48 ARBOR DAY MANUAL. 



THE OLD TREE. 



OLD tree, how low you seem to stoop, 

 How much your trunk is bent ; 

 Why don't you make a rise and grow 

 Up straight, as you were meant ? 



And has the old tree found a voice? 



And does it speak and sigh ? 

 No ! 'twas the soft sweet wind that came 



To stir its leaves on high. 



But still the young boy thought he heard 



The old tree sigh, "Too late ! 

 When I was young it was the time 



To come and bend me straight. 



" They should have bound me to a prop, 



And made me straight and fast ; 

 A child like you could bend me then, 

 But now my time is past ! 



" No use for men to waste their strength, 



And pull with ropes at me ; 

 They could not move my stem an inch, 

 For bent I still must be." 



And then the soft wind came once more, 



And set the leaves at play, 

 So that the young boy thought he heard 



The old tree sigh and say: 



" O child ! be wise while you are young, 



Nor bend nor stoop to sin ! 

 Drive out the bad thoughts from your heart, 

 And keep the good ones in ! 



" Don't think you may be bad in youth, 



And one day change your plan ; 

 Just what you grow up from a child, 

 You will be as a man. 



" No use to try, when you are old, 



To mend and grow up straight ; 

 For all good men that pass you then 

 Will sigh and say, ' Too late ! ' 



