injury by passing vehicles, which for 



