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ARBOR DA Y MAN Us 



NEW YORK STATE PROGRAM, 1889. 



PROGRAM. 



CAUTION : Do NOT MAKE THE PROGRAM TOO LONG. 



(This program is intended to be merely suggestive, and may be varied as tastes, circumstances and op- 

 portunities may permit. The ingenuity of teachers is relied upon to make such changes as may be neces- 

 sary to interest in some way all grades of pupils, care being taken to make the exercises as full of life as 

 possible.) 



SUGGESTIONS : The order of recitations noted below may be greatly varied. Different scholars 

 may recite one verse each of a stated poem, all reciting the last verse in concert. " The Planting of the 

 Apple Tree" may appropriately be used in this connection, to be followed by singing in concert, "Swing- 

 ing 'neath the Old Apple Tree." 



A very appropriate exercise for younger children may be made under the head " Breezes from the For- 

 est," or " Voices of the Trees," in which many children may take part, each pupil reciting a verse especially 

 prepared. The first may begin : " I am the sugar maple," etc., other pupils speaking as other trees. The 

 following is given as an illustration of this plan, adopted at Port Henry, N. Y., in 1888 : 



" I am the sugar maple, and a favorite ornamental tree. People love me because I am possessed of 

 sweetness. I claim to have made more boys and girls happy than any other tree. I have many changes of 

 dress wearing in spring the softest shade of every color, in the summer the purest emerald, and in the 

 autumn the most brilliant yellow. My wood is used for furniture, floors, and for furnishing the interior of 

 houses, and after the houses are finished, few can warm them better than I." 



The expression in the opening sentence may be varied, as " I am known as" " They call me," etc. 



Older pupils might interest themselves in organizing as a " Convention of Trees," each pupil represent- 

 ing a tree familiar in the locality, and to be called by its name. Officers to be chosen by name of trees, and 

 remarks and discussions participated in by members of the Convention, to be recognized by names of trees. 



Compositions may be prepared by older students upon various subjects connected with trees; as, for ex- 

 ample, their uses for shade, for ornament, for producing fuel, lumber, etc.; their influence in increasing the 

 rainfall, retaining moisture, modifying the temperature, etc.; their value in furnishing food, materials for 

 clothing, ropes, medicines, oils, homes for the birds, houses, furniture, etc.; their value as defense agains; 

 storms, from avalanches in Switzerland, and in preserving health by counteracting the influences of malaria 

 etc. 



Compositions may also be written on the size of trees, trees in history, care of trees, enemies of trees, the 

 kinds and habits of native trees, kinds of ornamental trees; also, a description of the tree chosen for plant- 

 ing, its characteristics, usefulness, etc.; upon varieties of shrubs that are valuable for landscape gardening, 

 their habits of growth, flowering, etc. The same exercises may be extended to include the vines or flower 

 seeds or flowering plants that may be selected for cultivation. 



1. DEVOTIONAL EXERCISES: 



a. READING OF SCRIPTURE. b. PRAYER. c. SONG. 



NOTE. See Scripture lesson given elsewhere. This may be read by one person, or different scholars 

 may each repeat a verse or a sentence. Or it may be made a responsive service, the teacher repeating 

 one sentence, and scholars the next. 



2. READING OF THE LAW ESTABLISHING ARBOR DAY. 



3. READING OF DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR, AND OF LETTERS IN REFERENCE TO 



ARBOR DAY. 



N OTE . Many teachers and others in charge of exercises may choose to invite letters appropriate to the 

 occasion, from prominent persons in the different localities who are unable to be present. 



4. SONG. 



5. RECITATIONS. By different pupils. 



FIRST PUPIL : 



" The groves were God's first temples, 



Ere man learned 



To hew the shaft, and lay the architrave 

 And spread the roof above them ere he framed 

 The lofty vault, to gather and roll back 

 The round of anthems, in the darkling wood, 

 Amidst the cool and silence, he knelt down 

 And offered to the Mightiest solemn thanks 

 And supplications." BRYANT. 



