ARBOR DA Y MAX UAL. 



"WOODMAN, SPARE THAT TREE." 



HISTORY OF THE POEM. 



'T'^EACHERS may give pupils the following account of the way in which Mr. 

 1 Morris came to write the poem, "Woodman, Spare that Tree." The 

 poem may then be memorized by all the pupils, and recited or sung on "Arbor 

 Day." Mr. Morris, in a letter to a friend, dated New York, February I, 1837, 

 gave in substance the following account : 



Riding out of town a few days since, in company with a friend, an old gentle- 

 man, he invited me to turn down a little, romantic woodland pass, not far from 

 Bloomingdale. "Your object? " inquired I. "Merely to look once more at an 

 old tree planted by my grandfather long before I was born, under which I used 

 to play when a boy, and where my sisters played with me. There I often lis- 

 tened to the good advice of my parents. Father, mother, sisters all are gone ; 

 nothing but the old tree remains." And a paleness overspread his fine counte- 

 nance, and tears came to his eyes. After a moment's pause, he added : " Don't 

 think me foolish. I don't know how it is : I never ride out but I turn down 

 this lane to look at that old tree. I have a thousand recollections about it, and 

 I always greet it as a familiar and well-remembered friend." These words were 

 scarcely uttered when the old gentleman cried out, "There it is." Near the 

 tree stood a man with his coat off, sharpening an ax. "You're not going to 

 cut that tree down, surely?" Yes. but I am, though," said the woodman. 

 "What for?" inquired the old gentleman, with choked emotion. "What for? 

 I like that! Well, I will tell you, I want the tree for fire wood." "What is 

 the tree worth to you for fire wood? " " Why, when down, about ten dollars." 

 "Suppose I should give you that sum," said the old gentleman, "would you 

 let it stand?" "Yes." "You are sure of that?" "Positive!" "Then give 

 me a bond to that effect." We went into the little cottage in which my com- 

 panion was born, but which is now occupied by the woodman. I drew up the 

 bond. It was signed, and the money paid over. As we left, the young girl, 

 the daughter of the woodman, assured us that while she lived the tree should 

 not be cut. These circumstances made a strong impression on my mind, and 

 furnished me with the materials for the song- I send vou. 



The objects of the restoration of the forests are as multifarious as the motives 

 which have led to their destruction, and as the evils which that destruction has 

 occasioned. The planting of the mountains will diminish the frequency and 

 violence of river inundations ; prevent the formation of torrents ; mitigate the 

 extremes of atmospheric temperature, humidity and precipitation; restore 

 dried-up springs, rivulets and sources of irrigation ; shelter the fields from 

 chilling and from parching winds : prevent the spread of miasmatic effluvia; 

 and, finally, furnish an inexhaustible and self-renewing supply of material 

 indispensable to so man}' purposes of domestic comfort, to the successful exer- 

 cise of every act of peace, every destructive energy of war. 



GEORGE P. MARSH, " Man and Nature." 1 



