INTRODUCTION xvii 



respect a man in exact proportion to his respect 

 for them." Boyle O'Reilly spoke of the day's 

 celebration as "one of the loveliest practices of the 

 country and century." "Francis Parkman," notes 

 K. G. Wells,* "congratulated the West on its dis- 

 covery." And Edward Everett Hale, with the pre- 

 cision characteristic of him, advised the " State to 

 invest a considerable sum annually, from its sinking 

 fund, in forests." 



No wonder the land was stirred by the idea. For 

 the observance of Arbor Day holds quite as rich 

 possibilities of spiritual growth as of merely physical 

 development. 



It is a symbol of progress. It is the only one of 

 'our American holidays which turns its face toward 

 the future rather than toward the past. 



But it holds for the youth of our impetuous and 

 youthfully spendthrift land, a lesson far more 

 needed than that of progress the lesson of econ- 

 omy and unselfish foresight. 



Our young cities have too often been ruthlessly 

 sacrificed to a brutal, hideous materialism; and a 

 large number of our city children have never known 

 the beauty of places devoted to "green things 

 growing." To many of them Arbor Day means the 

 awakening of the aesthetic sense and its celebration 

 often arouses a dormant love for nature which may 

 some day sweep them with a rush out of the crowded, 



* In " Pieces for Every Occasion." 



